Tessa Bott was born in South Africa. After studying Hotel Management she began her career with Mala Mala Game Reserve, a prestigious safari operation in South Africa. Her position required her to work in all areas including catering, reception and housekeeping.

After two and a half years Tessa moved up to the Okavango Delta in Botswana in the early 1990’s. This was at a time when this beautiful part of the world was relatively undiscovered and she fell in love with this amazing country. Tessa worked for companies such as Wilderness Safaris, Harleys Safaris, Sefofane Air Charters and Desert and Delta Safaris. She worked in a variety of roles including General Manager, hostess and relief camp manager. During this time Tessa obtained her Botswana Professional Guides Licence.

Tessa moved to Maun and saw a gap in the market and started her own safari staff recruitment agency and work permit consultancy. This business did well and Tessa sold it in 2000 when she moved to the UK.  Tessa moved to the UK permanently where she worked for Southern Skies Marketing and won the tender to run the Botswana Tourism account in the UK. This was the perfect position for Tessa as she could still be passionate about the country which she regarded as home, she was able to work for them and to help to promote the destination. This was Tessa’s introduction to the UK Africa travel industry.

Since then Tessa has worked in other representation companies and has also promoted and worked with the Caribbean market. Tessa left her position as Sales and Marketing Manager at Alpha Travel (Pollman’s Tours and Safaris in Kenya and Ranger Safaris in Tanzania) to start Tsessabe. At Alpha Travel she was involved in quotes, contracting, training and general marketing. In this role Tessa has gained great deal of knowledge and has made lasting contacts and friends in the Africa travel industry in the UK and her Africa knowledge is well known and respected.