Why Pimbi?
Pimbi is the Swahili word for hyrax, also known as the rock rabbit or dassie. The hyrax is a small furry animal, like an oversized guinea pig or a rabbit with rounded ears and no tail. Rock hyraxes make their homes in the natural crevices of rocks or boulders, living in colonies of up to 80. During the day they can be seen sunning themselves near their shelters, living a permanent vacation!
But why Pimbi? Well, Olivia’s husband is originally from Tanzania, where hyraxes roam free and Pimbi Adventures is all about family-friendly travel, sharing the experience and wisdom of one family’s adventures with the world.
The People Behind Pimbi
Founder & President, Olivia F.
Olivia has been preparing for Pimbi Adventures her whole life without even knowing it, having already lived on 5 different continents. Born and raised in Germany, she left to attend high school in Ojai, California, and later went to business school at Fordham University in New York. But Olivia never stayed in one place for long, spending time volunteering in Guatemala as well as studying abroad in Chile and Thailand. Before realizing that travel was her true passion, she began a successful career in event planning, working on events such as the New York Wine & Food Festival and the James Beard Foundation Awards at the Lincoln Center.
Soon, however, she took a career shift and started working on cruise ships, hosting travel agents and their travel groups while working as a front desk manager and German interpreter. The greatest perk of working on a cruise ship is the abundance of time off, which Olivia used to continue her travel pursuits. It was while climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro on a trip to Tanzania in 2013 that Olivia met Daniel, who was her porter. The pair hit it off and soon married. In order to start a family, Olivia left the cruise ship life and started working in 5-star resorts as a banquet and front desk manager. However, once her daughter was born, Olivia needed more regular working hours and so returned to her career as an event planner at the University of Arizona.
Yet, Olivia’s passion for travel never stopped touring around the back of her mind! So now, she wants to encourage families to travel all over the world and not ‘play it safe’ with all-inclusive resorts or adventure lands. She believes families and their children should discover a diversity of cultures, being inspired to one day be world leaders that care about the environment, the wildlife, and the future of the planet. Olivia and her team’s custom itineraries are the results of studying the countries, understanding the specialities, and finding a way to include the nation’s unique features into your travel plans.
Pimbi Adventures is all about meeting new entrepreneurs, local shop owners, scientists, tour operators, chefs, and all walks of life who are eager to show off their passion to her clients! Beyond travel, Olivia’s family is very motivated to protect our environment and minimize the footprint that is left behind when traveling. Ideally, we wouldn’t leave a footprint but rather, leave a positive mark on all of the places we are lucky enough to visit!
Discover More About Us
Our Staff Focus
The greatest gift you can give a child is travel! Pimbi Adventures will provide superior and customized travel itineraries that will inspire families and encourage them to learn about their destination—its culture and people. Our voyages honor our client’s family values and whenever possible are eco-friendly and sustainable.
Pimbi Adventures is a travel planning concierge service that will primarily focus on helping busy families plan out their custom vacation itineraries. Our mission includes the following when custom building itineraries:
Save families time on travel planning.
On average, it takes 60 hours for someone to plan their itinerary (destination, flights, and hotels). If a family is interested in age appropriate and unique activities, they might spend upwards of 60 hours of planning. Working parents can’t devote countless hours to planning a family trip and caring for their children full-time, do not have countless hours to spare.
Pimbi Adventures will save families hours of research and allow them to focus on their busy lives while also looking forward to their trip of a lifetime.
Adhere to family needs and values such as meal and nap times, different ages ranges within a family, and education.
Most tour operators do not consider such things as meal and nap times but these are things that parents need to consider when booking tours on their own.
Pimbi Adventures will note these important details and arrange a unique, child-friendly, fun-filled itinerary accordingly!
Create unique, child-friendly, age appropriate, and adventurous itineraries for the family.
The most time-consuming part of travel planning for a family is finding special adventures that the entire family can enjoy.
Pimbi Adventures will go above and beyond and reach out to local small business owners that are interested in hosting a family and provide them with a special, cultural, and educational experience. These will be activities that families will not necessarily be able to book online themselves.
Make travel arrangements as eco-friendly and sustainable as possible.
To allow families to travel with true purpose and meaning. There is so much to gain from travel but there is also so much to give back.
A trip with Pimbi Adventures promises to not only prioritize sustainable options wherever possible but also teach families about environmental and cultural conservation, how to help native wildlife and their ecosystems, and other important values.
Our Sustainability Promise
Responsible travel can apply to family vacations as well by respecting the places, people, cultures, and environments that you encounter. This is built through our 4 pillars of sustainability:
Pimbi Adventures’ itineraries will consider eco-friendly options whenever possible
The tours included in our itineraries will endeavor to support local and family businesses
All itineraries will have educational components
5% of our revenue will be donated to non-profit organizations that support slowing climate change and saving endangered wildlife