ZAMBIA | INTERVIEW
Interview with
LESLIE NEVISON [ WRITER: Andrew Muswala ]
[ PHOTOS: Mama Tembo Tours, Kaingu Lodge] Leslie Nevison, Director of Mama Tembo Tours Zambia LTD chats to us about her career trajectory and experiences. Give us your perspective on your upbringing? I am Canadian-born and Ireland-raised. When we were in our late twenties, my husband and I spent 16 months backpacking around the world, an experience which forever changed our lives’ trajectories. We decided to work internationally. We have now lived in 13 countries in 31 years, of which seven countries have been in Africa. Global citizens who are “movious” (as the Zambians say) have a hard time calling anywhere home. Fortunately, we found Zambia. Where did your love for the tourism industry come from? It was a logical progression over time from traveller to tour operator, a process which also included guidebook and travel writing for magazines and newspapers. The knowledge of passionate, experienced travellers who work in tourism industries is invaluable. When did you come to Africa? My first safari was in East Africa in 1992. We were living in the Sultanate of Oman. We wrote letters to operators based in Nairobi to
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TRAVEL & LEISURE | May - Aug 2021
arrange the safari. It took months to receive their replies. We still have those aerogrammes! It is a familiar story. We were immediately hooked on African wildlife and culture and we knew we would return. That opportunity came in 2000 when we moved to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. How often did you visit Zambia after your first trip? My husband’s work brought us to Lusaka in 2008. In late 2010, we moved to Central and Western Africa for an extended period, but we never really left Zambia in spirit. I already knew that I had found a home for MTT. Tell us about Mama Tembo Tours? The story starts in Tanzania. Mama Tembo (which means Mother Elephant in Kiswahili) was the name of the ancient Toyota in which I travelled around Tanzania for three years. I purchased it from a Zimbabwean miner. How I loved that vehicle! When I decided to start the tour operation in 2005, it seemed fitting to choose the old vehicle’s handle for a femaleoperated business. The first MTT was based in Canada and focused only on Tanzania. In 2011, I formed MTT Zambia LTD in Lusaka. In 2014, I merged MTT Canada with MTT Zambia. They became MTT Safaris. Today, Lusaka-based MTT works in 13 African countries which is why it
