About / Our Tribe

Background

Alpha was born and raised in the desert settlement of Uis on the edge of the Namib Desert. The town is in the heart of Damaraland and close to the foot of the Brandberg Mountain, which is the highest mountain in Namibia. Being surrounded throughout his childhood by the surreal landscapes of the region, the desire to follow a career involving nature in some form was virtually inevitable.

Alpha attended primary school in Uis, and then went off to board at the Martin Luther High School. At the age of sixteen he was introduced to guiding by his nephew, Collin, who was a mountain guide at the Brandberg. He went with him on a hike up to the summit of the mountain and saw for himself how much knowledge, enthusiasm, and charisma was required when dealing with guests and demonstrating the nature of this fascinating region. This started him thinking that this was something he would like to be able to do himself.

He then went back to school and completed his studies in 2004 when he moved to Windhoek in order to look for better opportunities. He now lives in Windhoek where he has a steady girlfriend and a daughter.

Guiding Experience

Alpha obtained some initial guide training from Wilderness Safaris in 2007, but he only started to guide professionally in 2012. His first role was as a field guide in the Namib Rand Nature Reserve, and he stayed there until November 2013 when he joined Wilderness Safaris. He worked at camps in Sossusvlei, Hoanib Skeleton Coast and Serra Cafema, learning all about these iconic areas until he decided that it was time to broaden his experience and move from being a camp based guide and become a National guide. He then moved to join the Ultimate Safaris Naturalist guiding team in order to fulfil this objective.

During his time as a lodge guide, Alpha obtained a certificate in tourism and hospitality, level 2, through the Wolwedans Desert Academy, and then started with his national guiding certification with NATH while with Wilderness Safaris.

Personal Interests

Hiking and Anthropology, and having the opportunity to meet a variety of people with very diverse interests and experiences.

Why I enjoy guiding

Alpha is passionate about all things to do with nature, and guiding gives him the platform to share his knowledge with others and to discover the hidden treasures of this beautiful land with people from all walks of life.

On Trail…

On my first morning game drive in the Hoanib River when I was based at the Hoanib Skeleton Coast Camp, my guests and I were very fortunate to witness an unexpected hunt by a group of ‘desert’ lions. Known as the five musketeers, this group of young male lions became very famous in the region and four of them eventually became the stars of a documentary film. As we watched, the lions managed to chase down a giraffe, eventually bringing it down right in front of our game drive vehicle. This was real privilege to watch, and it is something that none of those present will ever forget.

Background

Arnold was born in the farming town of Otjiwarongo, where he completed both his junior and senior schooling. His mother moved there from Damaraland where she met his father who was involved in the road construction industry. During his school years, Arnold became a very keen and avid golfer and ended up teaching golf lessons at the local high school in between working at pharmacy in town. It was through his golfing that he made a connection with someone in the tourism industry.

He was offered a job on a game farm near Etosha National Park, where he would track animals and take guests to them. This is where his love nature developed; he then went on to work as a guide at several different tour safari companies before joining the Ultimate Safaris family. He met his wife in Windhoek and moved to the coastal town of Swakopmund due to job opportunity for her. They both still live at the coast with their five year old daughter, who Arnold has all the love in the world for.

Guiding Experience

After working as an animal tracker on the game farm; where he gained valuable experience in tracking wildlife and understanding their behavior, Arnold followed his current manager to Okonjima, where he was offered a position as a guide. Here Arnold got his first taste of working with big cats, as he took guests out tracking both leopard and cheetah using telemetry, another great skill to have under one's belt. He was part of the Okonjima family for four years before he moved to Windhoek to become a freelance tour guide.

He did freelancing for various companies which not only allowed him to explore the entire country, but had various specializations. He mastered the art of cooking over an open fire for large groups while he did camping safaris across Namibia, and also had the opportunity to explore areas off the beaten track in the north west of Namibia. He also freelanced for companies at the coast where he got to run day trips into the dune belt, where he got to specialize in the small desert dwelling creatures.

After freelancing for a couple of years he joined Wilderness Safaris, where he was placed at a variety of camps in remote areas of Namibia. He was able to master the Sossusvlei area and the Namib Desert before he made his way back to the North West of Namibia. His time up there proved valuable as he learnt all the small roads around the Hoanib River and the Hartmann's Valley. A desolate and harsh terrain; where he polished his guiding techniques.

With a lot of experience under his belt in many of the areas in Namibia, Arnold has grown into a brilliant naturalist guide and adds great value to the already strong Ultimate Safaris team. He is a pleasure to travel with and will ensure you get the most out of this beautiful country.

Personal Interests

Golf and studying up on conservation

Why I enjoy guiding

It is all about the passion.

Memorable experience on trail

While I was based at Hoanib Skeleton Coast Camp, I took my guests out to search for the desert adapted elephant. We went out soon after breakfast and we searched for them the entire day, luckily I decided to bring a picnic lunch with me. With no luck in finding the elephants I set up a beautiful picnic lunch under the shade of an Ana tree in the middle of the river. As we sat down and started talking about the morning, out of nowhere a big bull elephant approached from the thickets across the river and snuck up on me.

I managed to scramble my guests into the vehicle and we drove off to get away from him, as he started to charge at us the closer he got. In my haste I was not able to pack away the picnic I had set out. Once we came to a stop and looked back at the tree we saw the elephant sniff the picnic before rejecting human food and reaching for the pods of the tree. We sat there in awe, having not seen them that morning, they found us. It was so amazing to this gentle giant doing what nature intended him to do and not taking any notice of us or our picnic.

Background

Franco was born in 1983 on a remote farm on the outskirts of Gobabis in eastern Namibia. At the age of two he was taken into the SOS Children’s Village in Windhoek where he stayed until he completed secondary school in 2002.

By a stroke of great fortune, and with impeccable timing, the SOS Children's Home was approached by a charitable institution called “Children in the Wilderness” who offered to take some of the kids out into the wilderness to experience natural wonders of their country. The group selected included a young, ambitious and eager Franco whose enthusiasm and passion for the natural fauna and flora was apparent from the moment the bus full of joyful kids arrived in Sossusvlei. After being trained in basic mentorship skills, he was enlisted as a tent leader and he took inspiration from watching the camp guides carry out their duties. After seeing how this was done, he knew what he wanted to do in future and became determined to be part of the tourism industry.

He enrolled for a four-year bachelor’s degree course in 2003 but soon realized that his passion lay with nature and being outdoors so he quit after just six months and went to join Wilderness Safaris. We worked at a variety of lodges as a local field guide and then graduated to join their overland explorations department in 2014. Franco lives in Windhoek with his fiancée and their young son.

Guiding Experience

Franco started as a trainee guide in 2004, and undertook a number of internal training courses and worked at a variety of camps before being appointed as a full-time guide in 2006. Having passed the intermediate level, he went on to work as an advanced level guide on the Ongava Private Game Reserve. In order to get there, he first had to learn weapons proficiency and how to conduct guided walks in a ‘big game area’ and he did this on very valuable guide training courses in both Zambia and Botswana. Afterwards continued with his Namibian national guiding courses before graduating with a National Guiding Certificate in 2012.

He has worked at lodges near most of the iconic hotspots in Namibia including Sossusvlei, Damaraland, the Skeleton Coast, Hartmann’s valley and Etosha National Park. While there he gained intimate knowledge of the surrounding areas and has put that to good use since joining the overland explorations department in 2014. He then guided exclusive fly-in safari expeditions for Natural Habitat and WWF until mid-2017 when he chose to join the Ultimate Safaris Naturalist guiding team.

Personal Interests

Franco is passionate about his work and he loves socializing and meeting new people. He enjoys exercising and outdoor activities, and he has become a keen birder and an accomplished photographer. The combination of skills acquired over the years and an engaging personality which allows great empathy with his guests make Franco a highly-sought after private guide.

Why I enjoy guiding

Through my choice of career, I can have my office almost anywhere I like, and I also get to meet a lot of different people who are all fascinating to talk to. I always like being surprised by mother nature in all aspects and I really enjoy being able to share those moments with my guests - as well as being able to see their reactions. This is what keeps me motivated and enthusiastic all day and every day.

