Bermudian Sandra Jennings Hutchful first started marketing the culture of Africa as something to do while she waited to get a green card in America.

Several years later she has her green card but she is still at it. She now runs a travel business that has taken 110 people, many of them Bermudians, on tours of South Africa, Ghana and Zimbabwe.

?I am married to a West African, my husband is from Ghana. We lived in Ghana and Nigeria in the 1970s and 1980s for about seven years,? said Mrs. Hutchful. ?We met and married in Canada. He is a professor of political science. In 1991, we moved from Toronto to Detroit where my husband teaches political science at Wayne State University.?

Mrs. Hutchful said she comes from more of a business background and she used to work as a legal secretary.

?Because my husband was hired as a visiting professor I was not allowed to work for awhile until my green card came,? she said. ?I decided to use my appreciation for African artefacts, clothing and art.

?I knew where to find these things and the market was ripe. I thought I would do that while I was waiting for my green card to come through and then stop, but the whole thing exploded. I found it was a profitable thing to be doing.?

Initially, she just rented booths at conferences, then she started doing charity events such as fashion shows for churches and schools.

?Then I was invited to Bermuda by the Kardias Club,? she said. ?I did a fashion show for them at City Hall in 1993 that was one of their most profitable events at that time.

?From there I jumped to doing tours. People were always saying to me that they would love to do a tour.?

In 1998 her husband went to speak at a conference in Johannesburg, South Africa. Instead of taking payment, he asked for a tour of the country.

?I was struck down by the sheer beauty of South Africa,? said Mrs. Hutchful. ?It is a beautiful country. The land is very diverse. I decided there and then to combine a tour of South Africa and West Africa and call it ?The Two Faces of Africa?.

She did her first tour in 1999, taking 13 Bermudians, two Canadians and three African Americans to South Africa and Ghana. Since then she has done four other tours, and has had several repeat customers.

Although Mrs. Hutchful finds it fun and adventurous, being a tour guide in this part of the world has its own unique challenges.

?This year we were almost killed by a cheetah,? she said. ?Then we were charged by a band of elephants crossing the road. We had to reverse pretty quickly. Then later we had a flat tyre.

?It was the rainy season and it rains hard in Ghana. There were potholes in the road so big that vehicles could not pass. The villagers came out and put down rocks and sand in the holes to help us get by.?

She said all of the tour members were moved to tears when they saw a baboon on the side of the road that had just give birth to a stillborn baby.

?The baboon was so sad that everyone on the bus cried,? she said. ?It was heart-rending.?

On the human side of things, she said for many of the travellers, particularly Bermudians, the poverty found in Africa was an eye-opener.

?One of the things we did was visit an old miners? cabin that had been handed back to the villagers,? said Mrs. Hutchful. ?The miners would have come from Zambia and the surrounding countries. The rooms were so dark and dingy, and small: only eight by eight.

?There were no bathroom facilities. They had to go outside. They were last used probably in the 1950s and 1960s by the miners. They are quite squalid. That was a township in Cape Town. We also looked at squatter?s homes in Soweto.?

Mrs. Hutchful said she encourages her tour members to bring along whatever they would like to give to the people they meet.

?Bermudians are very generous,? she said. ?They weigh their suitcases down with all kinds of things including exercise books, regular books, warm hats, clothes and other things. Some end up adopting a child and paying for their schooling.?

In 2001 she added Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe to the tour itinerary because of its scenic value.

?Victoria Falls is pretty awesome,? she said. ?It makes Niagara Falls look diminutive. In Zimbabwe, you see the bungey jumpers jumping off the Zambezi bridge. The Zambezi river cruise is a highlight. You see crocodiles, rhinoceros, snakes and elephants bathing. Then at the end of the day you see the most beautiful sunset you have ever seen. The whole sky is red. It is just awesome.?

She admitted that there is political trouble in Zimbabwe, but she said it is not in the tourist areas.

?People bend over backwards to make sure the tourists are safe,? she said. ?We mainly go there to see Victoria Falls.

?There are game parks where you can sit out and watch the game. The ground hogs wander around. They are perfectly harmless at the park.

?At night you can look out and see the animals around the watering holes. You see the elephants.?

She said that while Bermudians are on the tour, they often buy many souvenirs and gifts.

?Bermudians are a serious addition to the economy,? she said with a laugh. ?Bermudians spend some serious money out there. I am amazed at the amount of shopping they do at every turn.?

She said first time Bermudian visitors are often wary of the food they will find when they reach their destination.

?The Bermudians were amazed at the delicious food there,? she said. ?One traveller brought her own suitcase of food, but was satisfied by the local cuisine including crocodile meat, ostrich meat and springbok.

?In Ghana, peanut soup is a speciality. It is made from freshly ground peanuts, mixed with chicken and hot peppers, ground tomatoes and tomato base. Let it stew until oil comes to the top. Then you know it is cooked.?

But she said the most moving part of all for people on the tour, particularly people of African descent, is visiting the slave castles of Ghana in the towns of Elmina and Cape Coast. The castles were where they took the slaves before they put them on the ships to the new world

?This is when they really connect with and realise what their roots are,? said Mrs. Hutchful. ?Most visitors are saddened by the history of the castles. A lot of them cry or become introspective. It is quite a revelation.

?To go there, it is just as if it was yesterday. You really feel it. You see how they were shackled. You see how there were no bathroom facilities. The strong ones survived and the weak ones died.?

Mrs. Hutchful is currently planing another to trip to Africa from August 3 to 21. The cost is $4,600 each including everything, based on a double occupancy rate. For single occupancy add $375.

?I come back to give an orientation, six weeks before the tour,? she said. ?I usually tell people what to expect and what they need to bring in terms of clothing and footwear. I will be holding an orientation in Bermuda in June.?

The group in August will consist of about 20 people.

For more information, email: sandyhutchaol.com or telephone 248-355-4014 or fax 248-355-2311.