Nils Lindhorst
Travel Designer
I am Nils, Senior Travel Planner at Take Memories. My world consists mainly of three regions that couldn't be more different – the Orient, Latin America, and East Africa with the Gorilla countries – and I have been traveling to all three myself for many years, both privately and professionally. For each of these three worlds, there is a dedicated, specialized page at Take Memories. However, my travels extend beyond that, including Asia, North America, and Australia. What I experience flows directly into the trips I design for my clients: no destinations from a blueprint, but places where I have been myself and which I wholeheartedly recommend.
It may happen that on the same day I design an Amazon expedition, prepare a gorilla tracking in Uganda, and plan a customized Japan trip – from the sushi class to a night in a Buddhist temple. What connects all these places is that I have experienced them myself – and exactly this firsthand knowledge I pass on to the people who entrust me with their journey. This is the essence of my job, and that is how my work becomes my absolute passion.
On my bucket list
Okavango Delta, Botswana
At the very top of my own wish list for many years is the Okavango Delta in Botswana. What particularly attracts me is a very special way of going on safari: gliding silently over the water in a mokoro, the traditional dugout canoe, and observing the animals from the canoe. This closeness and quietness, completely without engine noise, is for me the epitome of this water wilderness – and a dream that I absolutely want to fulfill.
My next trip
Chile
In October, I will be going to Chile – from the Atacama Desert in the north to Patagonia with Torres del Paine, further to the island of Chiloé and into the lake region. A route that shows almost all landscapes of a continent at once, from desert to glaciers and volcanoes. I am looking forward to experiencing these contrasts all at once and to taking the impressions directly into my consulting.
About Nils – How three regions won my heart
It all started in childhood, with Africa. I listened to the audio cassette of 'Kimba, the White Lion' repeatedly, 'The Lion King' and 'Born Free' added to it - this continent had something that I couldn't shake off anymore. My first trip to East Africa, to Tanzania, is now nearly twenty years ago. Later, I came across a book by Dian Fossey, who studied the mountain gorillas for years, and from then on it was clear: I want to see these animals in their own habitat. In 2014, the time finally came, and I traveled to Uganda for the first time.
Almost parallel to this, a second longing grew, which also began in childhood: the Orient. The stories from One Thousand and One Nights, the images of deserts, bazaars, and caravans – that was a world that attracted me magically. About twenty years ago, I traveled to Morocco for the first time, and the fascination that had begun as a fairy tale suddenly became real: the smell of spices, the chatter in the alleys, the vastness of the desert. Since then, this region has never completely let me go.
Latin America came chronologically last into my life – yet was the most intense. A semester abroad in Medellín led me through my tourism studies in Bremen. What was planned as a semester turned into something much bigger: I stayed, did an internship, met my wife, and worked as a product manager and travel planner for a local agency. Colombia became a piece of home – so much so that the circle closes today: After years in Germany, I have been living in Medellín again since January 2026 and working from our local office for Take Memories. Africa, the Orient, and Latin America – from three longings has become what defines my work today.
But these three regions were not the end. From the fascination for the foreign that set everything in motion, a curiosity has developed that cannot be confined to maps. It has taken me to many corners of the world – to the early morning tuna auction in Tokyo as well as to the glaciers of Iceland or into the rainforests of Australia, to name just a few. Each of these places has left an impression, and the list grows longer with every trip. This is exactly what I truly love about my profession: that discovering never stops, neither for me nor for the people whose travels I plan.
Places that particularly inspire me
At home, I am primarily in three regions: in the Orient, in Latin America, and in East Africa with the Gorilla countries. I am most familiar with these places, I am always traveling there myself, and the majority of my consulting flows to these areas. For each of these worlds, there is a dedicated, specialized brand at Take Memories where you can dive deeper – the Orient at Orient Memories (for Oman also Canvas Club), Latin America at Latin Memories, and East Africa at Safari Memories and Gorilla Memories.
At this point, however, I would like to take you somewhere else: to three places outside these regions that have also shaped me and demonstrate that my curiosity does not stop at the borders of my core areas.
Iceland
My strongest image of Iceland comes from Skaftafell National Park, where we undertook a glacier hike on the outskirts of Vatnajökull. It was the interplay that made this day special: the crunching of crampons on the ice, the deep blue in the crevasses, the silence up there, and the wide view over a landscape that one rarely gets to see otherwise.
On another evening of the same trip, we experienced the Northern Lights for the first time in their full display – a play of green and white lights above us. I was there with my wife, it was the night before my birthday, and at midnight we could toast to my birthday together. She couldn't have given me a nicer gift. For me, there is something fundamental in it: Such moments only become completely full when shared with the people closest to you – experiencing and sharing belong together for me inseparably. Meanwhile, the glacier hike and the Northern Lights were just two of many impressions that have remained – Iceland is full of such moments for me.
Japan
My most impressive moment in Japan begins in the middle of the night: the famous tuna auction at the Toyosu Market in Tokyo, where the huge fish are auctioned off under bright lights and traders bid for them with quick gestures. It has something of a cosmos of its own, that is long over before the city even awakens.
Later in the day, we then went over to the old Tsukiji district, where the market stalls and small sushi restaurants have remained. We sat directly at the counter and tasted our way through various sushi – and there was this one light, briefly seared white fish that surpassed everything. This taste has imprinted itself so deeply that since then, eating sushi has almost been hard for me: My mind recalls that one moment at the counter with every piece, to which none have come close since. That sounds almost a little negative – but in truth, I consider myself fortunate to have experienced such lasting moments.
Completely different, but just as memorable was a meeting in Kyoto. During an arranged tea ceremony with traditional sweets, I had the opportunity to spend time with a Geiko – that’s what traditional artists in Kyoto are called. What made this exchange so special was its personal aspect: experiencing firsthand something about a culture that otherwise remains largely closed off. For these moments, I travel – it felt like diving into a completely different world for a short while. However, these are just two moments from a country that has surprised me anew at every corner.
Australia
In Kakadu National Park, I took a small boat early in the morning to watch the sunrise over Yellow Water. We glided along the swamps, the light still soft and golden, everything very quiet – and then, as if from nowhere, crocodiles appeared around us. That moment, in a landscape that feels both peaceful and primordial, has stayed with me to this day.
A second day took us to the Daintree Rainforest in the northeast of the country, one of the oldest rainforests on Earth. With an Aboriginal guide, we went deep into it, and the focus was on the medicinal plants of his people – knowledge that has been passed down over countless generations. At one point, he let us taste green ants, which surprisingly taste clear like lime and are traditionally used against colds. And then came the moment that made us catch our breath: A cassowary with a chick appeared at a short distance – one of the largest flightless birds in the world, shy and rarely seen. Observing it so closely and then with offspring was great luck for us.