On Trail

"While on a drive in one of the ephemeral rivers up in northwest Namibia, we came across a herd of desert adapted elephants. We followed them for about twenty minutes, observing their behavior and the way they were able to move so silently through the bush and then, as they went through one of the salvadora bushes, they flushed out two cheetahs, a mother and her sub adult cub. We were so surprised that we just watched them run across and disappear and none of us thought about taking pictures. We all got out from the vehicle shortly afterwards and we saw them walking off at a distance with all the springbok and oryx looking at them. I decided this would be the perfect time to have a coffee break so I laid the table with all the goodies and all had their cups of coffee close to their mouths when, within 50 yards of us, a honey badger mom trotted with her baby in her mouth. She was trying to relocate it and, again, we were all frozen in that moment of awe. We all just stood there silently, watching her disappear and looking at each other, trying to come to terms of what just happened. It was a truly memorable day which none of us are ever likely to be able to repeat.

Background

Francois was born in Windhoek, where he spent the majority of his childhood. His father originally moved to Windhoek to become a well-respected businessman and the president of the National Small Miners Association before he passed away. His mother, originally from the small town of Otjimbingwe, where she studied to become a pastor, is now a minister at a Pentecostal Church in Windhoek.

Francois developed a passion for nature during his holidays on the farm near Otjimbingwe and he went on to study Travel and Tourism at Illiongwe College. After graduation he decided to specialize in guiding in order to share his love for the country and its inhabitants with guests coming to experience the splendor of Namibia for themselves. He therefore went on to attend guide training courses at NATH (Namibian Association of Travel and Hospitality) where he received the top level guiding certificate, which then qualified him to act as a National guide within Namibia.

Guiding Experience

Francois has worked for a variety of tourism companies which has given him extensive experience of various parts of the country, including the Kalahari, Damaraland and Etosha. He has also worked as a national guide specializing in camping safaris operated in the more remote areas of the country which allowed him to get to know areas outside those in which he had already worked as a resident lodge guide

Having developed the experience required to guide on specialist naturalist safaris, he approached Ultimate Safaris in 2015 as he believed becoming a guide there would offer him the best possible opportunity to interact with the sort of guests who would most appreciate the insights he could provide on the experiences they would have when on safari. This has worked out extremely well for all concerned and he has shown the confidence and enthusiasm required to provide excellent safaris with extremely positive feedback from the guests he has taken out.

Francois is a professional, personable, and caring guide who has fitted in extremely well with the existing team of guides, and he has proved to be an absolute delight to travel with.

Personal Interests

Music (he plays both keyboard and the guitar), travel and wildlife

Why I enjoy guiding

It connects me to the world and the world to meâ

Memorable experience on trail

I was in the middle of my two week safari, where my guests and I were in Damaraland with the main focus of finding the desert adapted elephants. We headed out in the early morning, with a picnic packed, and went to the last area that the elephants had been seen. When we got there, the only thing we came across was old footprints and dung. And so the search began! We spent the entire day following footprints in the sand but with no success, and after our lunch we decided to give up on the search and head back to camp. About halfway back to camp we came across a troop of baboons, and after having no sightings all day, we stopped to observe these entertaining animals.

While we were sitting there we heard some cracking of branches and before I could do anything about it, we were surrounded by an entire herd of the elephants' the ones we had been searching for all day. We were now right in the middle of the herd, which is not where we would normally want to be but everyone, including the elephant remained completely relaxed so we were all able to sit back and enjoy a truly memorable and very unique experience. After spending some 45 minutes among these peaceful giants, we had a gap where we could get out and head back to camp.

It was one of the most awe inspiring interactions I have ever had with elephants and it showed just how amazing these giants as, despite their bulk, they can disappear in the desert environment and appear again when you least expect it.

Background

Jan was born in Erlangen in Germany where he spent the majority of his childhood and he only really got his first real taste of Namibia when his father purchased a farm near Outjo, just South of Etosha in 1998. After spending a couple of years there he moved back to Germany and started his tourism career working in a local hotel while also taking courses in English translation training.

Jan moved back to Namibia in 2006 and started working for as a guide for &Beyond, before moving back to Germany again in 2009 to continue his education in natural history. In 2011 he finally moved back to Namibia and helped his father work their family farm. During that time he also did more specialist language freelance guiding for Ultimate Safaris and others before joining the Ultimate guiding team in mid-2013.

Jan is now based in Windhoek with some of his family in Namibia, but is single with no children. He is very dedicated to his job and enjoying the opportunity to work with some of the most experienced naturalist guides in the country. He has always taken an active interest in the bush, especially when living on the farm, and he is very happy to have the chance to have a career in an area which gives him so much pleasure and satisfaction.

Guiding Experience

Jan started in the tourism industry from a young age but only started professional guiding in Namibia from 2006. Being with &Beyond (formerly CC Africa) he was sent on a number of excellent training courses, including the Nkwazi guide course in South Africa where he went through an intense field guide training programme. Through this course he learnt valuable skills for use when guiding on foot, as well as gaining great insight into animal behaviour. These skills were then honed even further when he worked at Sossusvlei Desert Lodge in the Namib Desert and he had to learn even more about the behaviour of the smaller animals and reptiles that were mostly seen there.

Whilst working with &Beyond he completed all his NATH guide training courses ranging from history to flora and fauna, and thus qualified as a National guide. These courses added valuable depth and experience to his existing knowledge base and provided him with a firm basis on which to build on his experience in the guiding field. After finally returning from Germany he did freelance guiding for a number of local companies to gain further experience in National guiding and to help him to decide on the sort of guiding he most wanted to do. This also had the added advantage of allowing him to see more different parts of the country and expand his knowledge even further.

Jan joined Ultimate Safaris in mid-2013 and quickly slotted in. His former experience means he has already established himself as part of the strong Ultimate Safaris guiding team, which is arguably Namibia's strongest guiding team.

Personal Interests

Spending time out in the wilderness, birding and reading.

Why I enjoy guiding

Experiencing once in a lifetime opportunities and meeting new and interesting people from a variety of different walks of life.

On Trail...

At one point when I was tracking desert elephants in Damaraland with guests, we were following the tracks and came across the elephant herd feeding in the river. We spent time with them as they went about their daily activities. However, due to the rough road on the way in to find them I had ended up with two flat back tyres which I only noticed when I wanted to leave. The elephants were still roaming around in the riverbed and this made it difficult to get out and change these tyres.

Once the elephants moved off slightly I got some of my guests to watch out for me as I was changing the tyres. The elephants continued to feed sedately around us and this allowed my guests a fantastic sighting as they became comfortable with us just standing there. Once it was all fixed we climbed in and reluctantly headed off. The day therefore gave us a challenge which led to a solution that was both practical and enjoyable. This confirmed my long standing belief that nature will always find a way to surprise you.

Background

Jason comes from a well-known family of Namibian Nature Conservators who have been very involved in development issues in the country for decades. The Nott family first came to South West Africa in the early 80's to work for the South African administration in Nature Conservation, and they stayed on after Independence in 1990 when they all opted to take Namibian Citizenship. They have continued to work on conservation and community development issues, mainly in the north of the country, ever since.

Jason spent his early years living in a small town called Omaruru where a love of nature was instilled in him from a young age. He took every opportunity to be outdoors, either with his parents or his godfather (Dr Flip Stander who has become well-known for his veterinary work and scientific research on Namibia's desert lions). He gained a huge amount of knowledge and expertise through being with them as they worked, and he has added to this experience with his own book learning as he is also an avid reader of any publications on the subject.

As he also enjoys working with people, he soon found a way of combining both interests through running his own safaris and then getting more heavily involved in the tourism industry. He studied to get his diploma in Travel and Tourism management, and then started his formal career off in lodge management when he ran a lodge in north-western Namibia. While he was there, he found his way to his true joy, sharing the wonders of the more remote areas of Namibia with visitors and that is why he became a safari guide.

He is now working at Ultimate Safaris where he has found a way to continue his professional guiding career while still being able to give back to conservation and sustainable tourism. As his background and interests were ideally suited to this, Jason has been entrusted with helping to run the Tou Trust, Ultimate Safaris non-profit registered trust, which is involved in a number of humanitarian and conservation initiatives around the country. He also uses a separate part of his former experiences to manage the mobile (under canvas) safari department at the company, ensuring mobile camps run smoothly and efficiently whilst in the field.

Jason is an enthusiastic and knowledgeable birder, although not yet quite able to claim that he is a specialist guide in the field, and he is an accomplished photographer. He is very personable and brings his passion for his country across to his guests, leaving them an abiding love for Namibia and its various inhabitants.

