🌍 Heather Perkins
Founder & Adventure Travel Designer,
Wanderlust Escapes Africa
Wanderlust Escapes Africa is more than a travel company.
It’s my love letter to Southern Africa. An invitation to experience travel the way I do.
Some stories begin with a spark…
A quiet pull to reconnect with something real, something soulful, something alive.
I’ve always been in motion. As a lifelong elite athlete, movement and adventure shaped who I am. My professional career began more than three decades ago in Durban, South Africa, working in public relations, marketing, social events and hospitality within club and provincial rugby.
That world taught me the power of relationships, connection and creating experiences that bring people together.
My career later evolved into professional tennis, working across PR, marketing, international sports tours, VIP event management, luxury hospitality and travel. For years, I worked behind the scenes creating seamless experiences for athletes, guests and travelers from around the world.
It was fast paced, international and deeply connected to people and places.
And I loved it.
Then life shifted.
Severe health challenges forced everything to slow down. The high functioning version of me I had always relied on…quieted. And in that space, something deeper took hold.
Travel became my reset. My grounding to wellness. My way back to myself.
Not surface level travel, but immersive, off the beaten path experiences that reconnected me to what actually matters.
That’s where the vision for Wanderlust Escapes Africa began.
But this story started long before that.
In the early 1990s, I lived in South Africa, traveling throughout the region and later raising my children between Colorado and South Africa for over two decades.
Those years left a lasting imprint.
This part of the world was never just a destination. It became home in a deeper sense. A place tied to family, lifelong friendships and a raw, grounding, soulful connection to Africa that stays with you.
Today, my life continues to reflect that same rhythm of movement and connection. I split my time between Perth, Australia and the United States, following the seasons, with summers by the ocean and time in the mountains of North Carolina, while returning to South Africa as often as I can to stay deeply connected to family and friends.
Wanderlust Escapes Africa is a full circle return to that connection.
I created this business to bring together everything that has shaped my life. My years in international sport, events, hospitality and travel. My love of movement and adventure. My personal journey back to wellness. And my deep connection to Southern Africa.
I want to share that perspective and guide others into a more personal, meaningful way of experiencing Africa. One that goes beyond traditional tourism.
Whether it’s sunrise game drives, long table dinners and incredible cuisine in the Cape Winelands, tennis, padel and golf against extraordinary landscapes, wellness experiences, coastal adventures, or quiet moments under an open African sky…these are the experiences that shift something within you.
This is travel that moves you.
That reconnects you.
That stays with you.
With over three decades of global experience across sport, events, hospitality and travel, and trusted relationships throughout Southern Africa, I design bespoke journeys around each traveler’s interests, pace and sense of adventure.
Because I believe travel should do more than take you somewhere.
It should reconnect you to nature, new perspectives, meaningful experiences and, ultimately, to yourself.
Because when Africa calls…
it stays with you.
Journey. Experience. Reconnect.
Why Wanderlust Escapes Africa
This isn’t about ticking boxes or following set itineraries.
It’s about creating something personal.
Every journey is designed around you. Your pace, your interests, your version of what travel should feel like. Thoughtfully curated, deeply connected, and shaped by lived experience on the ground.
Because the way you experience a place…
matters just as much as where you go.
Journey. Experience. Reconnect.