In 2008, we moved from The Netherlands to start a new life in South Africa. Two kids later our family are totally living the dream!
In January 2021 we decided to start this blog to keep our friends and family overseas updated about our adventures.
Ariel
Hello! I am Ariel, the 5-year old empress of this crazy family! My parents try to give me the life they’ve always wanted as a child: Barefoot in nature, ride horses on the beach, and see elephants and lions every day. Turns out, I like pretty shoes, make-up and princess dresses… And pink, I love pink. Although purple is my new favorite colour, as I just saw a movie with a purple dragon in it.
Jokes aside, it is not that I don’t like nature and horses. I just like them better while wearing princess dresses! In any case, I love growing up here in South Africa, wild and free!
Come and join me on my many adventures!
Amber
Amber is my name. I am too young to understand what is really going on here. But I am Ariel’s wing girl, especially when it comes to doing naughty things. Like using highlighters to draw on ourselves, the walls, or the couch. Or when secretly climbing in the pantry, close the door and eat all the biscuits. Or tearing toilet paper rolls in a million pieces. I love touching the TV and daddy’s big computer screen with my dirty fingers. And even though I am 2,5 years old, I still like to ensure that my parents don’t have a full night’s sleep. After all, there is so much to be excited about!
Freya
Guilty as charged: I am the one that brought these two little rascals into the world. But I am so glad I did! I am also the inventor of this blog. Might as well turn their naughty adventures into something fun and enjoyable to share with the world! Life often takes amazing but unexpected turns. I studied Marine Biology, specializing in whales and dolphins, but ended up becoming a horse safari entrepreneur. And I have never worn much makeup, but here I am watching tutorials on YouTube on how to properly apply it to my daughter!
I am still in love with the ocean of course, and with horses, and revel in spending quality family time in nature.
Nick (Geert for the Dutch)
The wilful victim of many games where I am, supposedly, a ninja wanting to try to catch the kids, but when I get too close I am either frozen by a magic leaf they have just picked up, or I must run for my life as they say they have turned into clowns. Oh yes, I am petrified of clowns!
I have always been a driven person, wanting to graduate with good marks, become the best safari guide around, and turn our companies into a success story. But once we got kids, I quickly learned that being a dad definitely trumps all those ‘experiences of success’!
Our story
Well, in a nutshell… We, Freya & Nick, were born in The Netherlands, and after completing our degree and postgrad in biology, we emigrated to South Africa. There we continued our studies in safari guiding and lodge management. Over the course of the last decade we started http://www.tailormadesafaris.co.za & http://www.safarisopmaat.nl, two travel agencies and tour operators, and took many people on lots of amazing guided safaris throughout Southern Africa. Nick also partnered up with a friend, forming http://www.natureslight.co.za, and as professional photographers, we took clients on landscape photography workshops to Iceland, Madagascar, Namibia, and many more iconic destinations. Freya in the meantime owned and ran her own horse safari business http://www.bhangazihorsesafaris.com, taking people on horse rides through the iSimangaliso Wetland Park.
At some point family life called, and we brought the four companies under in the VanDeWiel Travel Group, and we left the daily running of the companies, as well as guiding clients, over to our well-trained team. The idea was that instead we would as a family explore the many game reserves Africa has to offer. But then the Covid-19 pandemic hit… Travel became impossible, and our tourism companies were facing financial doom. 2020 pretty much destroyed everything we built over the previous decade.
But for every door that closes, another one opens. 2020 also became a year of reflection. We realized that maybe we had been overly focused on growing our companies to success, and had not spent enough time appreciating the smaller but more important things in life: family, community, friendship, marriage, spirituality. Besides, the pandemic showed how fickle business success actually is.
Also, not being able to see our family in The Netherlands for over a year during the pandemic, we realized how much they actually mean to us, and how precious it is to share the growing up of our kids with them. Hence this blog was born. If we can’t physically be with our family overseas, the next best option is to create a digital version of our antics with them!
So here we are, a very ordinary Dutch family really, but living the dream in Africa. Follow us on our adventures!
Ariel & Amber, wild & free 