Guiding Experience

Jason's enthusiasm for protecting the environment was part of his up-bringing. He witnessed for himself the effects of protecting land resources through tourism, and saw the progress and development of rural conservancies at first hand. He then went away for a GAP year in England, returning to run his first private safari for pupils from the school had been working at. This was at the tender age of 19 while also studying Travel and Tourism management at a local university.

He then went on to fine tune his guiding skills while working at Palmwag Lodge in Damaraland. He quickly proved his competence there and soon became the lodge manager while also taking responsibility for the training of local guides. Since leaving Palmwag, he has continued to guide a variety of trips, ranging from camping to more upmarket fly-in safaris. Jason has a great understanding of conservation and sustainability issues concerned in the development of the country and this allows him to look further into the natural environment than just identifying the fauna and flora.

Jason also has many existing relationships with local communities that he has worked with all over the northwest, and this means that any guests he takes in to visit these communities are treated as family friends rather than just as visiting tourists. He is also an interesting and informative travelling companion so, by the end of any safari guided by him, you will have a greater understanding and love of the country that he calls home as well as having had an unforgettable experience.

Personal Interests

Birding, Conservation, Sports, Camping, and Traveling (preferably with my wife)

Why I enjoy guiding

One of the greatest pleasures is showing someone something new and fascinating about the country I love, and guiding is my tool for doing this.

On Trail...

I have many fond memories of lion encounters, especially when out in the field with Flip Stander, but there is one that will always stick out in my mind. This is the time that I really gained my respect for these wonderful animals and I will always admire their strength and beauty. We were on a school trip hike through the Palmwag concession, and decided to take a major detour so we could have a swim is some natural springs. We were approaching the spring quite fast as we made our way up the gorge it was located in and the closer we got the more lion tracks we saw, and all of a sudden there were lion cub tracks too, lots of them.

Before we even knew what was happening, there was a rustle in the bushes and out came a female lion charging out at us. As she approached us standing in a line, we just froze. She then hit on the brakes and skidded towards us and, as the dust settled and my eyes cleared, directly in front of me was the head of a female lion just an arm's length away. As she stared me straight in the eyes, my outlook on lions changed in an instant. She walked up and down the line disdainfully then made her way back to the bush after collecting her cubs, and they all ran off into the distance. This was how I realized what great and magnificent animals they really were.

I was just 13 at the time!

Background

Jeremia was born and raised near Omaruru in the central north-west part of Namibia. The name of the town, “Omaruru” means “sour” in the local Otjiherero language. The name "Omaruru" was used because of the bitter-bush growing in the ephemeral Omaruru River. When cattle browse on this bush in the dry season, their milk takes on a distinctly bitter taste.

Jeremia grew up with three siblings on a farm on the outskirts of town, and he attended a Roman Catholic mission primary school before going on to secondary level in Omaruru. He herded goats in his holidays to pay school fees since his father’s salary wasn’t enough to send him and all his siblings to school, and growing up on a farm created an interest and then a fascination for nature.

This fascination continued and grew even stronger during his school years and he was particularly interested in science and its impact on nature. Afterwards, he had more first-hand experience of nature as he went back to working on his father’s farm to help while some of the other siblings finished their schooling. He then went to work on a hunting farm outside of Omaruru and, while he still enjoyed the outdoor life, he really disliked the hunting as it didn’t sit well with his love for nature.

Guiding experience

Jeremia started to work at Erindi Game Reserve early in 2010. This is a privately-owned nature reserve which is a massive 70,000 hectares and it game him the opportunity to explore and learn more about the wider field of natural history and conservation. He was fortunate to get sponsorship from Marula Company while working at Erindi and went to Botswana to get his qualification in field guiding as a level 1 nature guide in 2014.

Shortly after his return he started helping with ecological research on the reserve in his spare time and he also began ‘distance learning’ on tour guiding courses because he wanted to learn more about the country and to fulfil his goal of becoming a national guide.

He finished the tour guiding classes and then started to look around for job opportunities that would get him away from a single reserve and give him the chance to learn more about other areas. He wanted to join a team of professional guides with whom he could share his experiences so applied to Ultimate Safaris as he already knew a number of the guides working there and liked what they had told him. He had spent seven years gaining great guiding experience at Erindi but, when an opportunity came up, he was ready to serve out his notice and take up the new challenge. Erindi had been a great foundation, but it was now time to move on.

Personal interests

Jeremia has a great interest in wildlife photography and is always happy to learn more about that as part of his job, and he also really enjoy birds and birding. Beyond that, one of his favourite hobbies is watching soccer.

Why I enjoy guiding

Jeremia takes huge pleasure in sharing the knowledge he has acquired with the people around him, and he particularly enjoys sharing the unique aspects of his country with visitors to whom this is all very alien. He likes to bring Namibia alive, to give guests some understanding of what the country is all about, and encouraging them to enjoy its eccentricities as much as he does. Guiding is simply his passion, and his enthusiasm for his work means he gets better at it every month that passes.

On Trail…

At a stage I joined one of the biggest elephant translocations ever within Namibia. Elephants were caught in Bushmanland and transported to a reserve about 1000 kilometres away. It is never easy for translocated elephants to settle into their new habitat and it often took as long as two to three months for this to happen.

I was asked to follow the elephants in an open safari vehicle to monitor and help to habituate them. The longer I spent with these animals, the more comfortable I became when following them off-road – and this turned out to be a big mistake. One day I drove into thick bush looking for a male elephant that was in musth. This elephant bull then charged at my vehicle from close range and I had nowhere to go, so all I could do was shout at him. To my great surprise he stopped and stopped RIGHT in front of the vehicle. I was alone, and I was totally surrounded by the dust that the elephant had kicked up, but it was an incredible experience!

Since then I learned that despite their size, an elephant needs a lot of space for comfort. I also learned one thing more that day that I have never forgotten since then: I’m a conservationist at heart, and I am very happy to take my guests out into the natural environment but, at the same time, I need to look after it and those who live in it.

Background

Johann comes from a small town in the south of Namibia called Keetmanshoop. This is where he grew up with an older brother and a younger sister, with the bush just a stone’s throw away from town,which is where he spent most of his time after school and on the weekends.

On completing high school, he went to the Polytechnic of Namibia to study towards a diploma in Electronic Engineering. However, he was unable to renew his bursary after his first year of studies so had to leave the Polytechnic and start working, beginning as a trainee technician at Telecom Namibia, and then as a bank teller at the commercial Bank of Namibia.

Fortunately, he was never satisfied in these professions as he felt his calling was elsewhere – and it turned out that his heart was set on being able to explore nature. The bush was calling!

Johann has a long term partner, and he splits his time between the south of Namibia and Windhoek. He has a quiet nature, and loves to share the wonders of the bush and the desert with his guests.

Guiding experience

Johann joined Wilderness Safaris as a trainee in 2006 and he spent the next year on a variety of different training programs until he decided to settle on guiding and joined the Wilderness Safaris guiding team in 2007. He started his guiding career in the Kulala camps near Sossusvlei, later moving to Damaraland area where he worked in different camps like Doro Nawas, Damaraland Camp and ultimately Desert Rhino Camp.

Over the years he continued attending training programs with Wilderness Safaris and doing guide courses with NATH (Namibian Academy for Tourism and Hospitality) until, he decided it was time to broaden his horizons beyond any specific lodge and join the Ultimate Safaris team of National Guides.

Johann’s vast experience in the north-west means that he is an acknowledged expert on the black rhinos of that region, and he is therefore a very valuable resource for passing on his expertise to the rest of our guiding team.

Personal interests

Astronomy, Tracking and learning more about them as well as everything in between!

Why I enjoy guiding

To explore and discover new things with guests while still being able to show them what it is that I find so exciting about Namibia, its environment, and its inhabitants.

On Trail…

"On a rhino tracking expedition in Damaraland, we spotted a rhino in the distance, but when we got closer to where it had been we discovered that it had moved on. However, I was not prepared to give up on this so I asked one of the trackers to stay with the guests and rest, while I went on with the others to climb a small hill. This worked well as we spotted the rhino resting just a short distance off.

I kept watch while one of the trackers went back to get the guests and the rest of the team. While he was gone, I took my backpack off and sat down to watch the rhino. When I saw the rest of the group approaching the rhino from down the hill, I went to pick up my backpack in preparation for joining them. As I turned to get it, I suddenly noticed a leopard crawling towards me, and only about 25 meters away. On making eye contact, I moved my backpack across my stomach and chest to provide extra protection if necessary, and slowly took out my jacket from my backpack and raised it in order to look bigger and more intimidating.

