praveen.jpg

Praveen Moman

Co-founder and Managing Director

Praveen Moman had the good fortune to be born in Uganda, at the heart of the African continent, in an extended family that was part of the pioneering and adventuring Asian community that was the forefront of opening up East and Central Africa in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. He grew up on safari under the big African sky before the winds of change brought his family to Britain when he was a teenager. After a career as a political and policy adviser in the British Government and the European Union, he returned to his African roots by co-founding Volcanoes Safaris in 1997 with Yusuf Mulima Mubiru.

Under his guiding vision, Volcanoes Safaris has been at the forefront of reviving tourism in Uganda and Rwanda, after the conflict in the region had settled down.Today the company is recognized for the unique great ape eco-tourism model it has created, centred around the threatened gorilla and chimpanzee populations of the western rift valley. Praveen has led the Volcanoes team that created the company’s eco-lodges near the great ape parks. The eco-lodges are sensitive to the post-conflict context, the culture of local communities and the need to use resources in a sustainable way and have empowered local people to manage them. Volcanoes Safaris is the only safari company to be a signatory to the UN Kinshasa Declaration on Saving the Great Apes.

Educated at London and Cambridge University in the UK, Praveen is a trustee of Seva Mandir UK, a respected Indian charity working with rural communities in Rajasthan, India and is a former VSO volunteer in Jamaica and a Robert Schuman Scholar. He is on the Advisory Board of the Association of Adventure Travel Trade Association in the USA and Pure Life Experiences and the Bodhi Tree Foundation.

photo.JPG

Giulia Marsan

Company Secretary

Giulia was born in Italy and was educated at Oxford University in the UK. She is married to Praveen and they have one son. She has worked as a researcher for different politicians in the European Parliament and the British Parliament including Suni Agnelli, Mechthild von Alemann, Lord Ryder and Baroness Rawlings. She also worked as a journalist for newspapers including the Corriera della Sera and the Art Newspaper, writing on Culture and European Current Affairs. She has been involved in running the Volcanoes London office for ten years and has supported the administration of the Volcanoes BLCF project in Rwanda. Giulia is the honorary administrator for the Friends of Seva Mandir in the UK, a respected Indian charity working with rural communities in Rajasthan, India.

305735_10150423050150470_524505469_10563820_186115134_n.jpeg

Marta Barberini

Marketing and Sales Consultant 

Marta has worked at Volcanoes Safaris in London since 2011. She did her undergraduate degree in Business and Marketing in Rome, and her Masters of Arts in Communication at Portland State University in Oregon. Born in Italy, Marta is passionate about international development, photography and travelling, indeed she just recently travelled throughout Southeast Asia for three months. It was during this trip that she acknowledged the effects of mass tourism on the environment and therefore decided to promote the benefits of eco-tourism joining the Volcanoes team.

Guides_14OD9_9170_4_2.jpg

Oli Dreike

Oli Dreike has been involved with Volcanoes Safaris since 2005 in different ways. When not working for the Bushcamp Company in Zambia, he has worked in our London office assisting Vanessa with Sales and Marketing activities. Since 2009 he has also been involved in Volcanoes lodges, advising on lodge management and our community and conservation programs. Originally from London, Oli has spent the past decade working in Africa, where he has guided and managed camps in Botswana & Zambia, he has a BSc in Zoology and an MSc in Conservation & Tourism. He is passionately committed to African conservation and wildlife and has built up a considerable experience in running bushcamps.