About us
VAŇOURKOVÁ JANA Project manager, teacher, travel agent, photographer
My whole life I am in search of
Mystery, Romance, Unknown, Beauty, Love and Wisdom.
I have traveled in 81 countries and lived in 3 and I am the creative soul and the dreamer who comes with idea's about the new adventures.
TRAVELS
Since 1990 I have been an owner of the travel agency. My first company was named ACT and was for incoming tourism from Holland to Czech Republic & Slovakia. Later I expanded the scope of the agency to cater for photo travels and renamed it to Tsoatsoa - photo travels. I have 2 so called SEPR TA (Travel agency) diploma's from the Netherlands - 1/ the TA manager ; 2/ Travel agent.
PHOTOGRAPHY
My passion for photography started early - at the age of 15, when I was introduced to photography by my father - developing the B&W films and images at home. I can still smell the chemicals in my dark room.
My photographic education began late, in 2003, when I attended a week-long course in Namibia with renowned photographers Willem Oets and Nicole Palmer. They taught me how to create impressionistic images on slides. The method was coming from the best Canadian photographer Freeman Patterson. If you are curious, you can check out my photographic journey so far HERE.
LINK to my portfolio at photo net. Allow a few moments to load the images. There are 78 pages of images.
For those interested : my last art images are to be seen HERE
On this website Phototravels the focus is on travel photography.
I love to share my passion for the world around us while teaching the vision and composition in photography. I can communicate in English, Czech, Dutch, French and Slovak, also partly in German, Russian and Afrikaans
See my published books on the creative methods in photography (in blue) and on other topics (red) , you can browse the books online
THE PANNING QUEEN THE BEAUTY OF SIMPLICITY
MONTAGE FACTORY CARNEVALE DI VENEZIA
ALGRA M. PAULUS Tourleader
Paul is an experienced rally driver and a >sand rat< . He crossed the Sahara desert a few times in his 4x4 Toyota ( mostly with Jana navigating). Together they traveled extensively in the Middle East, North and South Africa, Australia, Asia and North America. He has a lot of diploma's for the rescue and first aid, he is a certified crisis manager. He was a project leader and succesful manager during his IT career. He keeps his head cool whatever happens. He is the best guide in the wilderness.
History
This is us on the first holiday together, in 1985 , in Kashmir on the lake Dal on a houseboat.
AFRICA
The first time we came to southern part of Africa (1986) we were bitten by the >African bug< . He causes this strange kind of disease making you home sick for Africa where ever you go.
We both love traveling, authentic places, animals and our souls reside in the sand of Kalahari, in the Tsoatsoa land. The African bug is waiting for you to come around. Why not to join us on the next African expedition?