The leopard remained in a crouched position for a while longer, then raised itself and gave me a lateral pose, showing off his impressive size and giving an intimidating growl. Seeing it was still making up its mind, I gave a “controlled” shout in order to convince it that I was not suitable prey. It eventually started to move off slowly, and then suddenly disappeared altogether.

So, the lesson I learned from this was be persistent, but to remain vigilant – especially when concentrating on a single sighting as there is nothing at all to say that what I am watching will be the only animals of interest around."

Background

Nestor comes from the Northern part of Namibia where he grew up in a traditional family who lived in a small village within Ovamboland. Both his parents are from the Oshiwambo tribe and Nestor still follows many of the cultural practices of his ancestors. He went to a local primary school at Eembahu and his parents then decided to send him on to high school in the western part of the country in a small town called Arandis near Swakopmund on the coast.

After completing his schooling, he took some time off in search of work before joining the Desert Academy where he was first exposed to the tourism industry. After completing the course there he joined &Beyond (when it was still called CC Africa) and worked at their Namibian property, Sossusvlei Desert Lodge. After a good stint at the lodge he decided to expand his guiding career and left the lodge in search of more experience in other parts of the country before joining the Ultimate Safaris family.

Nestor has a long-term girlfriend who lived in the UK for many years in the UK when she was working with a London based tour operator. They got together whenever possible with Nestor going to London and his girlfriend coming to Namibia, but she decided to return full time and now lives in Windhoek, although she still works for the same company as their Windhoek based consultant.

He also has five children who he is very close to, and he cherishes his relationship with them. Being based in Windhoek between safaris means that he gets to see more of his children than previously, but he still relishes the opportunity to take them out to explore other parts of the country – especially now his wife is now based here and able to go with them too.

Guiding Experience

Nestor has worked his entire career in the tourism industry and has a great passion for sharing his knowledge of the country with the people that come to visit it. He was first entranced by the industry when he joined the Desert Academy, which gave him a taste in all the different sectors involved and he knew from the start that he wanted to be a guide so continued training in that field. Once qualified, he joined &Beyond at Sossusvlei Desert Lodge and spent the next eleven years there gathering valuable knowledge about the Namib Desert and all it entails.

During his time at Sossusvlei Desert Lodge he grew as a guide and became a popular figure at the lodge as well as one who was respected for his guiding knowledge. As part of his guiding development he was sent to Nkwazi in South Africa which is a very hands on guiding school, and gave him the chance to learn about other aspects of his profession. Nestor had then reached the point in his career where he wanted to expand his scope to becoming a National guide but as his knowledge was so specialized in the desert he needed to go to learn more about other areas.

As a result, he took a temporary job as a lodge based guide for Wilderness Safaris and spent most of that time in the north west of the country where he obtained intimate knowledge a completely different area and its inhabitants when based at Damaraland Camp and Desert Rhino Camp. In his time there he experienced a new side of Namibia and learnt all the ins and outs of the North West and how to deal with animals whilst on foot, especially when tracking the desert adapted black rhino.

In early 2015, Nestor added a new experience when he travelled up to Tanzania to help deliver vehicles for conversion and then spent two months working as a guide in the Masai Mara on a guide exchange program. Having now explored and got to know the most interesting parts of Namibia, this was a great experience as he can now draw on experiences he had in East Africa and make easy comparisons for his guest. Nestor has gained great confidence and this experience only added his already great guiding ability.

Already an integral part of the Ultimate Safaris team, Nestor continues to grow as a guide. He has expanded his experience and knowledge even further and he is already a highly sought after guide for guests to travel with.

Personal Interests

The Southern region of Namibia, Birding, Geology and Culture.

Why I enjoy guiding

Having the opportunity to meet people from all walks of life and informing them about my wonderful country and all it has to offer.

On Trail…

One of my scariest but most memorable stories whilst guiding happened when I was still guiding on the Namib Rand Nature Reserve. I stopped next to a rocky outcrop where we often took a break for tea and as my guests and as I climbed out of the vehicle we saw a leopard on the rocks. I could hardly believe my eyes especially as the leopard disappeared very quickly – but then so did one of the guests who was an avid photographer. He had set off to make his way up the rocks to get a better photograph of the leopard. I started running after him and I was still making my way up the rocks when I saw the leopard making its way out of a small crevice in the rocks.

I caught up to the photographer and pushed him down to the side and at the same time grabbed the tripod he had with him. I was able to scare the leopard off, but only by throwing the tripod towards it. As we both gathered ourselves afterwards, we noticed that this was a female leopard that had a cub with her so all she was doing was trying to protect the cub. This was a scary experience that taught me nature will always surprise you, no matter how well you think you know an area, and that you should always respect it.

Background

Perez was born in Amino in the north eastern part of Namibia, although his parents originated from different parts of the country, and he grew up in a large family of Herero speakers. He attended Pioneers Boy School in Windhoek and left there to go directly into the tourism industry. He started work as a barman at Kulala Desert Lodge near Sossusvlei and this gave him his first exposure to the beauty of the Namib Desert as well as his first exposure to international tourists.

As he enjoyed learning about the desert environment and he is especially good with people, he very quickly found himself moving into the field of local guiding so he spent the next three years working at that and constantly improving his knowledge. After that, he decided he needed broader horizons so moved to work at CC Africa (now known as &Beyond) where he started as a Camp Captain arranging the establishment of mobile camps ready for the arrival of guests. As before, his obvious capacity for interaction with people from all walks of life meant he quickly got drawn back into becoming a guide / ranger who escorted guests around the country rather than just looking after them in camps.

When the regular safari programme he had been working on was stopped in 2007, Perez worked as a freelance guide for a year before joining Ultimate Safaris soon after it was created by the merger of two other companies in 2008. Since then he has extended his knowledge into all parts of Namibia and also into parts of neighbouring countries; he has gained hugely in experience and exposure to a wide variety of discerning visitors; and he has completed most of the formal Namibian National guide training courses that will give him the highest non-specialist guiding qualification possible.

Perez is a natural entertainer and he is in great demand as many of those that have traveled with him return for a second (or third) safari, but only on the condition that he can be their guide again. Perez has great knowledge of the natural world which he loves to share with his guests, and the lively intelligence and wit that makes him a fascinating guide and travelling companion.

As with all the Ultimate Safari guides, Perez receives unequivocal top rating from former guests for his guiding skills and his company when travelling around the region. He has shown particular interest in travelling outside Namibia and has taken several groups through the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park (bordering with South Africa and Botswana) as well as bringing guests up from Cape Town, and dropping others in Livingstone or Victoria Falls. He is a great enthusiast and an all rounder, who has proved to be a great asset to the company.

Perez lives by himself but does have children, a son and daughter who are 7 & 2 years respectively. He has a great involvement with his children and tries to let his own love for the environment rub off on them.

Guiding Experience

Perez started guiding at Kulala Desert Lodge began by going out with the other guides who were based there, before graduating to taking guests out by himself. From this beginning, his personality ensured that he was fast tracked on his way to becoming a full time guide. His great sense of humour and his ability to absorb a large amount of knowledge meant that he soon became the head guide for all the Wilderness Safaris camps in the southern half of the country. He was also sent off to train at Kaporota where he achieved his level 1 FAGASA qualification.

He then moved on to try out other skills at CC Africa, where he was taken on as a camp captain in recognition of both his organisational ability and his ability to relate to a wide variety of people. He was then sent to attend a training course at Nkwazi in South Africa where he learned even more about general guiding techniques, focusing on guided walking safaris and animal behaviour. As he now had a deep knowledge of desert guiding and eight years worth of guiding experience, he decided it was time for him to take the next step and move his guiding career onto the National level. He therefore moved to Windhoek where he took freelance guiding work that took him to new parts of the country while he worked out exactly where he wanted to settle. At the end of that he came to join the newly created Ultimate Safaris.

Perez is now one of the most sought after guides with a following of former visitors who stay in regular touch with him, many of whom return to travel with him again. He continues to work on finishing his last few courses with NATH (Namibian Academy for Tourism and Hospitality) as these will give him the high level of qualification that guides of his stature need. In the meantime, he is on the road and gathering more and more information, while also ensuring that he is up to date on new finds and reports about Namibia and its wildlife.

Personal Interests

Birds, animals and nature

Why I enjoy guiding

I love meeting new people and showing them our beautiful country

On trail...

