​​Your Tanzania Experts

Ready to Design your Dream Safari

We are Leopold Spiegelfeld and Francesca Hesling, partners and co-founders of Kidogo Travel Design Africa. Between us, in addition to qualifications in tourism, hospitality and executive management, we have acquired extensive specialist knowledge of Tanzania and a passion for safaris. Our years spent in the country makes us uniquely qualified to lend a combination of expertise, experience and passion towards designing your perfect bespoke Tanzanian adventure. Kidogo Travel Design is a German and English speaking, exclusive tour operator business, dedicated to an unrivalled personal and professional approach to each and every one of the holidays we design for our clients.
 
We created our business with the aim of sharing with our clients, the magnificence of African safaris. We customise each journey to ensure all your needs are met and we personally visit every region we offer to ensure we can recommend the best routes, locations and properties for our clients.

Why you should book with us

In 2014, our love of wildlife and enthusiasm for tourism, brought us to Tanzania, where we worked as lodge managers for Ras Kutani beach lodge, for nearly 3 years. During our time there we explored the natural wonders of Tanzania and our love for this country continued to grow and deepen. Since returning to Europe, we have built up an exclusive portfolio of lodges, based upon our return visits and research to uncover the best that’s available. Our passion in combination with our extensive knowledge, and insight enable us to create the perfectly tailored safaris to Tanzania.
 
Our network of connections in Tanzania allows us to receive ‘on the ground’ information, have direct contact with safari companies, and offer very competitive rates. We ensure quick responses and flexibility for our clients and can meet you on your terms. 
 
This enormous country boasts so many remote regions in addition to the renowned parks of the north, and we set out to explore them all so we can offer exceptional quality and excellent value properties. We work closely with the guides on the ground to ensure consistently high quality knowledgeable, passionate guiding using excellently equipped and maintained all- terrain vehicles with a host of small touches to make our guests safaris as comfortable as possible. We can arrange German speaking guides for most regions of Tanzania.

Our future plans include expanding our reach to a number of other African safari destinations. We intend to explore the countries more extensively before we add them to our exclusive portfolio to ensure that we offer a high degree of expertise to the recommendations we make to our clients.

Qualification

Leopold Spiegelfeld: 
Education:
 BBA: Tourism & Hospitality Management - MODUL University Vienna 2010
Diploma: Hotel & Tourism Management - Modul der Wirtschaftskammer Wien 2007

Work Experience:
Leo has worked in a variety of international hotels, including nearly three years as a lodge manager for Ras Kutani Lodge, part of Selous Safari Company, in Tanzania. He has held positions in marketing and recruitment and as a African safari travel agent for a reputable travel agency in Vienna. 


Francesa Hesling: 

Education: 
BA: Philosophy & Psychology - National University of Ireland Galway 2011
Masters: Executive Management - FH Wien 2021

Work Experience:
Francesca has years of experience in the Hospitality sector, including working as a general manager for a busy bar restaurant in Vienna. Along with Leo, she held the position of a lodge manager for Selous Safari Company, in Tanzania, for nearly three years. 

Our Name

‘Kidogo,’ means ‘a little bit of’ or ‘small’ in Swahili. We chose this name for a few reasons, firstly, we want to offer our clients ‘a little bit of’ of what’s available in Tanzania, the best! There are so many lodges and regions to choose from and we have handpicked the best for our portfolio, so we can individually tailor your perfect journey. The second reason for our name choice is that it is also the name of our amazing rescue street dog, Kidogo, whom we adopted in Tanzania and brought back to Europe with us. She was rescued in Dar Es Salaam when she was about 5 weeks old, small enough to fit in one hand, which is why she was given the name ‘Kidogo.’ 

Partners & Network

From our time living and working in Tanzania, we built up a wide range of direct contacts. We work closely with safari companies and our chosen ground handler so we can manage and tailor every aspect of your journey from the moment you arrive to when you reluctantly return to the airport on your final day. Our network of connections provides us with competitive rates, personalised service for our clients, and allows us to work directly with companies on the ground. 

Social Responsibility

Wildlife conservation, sustainability and community development are worthy considerations when travelling to African countries. We take the notion of responsible tourism very seriously and are acutely aware of the delicate nature of the ecosystems that we send our clients to and the need to protect them. Therefore, our policy includes a $50 donation per booking made by Kidogo Travel Design, to small high impact wildlife conservation and community development projects. We were involved in a number of projects during our time living and working in Africa and continue to support these vital efforts. 

We work closely with safari companies that empower and educate local communities, focus on having small environmental footprints, and contribute to wildlife conservation efforts. Many of which contribute significant amounts towards sustainable projects either built up by themselves or reliable NGO’s. Protecting the wildlife we hold so dear is a complicated undertaking that involves engaging the local communities through educational and health initiatives. There are plenty of opportunities for guests who are interested, to get involved or make a donation to these worthy causes. Please visit our Community Development  or Sustainability & Conservation page, or contact us to learn more about the ongoing projects we support and, if interested, how you can contribute.