Our Story

To understand my love of the African Fauna and Flora, and the reasons for my wanting to start these overland safaris, we need to look at my life to see where and how these interests were grafted into my DNA.

My father was born in Gosport, Hampshire in 1939. He grew up in Hardway, and while at school at the age of 15 he did a geography/ history project on Cape Town, South Africa, after the completion of which he vowed that one day he would live on the slopes of Table Mountain, Cape Town. – and this he did!

He was the first in our family to instead like all the others join the navy, he chose to join the royal air force, and was trained in Melksham, Wiltshire an instrument technician on the lightnings aircraft used out of Akrotiri Cyprus, by NATO.

I was born there during the Greek / Turkish war on the 27 of August 1964, at St Marys hospital inside the Royal air force base in Akrotiri, Cyprus.

Dad returned to Gosport after his 5 years term in the air force and did a trade to become a tool maker. And after he qualified as a tool maker, he decided it was time to immigrate to South Africa.

After growing up myself in Gosport, we immigrated just before my 10 Birthday on the Edinburgh Castle – P&O mail ship out of Southampton to arrive 2 weeks later in Cape Town.

My sisters and I grew up in Benoni a suburb outside Johannesburg and close to JHB international airport, but then my high school years began, and I chose to attend boarding school. I started boarding school at age 13 and the school located in the Eastern Transvaal on the way to Kruger National Park, in a very tiny farming village surrounded by game farms.

During the next 4 years I on weekends in the Game farm community I was introduced to the wild, the fauna and flora of Africa, including the big 7, Elephant, Rhino, Leopard, Buffalo, Hippo, Giraffe, and of course Lion , as well as getting to know the mammals I was also introduced to the harshness of the bush, and the field craft of living in the bush. 

Then came – Compulsory military service:  During The 70s and 80S South Africa was facing a threat from the Soviet Union, a danger of the approaching communist ideologies, and this took the form of Russian military equipment being brought into the neighboring countries to the North of our boarders, namely, Zimbabwe, Angola and S.W.A. [Namibia today] large amounts of Russian military hardware was relocated to Angola and tens of thousands of Cuban soldiers were deployed to assist S.W.A.P.O. [the terrorists, who were trying to infiltrate through South West Africa, bringing weapons as well as land mines through from Angola into S.W.A.

After completing my schooling, I was immediately conscripted into the South African Defense Force, and after a year’s training in MOT infantry and Mechanized infantry I was forward deployed to the operational area and spent the next 7 months in 61Mechanised Battalion, Omuthiya, in Northern S.W.A.

Fortunately  I had just missed the latest large scale yearly assault by combined S.A.D.F. battalions against the fortified strongholds being developed in Southern Angola, operation Askari had taken place a few weeks before my deployment to the area, and my company only had only 2 weeks inside Angola patrolling just North of the S.W.A. -ANGOLA border, searching for signs of developments and tracking spoor. We were revved a few nights by 82 mm mortar, and flares on the parachutes lighting up the night sky, and the THUD,  THUD  of exploding projectiles filled the night -  as the Cubans tried to lock onto where we had set up larger for the night, and one night we had to move larger 3 times during the night as the probing came too close for comfort.

During these 7 months mostly, we conducted patrols just inside the S.W.A. borderlands, OVAMBOLAND, where we would leave 61 Base camp and venture for a week to 10 days at a time, living off dry rations [rat packs] and surviving on little the land provided, being semi desert terrain, we were limited to the use of 1 Liter of water a day. Typically, we would go out into the bush on specific intelligence reports, inside Rattle 20 armored troop carries, which travelling up to 60 k.m.p..h in the African bush, to a designated coordinate, and then from there we would conduct walking patrols to search for signs of movement through area, tracking with San bushmen to follow spoor, intercept and  intern any terrorists found to be infiltrating through towards the S.W.A. interior. We would be dropped off by the Rattles then walk all day searching for signs until late afternoon where the rattles would catch up to us and we would form a larger for the night, sleeping in the dug out in the sand we hastily made for the night. After a week to 10 days in the bush, we would head back to the 61 Battalion HQ for a few days of rest, showers and drinking beer, until our next deployment instructions.

It was great and memorable times, living deep in and close to nature, and its over these 7 months where I established a great love of the African bush and its Eco systems, that once it is a part of you, it will never leave you, no matter where or how far you are from Africa. Over the next 20 years I traveled Botswana, Zambia, Namibia and South Africa extensively, coming across and finding these locations that I am now introducing to those that join an expedition over lands full of wonderful memories to be.

I moved back to England a number of years ago, and I now work full time for Banham London, The biggest England based security system and service company as a security engineer, and am setting up these safari tours in conjunction with family who still reside in South Africa, and who will be doing the guiding and driving of most of my booked groups, however - I myself will be flying over with some of the selected groups as their guide and driver, and will be boarding with those groups, guiding them through the whole safari and then flying back with the group again. I will be personally heading 2 of the 8 night Pilanesburg trips and possibly 2 of the 14 night overland trips, in 2026/7 years and then from 2028 I am hoping to be personally taking groups out EVERY month of the year for 2028 and each year thereafter. In addition to the first 2 planned tours namely the 8 night Pilanesburg, and the 14 night overland South Africa/ Botswana / Vic falls tours I am hoping in conjunction with family i have living in Cape Town, I am going to be setting up a 7 night Cape Town / Garden route trip to also start in 2028. This will include Cape Town itself as well as overland drive up the East coast to Plettenburg bay and all in between, either as a sole 7 night trip - or as an add on week prior to flying up from Cape Town to Johannesburg to join onto the 8 or 14 night safari.

** Watching the Amazment and facination on the faces of those who for the first time come face to face, up close to the Majestic Mamals of Africa, is what makes it all worthwhile to me, I get great joy in being able to provide theese wonderful lifelong memories to all those who expieriance theese scenes play out in front of them.