When out on safari as a guide you see many fascinating aspects of wildlife and nature, but there will always be one that sticks in your mind. Mine shows the lengths that elephants and other animals will go to in order to survive. While driving in the Hoanib River in the North West of Namibia, I noticed elephant tracks leaving the river bed and heading up a valley which got very narrow and steep. I decided to follow them to see where they led and I soon got to a point where the vehicle could go no further so I continued to follow the tracks on foot. They went up into a ravine which shortly turned into a watershed by a steep mountain face. The tracks continued and as I looked up, I saw elephants on the watershed having a dust bath. I continued my way up to the watershed and I saw the elephants had moved down into the next valley, but that was not all that I saw. There was another reason why they had climbed this steep mountain and left their tracks were all over the place, even up sheer cliffs that came up to my chest. This was to chew on the Commiphora plants on the side of the mountain. There were remains of plants everywhere, some of which had been ripped up, chewed on and spat out. For some reason they needed to get something from this plant into their diet and were prepared to climb this mountain to do so. This sort of behaviour has always absolutely fascinated me.

Background

Peter Nuugonya comes from Oshivambo, a village near the populous town of Ondangwa, in the northern part of Namibia, which lies north of Etosha National Park. He proved to be a good student when at primary school and did particularly well in science – especially Biology, which he found fascinating. As a result, his big dream at the time was to become a doctor.

He completed his schooling very successfully at Nehale Senna Secondary School near Ondangwa but, unfortunately, he wasn’t able to go on to tertiary education due to financial constraints.

Peter moved to Otjiwarongo in 2003 and stayed with one of his father’s relatives while looking for work. He got his first job at the local company called responsible for clearing the bushes alongside the roads and that’s where he got to learn more about calls for animals and birds – although it was also a big bonus to have grown up in the bush and learned many animal tracks as a youngster. While this was all interesting enough, Peter always kept up with friends and family in the hope of finding employment that would suit his skills and interests better.

Guiding experience

Peter got his first major break when we was taken on by CCAfrica and given a job at Sossusvlei Mountain Lodge in the NamibRand Nature Reserve, on the eastern margins of the Namib Desert. He started working as a barman, but his potential was quickly recognised so he was moved to the workshop and soon started doing back-ups for the senior guides on the desert quad bike experiences offered by the lodge into the red dunes of the Namib. Right away, he realised that guiding was a career that he would enjoy, so he started to develop his guiding skills further.

After doing some assessment modules in guiding, Peter was selected to go to the CCAfrica in-house guide training programme at the Phinda Private Game Reserve in South Africa. Here he learned about wildlife beyond that found in the desert which he had already become familiar with, and he developed a number of good core guiding skills. He then returned to work as a full time guide back at Sossusvlei Mountain Lodge (soon to be renamed Sossusvlei Desert Lodge) which is situated in one of the most scenically attractive parts of Namibia.

While working at the, he spent a lot of time with the lodge’s volunteer astronomers and developed his own knowledge to the degree that he often ran astronomy sessions to guests at the lodge using the high powered telescope that is located there. He also had the chance to visit other lodges belonging to the company, and did a trip to Botswana for three weeks in 2015, where he got to see the Okavango Delta, Chobe National Park, the Moremi and Savuti game reserves, thus providing him with another great chance to learn more about fauna and flora beyond the desert.

While guiding in the desert over many years, Peter had the opportunity to develop his interest in birding, stargazing, photography, and overall nature but, after ten years, he felt it was time to broaden his knowledge and move his career onto wider stage. He therefore joined a new ‘family’ at Ultimate Safaris, where he had the opportunity to travel around the country more and develop his guiding skills on a National rather than regional basis.

Personal interests

Meeting new people, Astronomy, Birding, and Desert Ecology

Why I enjoy guiding

Peter loves learning about a wide variety of subjects and thoroughly enjoys sharing this knowledge with the guests who travel with him – while also learning from them about the very different world that they live in.

On Trail…

Astronomy has been a significant part of the experience at Sossusvlei Desert Lodge since the lodge opened. Because the area is now registered as a ‘dark sky reserve', it has attracted volunteer astronomers from all over the world, who run the lodge's astronomy program for visiting guests. Peter was lucky enough to travel around the country with a visiting volunteer astronomer on an extended tour of Namibia in 2008, and this allowed him to see the country through different eyes and to understand why it is such an appealing destination for star gazers – especially when away from the towns and other sources of ambient light. His enthusiasm for star gazing as an addition to the more normal safari activities makes him a fascinating and entertaining travelling companion as well as a great guide.

Background

Ronnie comes from a small Damara community around the famous Spitzkoppe area, where his father was a livestock farmer. Although he was born in the nearby town of Usakos, he spent a lot of his childhood exploring the area with his friends and developed his interest in nature from young age. He attended the local primary school before heading off to the coast, where he was at a boarding house and attended a Technical high school.

He got his first taste of the tourism industry when he started work at the Spitzkoppe rest camp as a receptionist. He enjoyed contact with visitors so much that he soon started leading guided walks to the local sights such as the bushman paintings. He then left to work in the fishing industry for a while before deciding this didn’t suit him, so he grabbed the opportunity to take a job with &Beyond working at Sossusvlei Desert Lodge. He stayed with them for eleven years, working his way up through the system and ending up as a senior guide at the lodge.

Having reached his ceiling as a lodge based guide, he decided it was time for another change and the bigger challenge of working as a national guide, so he approached Ultimate Safaris with the intention of joining a guiding team that he had seen growing in expertise and experience during all the years he worked in the Namib. The knowledge he had gained and his many years of experience when interacting with the discerning guests at the lodge made his an ideal match and he has since become a valuable member of the Ultimate Safaris guiding team.

Guiding Experience

Guiding for &Beyond for such a long time allowed Ronnie to become an expert in desert guiding and to pass on the experience he had gained to others who came to join him. However, it also gave him the opportunities to guide in other areas of Southern Africa where &Beyond operates – as well as attending a number of in house specialist training courses.

He attended training courses at the well-known luxury lodges of Nkwazi and Phinda in South Africa where he learned even more about general guiding techniques, focusing on guided walking safaris and animal behaviour. Once he completed that training, he went on two guide exchanges, one at Victoria Falls where he was able to learn from some of the best guides in Zimbabwe, and the other a return to Phinda .

This accumulated knowledge and experience was what gave Ronnie the confidence to join some of best guides in Namibia and find his new home at Ultimate Safaris. His passion for nature and for sharing his experiences with visitors to the country makes Ronnie an ideal guide, with a caring personality and a well-developed sense of humour. All of these characteristics make him a great travelling companion as well as a fount of knowledge which will ensure you enjoy your travels around Namibia with him.

Personal Interests

Birding, reading and soccer

Why I enjoy guiding

It allows me the opportunity to meet people from different cultures, and to learn from them while also sharing aspects of my own culture with them.

On Trail…

During one of my very first trips out on quad bikes on the Northern part of the NamibRand Reserve, I was leading a group of visitors and quickly realized they spoke very limited English. I sat down with them over a cup of coffee and did my activity briefing, but had the strong feeling that they were not understanding a word I said. Before we finally set off, I went through the safety briefing again just to be sure I got the message across, but a lot of the communication still had to be done by sign language.

The first half an hour went by and all was going well, so I relaxed and thought the rest would run smoothly. Not long after that, I looked over my shoulder and realized that none of the guests were following me, although in the distance was a cloud of dust which showed me where they were. I then realized that, despite all I had said, the guests had decided to go off road and chase an oryx over the gravel plains. I had to race to catch up with them, and when I did I was able to stop them and prevent them from harassing the wildlife any further. This was a very scary experience and I learnt some valuable lessons about differing values as the guests were unable to see why what they had done was wrong. This showed me that any assumptions that are made with people who come from different backgrounds are potentially dangerous, and also that it is essential to be sure that guests have local the situation explained in a way that makes sense to them – even if this requires the enlistment of a proper interpreter.

Background

Stewart was born in the small town of Nyanga on the eastern border of Zimbabwe, and attended school in Harare. After completing High School he went on to attend courses at a tourism college, as he knew from an early age that this was where his interests would lie. Unfortunately, this was at a time when tourism in Zimbabwe was on a downward spiral so he had to drop out of school due to lack of funding. Stewart filled his time by selling a variety of goods, ranging from curio craft for tourists to truckloads of fish caught in a nearby dam, and he then moved on to South Africa in 2004 in the hope of finding something more constructive to do. He ended up doing part time laboring work on a variety of farms. One of those was on a hunting farm where he drove a tractor and learned about tracking game from the resident hunting guide. This is where he got his first taste of dealing with international visitors but it did not last long as he had to leave and return to Zimbabwe after only a year.

