Tawanda Ngoma, the first male in his family came from a very small family which originates from Malawi. His grandfather was from Malawi but had roots tracing all the way to South-Africa in which he had 2 sons, Tawanda`s father and his uncle. It was unfortunate that when he was still young his uncle was accused of killing his father through witchcraft which then divided the two families, leaving Tawanda as the breadwinner of the family. After the death of his father, his uncle went ahead to forcefully claim the inheritance from Tawanda’s family. This caused him to suffer rejection at a very tender age after having failed to receive proper acceptance from extended family members. Tawanda was privileged to grow up with a good spiritual background through his parents. Although his parents had divorced before his father died, Tawanda said “he was not dismayed because he kept holding on to his faith”. He grew up familiar with the likes of the late Evangelist Chiweshe and the Mahendere family, who were a positive influence during these times. The businessman claimed that his commitment to ministry kept him away from the indulgence of drug usage and other illegal businesses that surrounded him. He decided to opt to work small jobs that came his way, although, they did not pay very much. He went ahead to study a program about conservation of natural resources which is called Nature guide. This program taught him about the study of evolution, animal kingdoms, the botanic and geology. He later went to raise money by working in peoples’ farms in exchange for money, food or clothes which in Zimbabwe it is called ´maricho` in order to get a passport to allow him to cross over to South-Africa legally. Upon reaching South-Africa he fueled his passion in nature by working in renowned Safari reserves which include ……… There he met with a lot of German tourists who he found to be so keen about animals and conservation of nature. He later developed the desire to explore in the industry which led him to join Overlanding guide and he worked with Intrepid which is a famous Australian travel company. This gave him the opportunity to travel through South-Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Swaziland, Malawi and Zambia to mention but a few. The responsibility given to him by the company to travel with as many as 22 persons, take care of their feeding and welfare made him to realize that he had great potential in him. He then thought to start his own establishment but in a different way.
The encouragements he received from the travelers he used to host, which included people from all professions coming from different parts of the world gave him the confidence that he could start his own travel company. He embarked on this journey during the Covid 19 lockdown and already he has designed holiday packages reaching through Malawi, Zanzibar and Victoria- falls to look forward to.
Tawanda was motivated by the travel guides that he used to see as he was growing up as well as his spiritual beliefs which gave him confidence to do more for his life. At a point he did not have a home to stay, and he was taken up by a church which hosted him for a certain time. Growing up Tawanda faced rejection from family and lack of support. Many times, he had to source for food and provision at such a tender age. For him to get some money he had to go to farms and help to slaughter cows. When the cow was slaughtered, he would buy some meat to then later sell in the villages. He also sold firewood for women who were in the business of smocking fish in Norton Zimbabwe.
Tawanda also had a challenge of being looked down upon. It seemed that the people around him never expected him to rise to something good. They did not see any value in him and did not support him emotionally and mentally.
He believes that if there is a way to help people who are in the same situation he went through, it is to educate them. Knowledge sharing is important because that is how he became knowledgeable of many things. He went on to say how saddened he is when people are not well educated on conservation and nature. Tawanda has already started a blog in which he shares stories of the things that he experiences in his journeys. At the end of the journeys, they also get to share the remaining food from the tours, and he documents this as part of his experience. Some villages that they used to come across did not have water so Tawanda would encourage the tourists not to throw away 5 liters water bottles but instead they could refill hem with water to give to the villages that had water scarcity. When they visit them. His desired is to educate children in schools about environmental awareness and conservation of nature. He would also like to embark of feeding programs as he has noticed the challenge of children in the villages sleeping during studies because of malnutrition.