New Operations Director for Radisson OR Tambo
Radisson Hotel & Convention Centre, Johannesburg, OR Tambo Airport has appointed Peet Grobbelaar as Operations Director. With more than 25 years in the upper-upscale hospitality sector, Grobbelaar brings operational leadership experience from prominent South African hotels, including The Michelangelo Hotel in Sandton, The Bay Hotel in Camps Bay, and The Westcliff and Rosebank Hotels in Johannesburg.
Grobbelaar began his career at Magaliespark Country Club in 1991 and is known for his collaborative and people-focused approach.
Biography charts conservation and tourism legacy
A new biography titled The Man Who Changed a Landscape: The Adrian Gardiner Story, written by best-selling author Dean Allen, has been published, documenting the life and impact of one of South Africa’s most influential tourism and conservation figures, Adrian Gardiner.
Gardiner is best known for founding Shamwari Private Game Reserve in the Eastern Cape, a private conservation initiative that played a key role in rewilding the region and developing wildlife tourism in South Africa. From a degraded landscape in 1989, Shamwari became a fully functioning reserve within three years, reintroducing elephants, lions, leopards and rhinos.
The biography traces Gardiner’s journey from concept to reality, and highlights his efforts to demonstrate how sustainability and business can coexist. The book also explores the broader influence of his work on conservation and eco-tourism in Southern Africa.
New GM couple appointed at Tintswalo Waterberg
Tintswalo Waterberg has announced the appointment of Claudia van Bergen and Stephen Ingram as the GM couple at the lodge in Limpopo’s Welgevonden Game Reserve.
The pair previously worked at Tintswalo Lapalala and Lepogo Lodges. Ingram, a qualified Field Guides Association of Southern Africa mentor, has a diploma in advanced nature guiding and conservation as well as experience as a trainer and head guide. Van Bergen has a background in lodge operations and programme coordination with a six-year tenure at Bhejane Nature Training.
New GM at Rupurara Valley Lodge
Cresta Hotels has confirmed the appointment of Jonathan Ellway as GM of Rupurara Valley Lodge in Zimbabwe’s Nyanga region. Ellway brings more than three decades of hospitality experience, including management roles at Matetsi Victoria Falls, Victoria Falls Safari Lodge, The Elephant Camp and The River Club Zambia.
“Jonathan’s experience in management and his substantial network of international contacts will both be brought to bear on this outstanding property,” said Rutendo Badenhorst, MD of Cresta Hotels.
Rupurara Valley Lodge, originally opened in 1997 and refurbished in 2023, reopened in 2024 under Cresta’s management.