On his return, he went back to selling goods locally until he came across someone who took curios across for sale in Windhoek and who wanted Stewart to act as a salesman for him. At that stage, Stewart had never been to Namibia but he set off across to Windhoek in 2008 and has been based in Namibia ever since. His break came when selling curios in the town center when a couple of German tourists asked him to show them around the town after he had sold them some curios. He agreed to do so and quickly did some studying from a city guide book before setting off later that day. After this, the guests told Stewart he was too talented to be selling curios on the street and that he should become a full time guide. Once his enthusiasm for sharing his knowledge with visitors had been rekindled in this way, he went off to learn more about his new profession and developed a real passion for guiding.

Guiding Experience

Once he had identified that this was what he wanted to do, Stewart did his research and found that he could do all the necessary training at the Namibian Academy for Hospitality and Tourism (NATH), but that this was expensive and he did not have enough money to do so. His next lucky break came when he contacted the guests who had originally set him on this path and they offered to pay for his training, which he started in early 2009. After completing many of the relevant courses, he was offered a job at Mowani Mountain Camp as part of his on the job training, and he spent the next three years at this lovely camp. This is where he got his first taste of real naturalist guiding out in the wilderness, and it also gave him the chance to get to know most of the wonderful scenery of Damaraland based, from the Twyfelfontein area, as well as learning many intimate details about the desert adapted wildlife found there.

After three great years in Damaraland, he felt that he needed to broaden his experience and learn about other parts of the country so he applied to join Wilderness Safaris. He went off to work in the south where he had the opportunity to learn about the desert conditions in the Namib, and he practiced his guiding skills when conducting daily excursions into the Sossusvlei Area when based on the Kulala Reserve. As this is a completely different area with far less game, he had to learn about all the small things that make time in the desert so interesting for visitors. This did wonders for his guiding skills as it meant he had to be much more inventive in what he showed his guests in what was a unique and challenging environment. After spending a year guiding in the desert he returned to Damaraland, but took the opportunity to continue with his NATH courses and attend a specialized birding course on Damaraland residents as well as a course highlighting the behavioral differences between desert adapted elephants and elephants living in other areas.

On his return to Damaraland, Stewart worked at Damaraland Camp where he became an assistant camp manager as well as a guide, taking on more responsibilities and a wider variety of tasks. He then continued working his way north and ended up working at Serra Cafema on the Kunene river, where he got to explore the north western part of the country as well as gaining valuable experience when running boat cruises on the Kunene River. This gave him the chance to really focus on the birding aspect of his guiding skills, and the exposure he got in the various areas gave him a firm grasp on the greater picture of Namibia and how it all comes together.

Stewart decided during 2014 that the time had come to move on to becoming a guide on a national level so he joined the Ultimate Safaris guiding team in early 2015, and arrived with a valuable breadth of experience as well as a lovely cheerful personality. Everyone lucky enough to travel with him values these traits and enjoys every moment of their safari with him.

Personal Interests

Many sports including tennis, and spending time outdoors.

Why I enjoy guiding

It allows me the opportunity to be out there in wilderness where I feel free and able to fully relax in an environment that I am very comfortable with.

On Trail...

While I was at Mowani, I took a group on a morning drive to look for desert elephant and I was asked at our tea time break if we at the lodge went out to put up the round nests, that the guests thought were decorations, in the trees to make them more attractive. I explained that nests were built by various species of birds, mainly weavers of one sort or another, and I had illustrations to show her what these birds looked like, but one guest still didn't believe me. On my way back to camp I stopped at a tree with White-browed Sparrow-weaver nests in it and we walked up to the tree to have a closer look at the nests. Even after that, she still didn't believe me and insisted that we were the ones that put these clumps of grass in the tree.

We went out on the afternoon to visit Twyfelfontein and I stopped again at the same tree on the way back in the hope that the birds would be coming in and out of their nests. We sat there for about fifteen minutes and finally the birds returned to the nests and luck was on my side as they were making repairs to their nests. Finally, these guests now believed what I had been telling them all day. What I learnt from this experience is that some people really have no idea about Africa and the wildlife that inhabits it, and this increased my pleasure in being able to share information about our wonderful continent with them.

Background

Tarry is a true Namibian, who was born in Windhoek and attended primary school at St. George’s Diocesan School and high school at St. Paul’s College. While there, he took part in many outdoor activities including hiking the Fish River Canyon, and doing volunteer work for the Ministry of Environment and Tourism in Etosha National Park.

From a young age, Tarry had a keen interest in nature, birds and photography which was inherited from his parents, fostered during many family camping holidays, and extended through intensive involvement in the Scouts of Namibia. He started in Scouts at the early age of seven and went on to become a troop leader, later also being involved in two Cederberg Senior Scout Adventures. He then developed his skills further when he went to study at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in South Africa, and he spent his final year on their Game Ranch Management course where he extended his knowledge on wildlife and gained even greater understanding of the subject which provides his major graduate qualification.

In addition to his general outdoor interests and academic studies, Tarry has also always been a keen sportsman. He enjoys hiking, mountain biking, and trekking as well as a number of team sports. He has regularly represented Namibia in the National field hockey team in both the indoor and outdoor form and he plans to continue doing so (when he has time) for the foreseeable future.

Tarry has traveled all over southern Africa for personal and professional reasons, and this has given him a greater understanding of the relationship between Namibia and its neighbours. Now based in Windhoek and working at Ultimate Safaris.

Guiding experience

After leaving school, Tarry took a Gap year where he started his tourism career working as a river guide for Felix Unite on the Orange River. He started as a basic guide and quickly worked his way up to an A-rate guide in the one year he spent there before leaving to continue his studies at the Nelson Mandela University. He studied game ranch and natural resource management and also qualified as a professional hunting guide - although the latter was done in order to learn more about game than to be used in a professional capacity. He did his in service training during his third year at Bucklands Private Game Reserve in the Eastern Cape and while working on the ranch he acted as guide for guests, taking them through thick coastal terrain both on foot and by vehicle to give them a series of close encounters with the wildlife to be found there.

Once he started guiding in this way and had gained experience as well a greater confidence, he discovered he had both a talent and a passion for sharing his own knowledge of the local wildlife with guests coming to visit the ranch. He therefore decided that this was where his future career would lie and stayed on at the ranch for another eighteen months after completing his in service training and used that time to complete the official FGASA level one and three guiding qualifications. This meant he was officially qualified as a trails guide who was able to take guests on foot into dangerous game areas.

With this expanded experience base, Tarry was in a good position for his move back to Namibia. He came to join Ultimate Safaris in 2012 and quickly proved he had no problem applying the knowledge gained in South Africa to the Namibian context. He worked with all the more established lead guides before starting to lead his own short tours, but soon proved his worth and moved on to deal with longer safaris with more specialized requirements. When he is not out guiding, he works as the company operations co-ordinator as well as helping on the office where he has taken on the responsibility for promotion in social media etc. He is also working on adding any NATH courses he needs to convert up his FAGASA qualifications to a full Namibian national guide certification.

Tarry had an opportunity in early 2015, where he spent a total of two months in the Masai Mara. Himself and Nestor went there on a guide exchange and helped out at a safari company which gave them the opportunity to explore the Mara. While up there Tarry had time to do birding in a different region of Africa and also gained major experience in wildlife behavior, with new species and familiar ones. This was a great aid to his guiding toolkit, as he can now make comparisons to an area that many of his travelers have been to.

He has a wide knowledge of fauna and flora, with a specific enthusiasm for birding which he plans to take forward to becoming a recognised national birding guide. He is also a keen photographer who is always willing to learn more as well as sharing the skills he has already acquired. Overall Tarry is a fun and knowledgeable travelling companion who will push himself to the limit to ensure you have an excellent safari.

Personal Interests

Hockey, sports, traveling, hiking, photography and birds

Why I enjoy guiding

Meeting new people, and working where no trip is the same.

