Home : About Dana : News and Specials : Travel Services : Travel Insurance : Contact our Team

There are some things in life which can not be attained through influence, or money or luck… These things require courage and passion to come to pass.  Building a business from scratch in a foreign country with little experience of the trade requires just that:  Courage and passion!

And because of that courage and passion, DANA Agency is still here, 22 years down the line.

When John and Lonny Larsen made the bold move to Africa from their original Danish roots, travel was not the business they expected to end up in.  Lonny started off as a Manager for Budget Car Hire and John was involved in the nursery business.  English was their second language, and they had only a few friends in South Africa…

But they had tremendous courage and they certainly were not afraid of working hard to achieve their goals of making a new beginning here in South Africa

In 1984 Lonny moved on to help the legendary Peter Farquar to start Metavia Airlines.  By this time the travel bug had bitten, and both John and Lonny started to enjoy this new and exciting field which opened up for them.

In 1987 Lonny felt the urge to move on, and inspired by her dear friend Ethne Cameron, she decided to take the bold step and start a travel agency in the then still war-torn Mozambique. Armed with a street map and a couple of contacts built up from her Metavia and Budget days, Lonny started doing the rounds at all the foreign embassies and businesses in Maputo using a borrowed car.  At night you could still hear the gunfire in the distance, but Lonny had the courage never to give up. The business grew steadily.

The first "official" Dana Agency office in Maputo was Brit Sedal's car trunk!  Together Lonny and Brit started hosting travel shows in Maputo, inviting clients to come and look at the holiday products on offer by numerous South African tour operators.

At this time Lonny had a small little office in Anderson Street, Nelspruit. She would spend one week in Maputo marketing for new business and one week in Nelspruit doing the administration, quotes and so forth. John started helping with the accounts and handling office emergencies in Lonny’s absence. Business grew steadily, and with a staff compliment of two, the offices moved to Nelcity in 1994.

At this stage Dana Agency started making an impact on the local travel market, and City Center approached John and Lonny to become part of the franchise group. Several national accolades as best Budget agency and Lufthansa top ten awards were soon on the shelf. 

To make a success of a travel business you need to love what you’re doing.

 John and Lonny’s high work ethics and their passion for travel certainly played a role in ensuring their success.  Unusual travel destinations like Cambodia, Kenya, Jordan, Bali, the Amazon, Vietnam, Madagascar and the Philippines are but some of the amazing places the Larsen’s had the joy of visiting over the past twenty years. Their extensive travel experience and their obvious passion for it sparked many of their corporate clients to try the “road less traveled” on their holidays.  Dana’s service excellence and first hand travel experience is a good combination… They have built incredible relationships and they even have contacts in high places.

In 1999 Dana Agency Maputo also became part of the City Center group. This was the very first City Center outside South Africa and is still one of the top performing franchises in the group. After the war, Lonny and her Mozambican colleagues, particularly the motivated and enthusiastic Natalie, saw an opportunity in the market for incoming tours to Mozambique and so Dana Tours was born.

In 2003, Dana Agency became part of the Travel Experience Group, which included AA and extensive travel services in a one stop travel shop. Corporate and leisure travel is excellently catered for. A move to the current offices in Crossings followed and today, twenty years after their humble beginnings, John and Lonny work with a dedicated staff of  10 in Nelspruit and 17 in Maputo and another 9 at Dana Tours- The proud DANA team.

”Without our loyal and professional staff our growth and success would not have been possible, Lonny said recently. 

“Without a team the captains can go nowhere”, John added

Home : About Dana : News and Specials : Travel Services : Travel Insurance : Contact our Team