Your hosts

Sonja Berg, née Körfer (born 1975 in Aachen) is completely committed to tourism. Even as a ten-year-old, she has presented her parents with detailed plans of having her own hotel (France was the favorite at that time). After graduating from Couven-Gymnasium in 1995, she spent a year and a half in the renowned Steigenberger five-star Hotel Quellenhof (now the Dorint Group) in Aachen as a trainee.

Equipped with this basis, she first worked as a tour guide, then as a destination manager for two years for tour operators such as TUI, SFI and Frosch Sportreisen. Their areas of application included, among others, Greece, France and Switzerland.

In 1998 she returned to Germany and successfully completed the training as a travel agent at the Flight Shop GmbH for worldwide corporate and air travel, where she remained and qualified in 2002 in addition to the trainer (IHK).
Since April 2003 she has attended seminars in economics with a focus on company formation at the University of BUGH Wuppertal in order to continue her education.
During the whole time in Germany she did not let go of wanderlust. She took every opportunity to look at the world with her partner Alexander Berg, whom she met in 1998 during a joint mission for Frosch Sportreisen in Sarti (Greece). They traveled together South Africa, Tunisia, Mexico, Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and most recently in early 2003 Kenya and Tanzania, where the history of BeachCrab Resort begins ....



Alexander Berg (born 1968 in Hannover) graduated from high school in 1989 in Viernheim and then did his civilian service at the Malteser Hilfsdienst. His greatest passion was and is the sport and in 1991 he started his studies at the German Sport University in Cologne. In 1997 he graduated with a focus on recreational and recreational sports and was awarded the title of diploma sports teacher.

During the semester break, he worked as a tour guide and sports guide for tour operators such as RUF Jugendreisen and Alltours in various European destinations. For Horizonte Reisen from Münster he led a large youth and adventure camp in Sardinia for three summers with up to 150 participants. After completing his studies, he researched and tested new destinations for Frosch Sportreisen and worked out the complete supporting program for the guests until he was appointed Project Manager for various clients and major events by PIE five Marketing GmbH in Cologne in 2000. He continued his education as a Dipl.-Touristikmanager in Dusseldorf for 2 years and subsequently became the office manager of the company, where he stayed until the big dream in Tanzania in the summer of 2004.

The two met in the spring of 1998 in Sarti (Greece), where they were employed in the same hotel for the tour operator Frosch Sportreisen. Sonja as destination manager and Alex as sports and mountain bike guide. Soon they realized big similarities: the love of tourism, the sport and the constant wanderlust. The future dreams of self-employment abroad went in the same direction -Sonja dreamed of a hotel and Alex of a sports and excursion agency.

Combined, this results in: a sports and active hotel!

After Sonja returns to Germany in August 1998 to start an apprenticeship, Alex continues to work abroad. They took every opportunity to discover new countries together and always with them in the luggage is the question - is there the ideal place to be self-employed? Even after Alex has accepted a position in Cologne, they are not in one piece in Germany for a long time and every day and every hour is combined to start long-distance travel: South Africa, Tunisia, Mexico, Korea, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines , Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and most recently in early 2003 East Africa. Here in Tanzania, after five years of searching, everything is suddenly right: an up-and-coming destination, almost an insider tip, endless possibilities, intact nature, investor and foreigner-friendly, stable policies, easy accessibility, acceptable property prices, ... and so they decided that seriously embark on a common dream. Extensive research on the Tanzanian Embassy, IHK, University of Cologne, Foreign Office and the TIC Tanzania Investment Center showed only positive conditions and slowly the dream took shape. They learned the language Kisuaheli (engl., Also swahili) through the African Studies Institute of the University of Cologne and the lecturer Hassan Adam there and began with the unique support of Prof. Dr. med. Lambert T. Koch and Dipl. Ec. Kati Schmengler from the Chair of Business Start-Up and Economic Development of the University of Wuppertal, Germany to design the business plan.

Eight months later, in September 2003, they fly back to Tanzania to start a business. It is named The BeachCrab Resort Ltd. and is officially registered in Dar es Salaam the same month. They use the time to look at some plots along the coast. The contact with the Tanzanian lecturer Hassan Adam from the University of Cologne proves to be extremely important, because he gives them with Saleh Laibacher, Rehema Mirambo, Salama Kibobojo and Habib Nuru the right contact person. They are so helpful and knowledgeable that they quickly find a beautiful property for sale. After further preparations in Germany they fly again in February 2004 to East Africa, in order to conduct nerve-wracking negotiations over the purchase price and the exact dimensions of the property. After further meetings with the Village Council and the district government, the purchase agreement will be officially signed and sealed on March 13, 2004 at Bank of Tanga. In addition, the next important step is to survey the country and register it in Dar es Salaam. In June 2004, they travel to Dar, where they are registered as foreign key investors in the TIC Tanzania Investment Center through their detailed, professional business plan and compelling concept. At the end of August 2004, the first container from Cologne embarked on a long voyage by ship and four weeks later Sonja and Alex followed by plane to their new home.

Unfortunately, the container arrives two months late and the construction can not start until December 2004. With the active support of the friendly architect Heiko Faber, the buildings slowly took shape and Easter 2007, the first guests were welcomed, barely a year later in January 2008, the Beach Crab was then officially opened.



..... and there is still a small crab in the team since the end of January 2012: Mara