On trail…

While I was working as a volunteer in Etosha National Park, I went out on a game count with colleagues from the Ministry. We were counting zebra from the road in the western part of Etosha, which at that time had restricted access for the public. Not long after leaving a large herd of zebra our vehicle died so one of my colleagues and I climbed out to check the engine, leaving a lady that was with us in the vehicle as a look out. After getting the all clear, we opened the bonnet and bent over to try to find the problem. While we were busy, the lady in the car had problems with her contact lenses and decided to change them. She fiddled for a bit and when she looked up with her glasses on, she saw a black rhino charging at the vehicle. She shouted at us to get out of the way and as my colleague was next to a door, he swiftly jumped in. However, I was at the front of the vehicle and had to scramble over the engine to get to safety. Once we all settled we saw the rhino come to a halt, at the exact position where I had been standing so, if I had not moved, I would have a rhino horn piercing my body. I am not sure I would normally have managed this feat of acrobatics, but it’s amazing what a major shot of adrenalin can achieve!

Background

Tim hails from the country of Zimbabwe, where he spent the majority of his early

years fascinated by any form of nature. At ten years of age, he migrated to Australia

with his family and completed his schooling in central Australia, Alice Springs.

During his final year of high school, he went on a school cricket tour to South Africa in

2007 and after visiting the Kruger National Park again, his passion of the African bush

and its wonderful animals returned.

After schooling, Tim worked in a variety of different fields from glazier labouring to an

usher at the cinemas, bow tie and all! Once he learned of a training organisation for

field guides in South Africa he worked three jobs at the same time to save up and fly

back to Africa.

At the start of 2010 he attended a year long EcoTraining course in different locations

of the Greater Kruger National Park and gained his Field Guides of Southern Africa

(FGASA) qualification before moving to Namibia to start working as a field guide.

Guiding experience

During the EcoTraining course, Tim had opportunities to learn in the bush from

experienced trainers. These activities included, animal tracking, basic and advanced

birding courses with Lawsons Birding Academy, rifle handling, walking dangerous game

(trails guide).

These newly obtained field skills were put to use and built upon when he moved to a

large private game reserve in central Namibia, Erindi Private Game Reserve, where he

worked for 5 years. Tim worked his way up the ranks to senior guide, taking out

specialist activity drives like Birding, Telemetry/Research and lead the specialised

photographic game drive activity on the reserve. He also assisted with Erindi’s

conservation efforts of their African Wild Dog reintroduction and the Global Leopard

Project.

Tim then worked with Wilderness Safaris at Serra Cafema on the banks of the Kunene

River before working in the Okavango Delta and Chobe National Park with a mobile

tented safari company in Botswana. He has also assisted photographic safaris in the

Masaai Mara in Kenya.

Personal interests

Along with his passion for photography and photographic tutorship, Tim enjoys birding,

reptiles and searching for Scorpions. African Wild Dogs are his favourite predator.

Cricket is his favourite sport and he enjoys lasagne.

Why I enjoy guiding

My love for exploring the wilderness giving me the chance to impart my enthusiasm for

all the naturally occurring nature and conservation this country and Africa in particular

has.

On Trail…

While out with a BBC film crew trying to film African Wild Dog behaviour for a kids

program, ‘Naomi’s Nightmares of Nature’, we found the pack relaxing on an overcast

morning with all their pups. As the pups became more restless and starting hinting

they wanted food the pack began to hunt after a nuzzling and chitter session. After

following them through the bush for about ten minutes, they located and started

chasing a herd of large antelopes, Eland!

Choas ensued and for split second we lost both species. It was in the middle of a

drought season and we saw a weakened, sick animal tumble down to the ground

through the bushes ahead of us. Eventually we arrived to a truly incredible scene.

A mix of emotions overcame us all. Sadness, Shock, Awe and enlightenment that this

endangered dog species with less than 5000 estimated individuals left on the African

continent were going to survive another day. All thanks to their opportunist, expert

hunter parents and the natural circle of life and death.

A bit too revealing for a kids program!

Background

Usko was born in the small of Ohangwena, in the northern parts of Ovamboland, where his parents have resided for many years. His family are part of the Oshivambo tribe, who are primarily farmers, and fall under the Kwanjama sub tribe. Usko grew up in the village where he helped his parents with crops, collecting livestock from the field and milking the cows. His mother was a manager at a local supermarket, but his dad had to travel away from the small village where he worked at Transnamib, Namibia’s transport company, where he was based in the larger town of Otjiwarongo.

Usko attended junior school in Grootfontein, which was a major shock for him as he had never had running water, electricity and a TV, which he really enjoyed. Although he started his schooling in Grootfontein he completed his primary schooling in Okahandja, where he boarded for six years, starting at the young age of six. During his school holidays he would either head back to the village or make his way to the capital to visit family. These visits helped him as he went on to attended high school at Ela Dupleseis High School in Windhoek, staying with family that he had previously visited.

After completing school in 2002, he followed in his brothers footsteps, who trained him up as a graphic designer. He worked at the same company as his brother for over six years. Although this was a job that could sustain him for the rest of his life, Usko has always had a love for nature which stemmed from his childhood where he spent time out in the field while herding the livestock. He always came across different birds and trees, and while working with his brother he was always on the lookout for an opportunity to get involved in the tourism industry. He finally got his opportunity to work at Wolwedans and be trained up as a guide, this is where his guiding career started and after experience throughout the country he has now joined the Ultimate Safaris team.

Guiding Experience

In 2009 Usko joined Wolwedans where he was giving field training on the NamibRand Nature Reserve and quickly became a successful guide for them. He was based on the reserve for a total of three years during which time he mastered desert guiding, which forms and integral part of a National guides repertoire. During his time here he was able to focus on the geology of the south, the small critters that inhabit the Namib Desert and some of the rare and special bird species we find in that area. His time there assisted him greatly when he moved further north in the Namib Desert to Damaraland Camp.

It was at Damaraland Camp that Usko first encountered large wildlife, including the desert-adapted elephants that roam through this area. Once again there was more emphasis on the geology of the area, as geology is one of Usko’s passions, but he was also able to master his guiding skills around these larger mammals and started focusing on mammal behavior. After spending a year in this area and mastering his off road skills through this mountainous and stark terrain he was moved to another camp within the larger group. This camp was Serra Cafema which is on the most northern point of Namibia on the Kunene River.

Usko spent two years there, where his guiding skills were tested as he now had to learn how to drive a boat, focus on birding and have his first go at cultural guiding. He spent a total of two years here where he became a stalwart in the guiding team and amongst the local Himba people, which he visited on a regular basis with his guests. He also mastered the Kunene River system, where there are no large mammals but an abundance of bird species. During his time here he was able to complete the majority of his NATH guiding courses.

These NATH courses covered the basics to more complicated courses such as ornithology, politics and history. With these courses and the experience he had picked up over the last six years, he approached Ultimate Safaris and was seen as a strong candidate. He joined the Ultimate Safaris guiding team in early 2015 and has fitted in well as a team player, with fantastic reviews from his guests. Usko is a knowledgeable and experienced guide; and is a pleasure to travel with.

Personal Interests

Geology, plants, birds and traveling in the areas where these are found.

Why I enjoy guiding

Brings me closer to nature and unites people from around the world.

Vernon Swanepoel was born in South Africa, but his family moved to the remote desert area of northern Kenya when he was 8, where growing up gave him a life-long passion for nature and desert areas.

After high school Vernon moved to South Africa to study, initially going into sport studies before he changed course to follow his passion and started studying Nature Conservation. During this time he developed a keen interest in birding and cycled around much of the southern Cape in pursuit of birds.

As a student he worked for a team of scientists researching arid ecology in South Africa. Arid ecology has been an interest ever since.

Vernon lives in Windhoek with his wife and two boys.

Guiding Experience

In 1998 a guiding job became available with Afro Ventures in Namibia, so Vernon took the job expecting that it would be a short term thing. However, very quickly he fell in love with the country, and here too he met his future wife.

For the first three years in Namibia, Vernon guided camping tours throughout Namibia with the majority of the tours that he guided going up through the Caprivi Strip. Towards the end of this three year stretch, Vernon also started doing day tours in Swakopmund and the central coast, developing a local knowledge of this area.

Towards the end 2000 a job as head guide became available at Sossusvlei Desert Lodge (then called Sossusvlei Mountain Lodge) and they moved to the desert. In 2003 when expecting their first child he worked in Windhoek as a tour coordinator, which included some guiding, but moved back to the lodge by the start of 2004 and a year later the couple became assistant managers at the lodge. Over this stretch, Vernon developed an expert knowledge of the Sossusvlei area.

In 2008 Vernon and his family moved to Swakopmund where he did day tours for a number of local operators, as well as a few longer tours through Namibia, before finally moving back to Windhoek in mid-2009, where he’s been ever since.

