It was only two days since we had landed in Windhoek, the capital of this astonishing country, and we were already well into our trek and its landscapes. We had organized our trip on our own, for lack of choice, after the company we approached refused to do so, alleging too little time and the complexity of arranging a tour in Namibia. But we had promised our friends the trip. We kept our promise and our success was overwhelming. The experience was amazing. While we were lying there on the lovely sand one of us brought up the inevitable question: why shouldn’t we go into business and set up a tour company?
We took the challenge, working slowly but thoroughly. In the years that followed we organized a number of major trips to various destinations. Finally, in early 2004, WANDERING SANDS was officially born.
Chen Katz, a superb tour guide with vast knowledge in many domains, is responsible for guides and for setting up itineraries. Ziv Blau, a lawyer by education and an organization and production person in real life, is responsible for the logistical side and for client relations.
Our watchword is meticulous organization, starting from building the itinerary and suiting it to the specific client through implementing it, with the highest quality possible for destination. Our rule of thumb is always to put together a trip we would want to take ourselves. And we don’t mean that cynically.
We select the destination in consultation with the client, draw up the itinerary, and work out a rational schedule. Then we let the sand and the rocks, the water and the wind, the road and the story do the rest.
The Staff
|
|
Ziv Blau
Forty four years old. A lawyer by profession. Since 1997 he has been producing field events and organizing tours in Israel and abroad. He supplements Chen and the other guides to handle planning and day-to-day logistics of tours: accommodations, meals, treats, transportation, special attractions, and so on.
|
.jpg) |
Chen Katz
Forty five years old. Born in Kibbutz Afikim, now lives in the Golan.
He ran the Hatzeva Field School and the Beer sheba Field School. He is a multidisciplinary guide with vast knowledge in a broad array of subjects, which makes a tour with him an extraordinary experience that appeals to all the senses.
He has written many articles and translated T. E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia)into Hebrew. He was involved in the production of documentary films about Lawrence for Tel-Ad and, on behalf of private investors, searched for the well in Haran where Jacob met Rachel. He has extensive experience as a tour guide in the countries of the Mediterranean basin (Greece and the Aegean isles, Cyprus), Asia Minor (Turkey, Jordan), and Africa (Namibia, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Madagascar).
Chen has conducted environmental surveys related to environmental quality and history. He also lectures on many diverse subjects to various forums (the Technion, Weizmann Institute, schools, colleges, etc.).
Chen has broad and deep knowledge of many fields, including zoology, history, geography, meteorology, hydrology, and more.
|
.jpg) |
Shachar Shilo
Shachar has been guiding tours professionally for the last 15 years, mainly for knowledge-oriented travelers in Israel and abroad. Because he loves the desert he specializes in desert tours.
He had led in-depth geographical tours to Jordan, Turkey (chiefly eastern Turkey), Greece, and Crete.
Shachar gives advanced professional courses for Ministry of Tourism guides, teaches courses in tourism schools and for various other professional institutions dealing with Israeli geography and natural history (the Avshalom Institute, Askolot, the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel, colleges, and universities).
Shachar was the coordinator of the Tourism Ministry’s tour guide course at the National Tourism School in Tel Aviv. Since 2002 he has been coordinating the marketing and projects of the Negev Tourism Operators Forum, overseeing dozens of tourism projects in southern Israel for the Jewish Agency, the Tourism Ministry, and other organizations.
|
|
.jpg)