Annette was born in Windhoek, Namibia (then South West Africa) but later moved with her family to Stellenbosch, Cape Town in 1975.

Growing up, she traveled extensively with her family through Namibia to Etosha, Sossusvlei, Swakopmund and the Fish River Canyon. She’s also been fortunate enough to experience a lot of Southern Africa on those and other travels over the years; Botswana (Maun, Francistown, Okavango Delta and Kasane), Zimbabwe (Victoria Falls) and the Caprivi Strip. Travels through South Africa have taken her from Namaqualand, Hondeklipbaai, Cape Town, Franschhoek, Paarl, Wellington, the Garden Route, Plettenberg Bay, Knysna, George, Wilderness, the Tsitsikama hiking-trail, Oudtshoorn, Route 62, Eastern Cape, Addo Elephant park, Graaf-Reinet, Swellendam, through (what was then known as) the Transkei, the Wild Coast, Kwa-Zulu Natal, Northern Cape, Upington, Kakamas, North-West Province, Mpumalanga, Dullstroom, Hazyview and the Kruger National Park.

After completing her schooling, Annette spent time in Germany as an exchange student and experienced much of Europe during her time there; the Benelux countries, France, Italy, Corfu Island, Monaco, Greece, United Kingdom and Rhode Island in the Greek Isles.

Annette returned to South Africa and obtained her BA Degree in Political Science and African studies and languages, but decided to return to Germany where she completed a 3 year hotel school diploma. On completion, she stayed on in Germany for a further 3 ½ years working in a 5 star hotel resort in Bad Schwalbach and later in Muensterland at a 5 star hotel on a golf estate. Annette comes from a family who have always been involved in the hotel and restaurant industry (her grandparents owned a hotel in Okahandja, Namibia for many years and her father is a chef who later owned the restaurant Sudwest Stube in Stellenbosch), so it seemed the natural thing for her to get involved in the hotel and tourism industry.

In 1996 she returned to South Africa in 1996 and went to work as part of the front office team at The Bay Hotel in Camps Bay, Cape Town. She later moved to the Cullinan Hotel and headed up the Reservations Department as Reservations Manager for a period of two years. From there, Annette moved to Johannesburg as part of the opening team to start up the Reservations Department at the Palazzo Hotel at Montecasino, once again as Reservations Manager. In 2002, she moved to The Grace hotel group as Central Reservations Manager for The Grace and Mount Grace Country House and Spa and finally joined Journey Beyond as Office Administrator in June 2005.

Annette’s has two experiences that are to her the most memorable ones; flying over Victoria Falls in a light aircraft and camping in the Gemsbok National Park as lions roared across the fence from where she was lying in her sleeping bag! She says her, “love of tourism is playing a part in making someone’s holiday a memorable and unforgettable experience”.