From Windhoek, Vernon worked as a freelance guide as well as various tourism related jobs, including eventually starting his own short-lived touring company, before joining the tribe at Ultimate Safaris.

Vernon worked as a Tour Consultant for a while, before taking over the new post of guide trainer for Ultimate Safaris.

Personal Interests

Ecology, Evolution, Astronomy, Birds and birding (as well as non-related interests in computer programming and maths)

Why I Enjoy Guiding

I love sharing interesting ideas and exploring fascinating places with interested people.

On The Trail...

In my early years of guiding I had the chance to spend some time camping on wild islands in the Okavango Delta on one of our tours. On these trips we had a camp assistant who travelled with us, assisting throughout the camp in Namibia. Once in Botswana, the Botswana camp crew would take over and we assisted them or went out with the guests out on activities if there was space on the boats.

On one such trip, our guests had gone out for the afternoon and we were assisting the camp crew. These islands were wild and while we were preparing dinner, we heard a herd of elephants coming through the channels onto the island.

Our main camp was under a beautiful big Jackalberry tree (Diospyros mespiliformus), with big, strong branches. The camp crew assured us that the elephants would come directly under the big tree and just walk through the camp. They told us, my Namibian camp assistant and me, to get up into the tree, really high up into the branches. Then they all moved out of the way, probably laughing at us.

While we sat up in the branches of this tree, the whole herd came through, directly under us, just as they told us, and every single elephant lifted it’s trunk to take a sniff of us! Despite being what we thought was fairly high, the biggest elephants just about reached us, and we could almost have reached out and touched the ends of their sniffing trunks.

I’ve had many incredible nature experiences, but that one has stood out after all these years.

Background

Although Vincent was born in Windhoek, he spent the majority of his time growing up on his family’s farm near Aminuis, where his father raised livestock. Young Vincent spend a lot of time out in the field tending to the livestock, which is where he developed his knowledge of the other wilder inhabitants of the area and his love for nature. His mom was a teacher at the local primary school, which Vincent attended before going to boarding school in Windhoek and then obtaining a diploma in Travel & Tourism Management.

He decided that guiding would give him the opportunity to re-establish his connection with the bush so went on study at NATH (Namibian Association of Travel and Hospitality) and was fortunate enough to have his studies funded by a scholarship for suitably able candidates that was offered by the MCA (Millennium Challenge Account). He completed all the courses there and received the level 3, national guiding qualification. Despite being a full time naturalist guide, Vincent is continuing with his studies and is currently in the process of completing his bachelor’s degree in Travel and Tourism Management.

Guiding Experience

Vincent went on to work in the Namib as a guide at Wolwedans on the NamibRand Nature Reserve where he had the opportunity to master the intricacies of the Namib Desert, which forms a major part of all safaris to Namibia. He proved to be so impressive that he was selected to work as a field guide at Animal Kingdom in Disney World in Orlando for a year before returning to the country he loves best.

His amiable and pleasant personality combined with the skills and enthusiasm he demonstrated identified Vincent as an ideal candidate to join the professional team of naturalist guides at the Ultimate Safaris. He has shown that he was an inspired choice as he has fitted in extremely well with the rest of the team and has proved his abilities by consistent positive responses from the guests he has worked with.

With the passion for wildlife that was instilled in him from a very young age and with the knowledge he has acquired since he began his guiding career, Vincent has proved to be a valuable asset. He is a ‘gentle soul’, an intrepid explorer, and an absolute pleasure to travel with.

Personal Interests

Travel and sports such as Soccer

Why I enjoy guiding

Allows me to interact with people from cultures all across the globe, allowing me a platform to demonstrate many aspects of my amazing country and to show them the detail of what it has to offer.

Alfons always had a passion for the open road, keen to get away from the hustle and bustle of city life. During his school holidays he travelled to a family farm in the Erongo region of Namibia where his love for nature was nurtured.

After seeing pictures from a tour his friend did, he knew then that he wanted to be in the tourism industry. After completing his diploma in Travel and Tourism, he worked for three years at the Canon Lodge in the Fish River Canyon. He was then offered a fully paid scholarship by the Millennium Challenge Account of Namibia (MCA) to study at the Namibia Academy for Tourism and Hospitality (NATH), where he obtained his Level 3 National tour guide qualification, graduating at the top of his class. He did his guide internship at Wolwedans on the NamibRand Nature Reserve and from there he joined Ultimate Safaris as a trainee guide.

However, with his strong drive to get the job done and willingness to lend a helping hand, as well as a composed but friendly demeanor, accepting all responsibilities and challenges resiliently, solidly and confidently, he is quickly established himself as a valued member the Windhoek office amongst the consultant team, moving up from junior to intermediate consultant in only a short time, until his recent promotion to senior tour consultant. Add to this the knowledge he gathered over the years on his travels around Namibia, no challenge is too much to use the experience and understanding of his home country to prepare the ideal safari. Alfons still regards the Canon Lodge his favorite place in Namibia and visits it any chance he can get; after all, this is where he got his first job which started his career in the tourism industry.

Born in Angola, she was raised in the former eastern part of Germany. When she flew for the first time in her life, on the life changing journey moving from Angola to Germany as a child, she was inspired by the air hostesses and wanted to be one when she grew up. And her dream came true in 2004, when she was recruited by Air Namibia. During her 5 years of flying with the airline she has been to Germany, the UK, Angola, Ghana and all over South Africa. A passenger asked her one day what she would recommend he visits in Namibia and then the realization dawned on her that she didn’t know Namibia, which became her home since her teens. She’s only visited Swakopmund and Owamboland, the home to her parents & grandparents. So Anna changed her career direction and became a travel consultant, determined to continue her passion for travel and meeting new people, but also taking the opportunity to explore her home. She has become a specialist in all Namibian safaris, including designing and planning self-drives, guided and fly in safaris for FIT’s and small groups.

Sossusvlei, Skeleton Coast, Damaraland, Opuwo, Etosha and Botswana/Okavango Delta are few of the places that she has traveled to, but the NamibRand Nature Reserve is by far her favourite place. Every time she visits the Namib Rand, it takes her breath away – it’s her place to truly get away from it all. Anna’s shown that strong determination will open up opportunities to work in your dream job. She loves designing people’s holidays and becoming an ambassador to her beautiful country, while having fun. Anna is a huge fan of the National Geographic channel and could spend hours entranced watching it.

One of her favourite quotes is by Bo Bennett: “Having a positive mental attitude is asking how something can be done rather than saying it cannot be done.”

Birgit is a fourth generation Namibian, of German descent, and has worked in the Namibian tourism sector for nearly two decades. She has travelled to more than 400 lodges, camps and hotel in the country, and is one of the most passionate Namibians in the industry. She has also enjoyed many safaris to the Okavango Delta, got soaked by the Victoria Falls and regularly travels to South Africa for work and pleasure. She has also ventured to the northern Hemisphere a few times, including the UK, many of the big cities of the US (loving the west coast especially) and Berlin; and whilst she enjoys the pulsating vibe of big city life, she prefers her soul to be rejuvenated in her favourite place of Namibia, the north west of Namibia. Any of the ephemeral river systems, the purple pink colours of the Damaraland and especially the wild isolation of the Kunene region is where her seemingly inexhaustible positive energy gets its much needed recharge. She serves on the TASA board for the past three years and is fiercely committed to continuously promote Namibia as a safe, unique and pioneering tourism destination.

Clemensia got her first taste of the tourism industry in 2011 when she helped her older sister running her company as a holiday job. She studied Travel & Tourism and did her internship in 2015 at Nature Friend Safaris where she picked up the basic tourism foundations. Her favourite part of Namibia would be the Damaraland because of its diverse colours and landscapes. After her internship at Nature Friends Safaris she joined Ultimate Safaris as a receptionist, but her bright potential quickly got her promoted to Journeysmith, and she has become an integral part of the tribe, always eager to help and learn.

From a young age Colleen always had an interest in wildlife and travel, especially birding and discovering the little things. Add to this, she lives in a perfect country to develop her passion for photography (which is also why the NamibRand Nature Reserve is her favourite spot in Namibia - this magical place makes it impossible to take a soulless photo). Namibian born, she started her tourism career in South Africa with 3 years in retail travel and then worked for over 13 years at AndBeyond; 5 of which were at a lodge in the Sabi Sands. She moved back to Namibia in 2012 and has been with Ultimate since February 2013, where she can continue to indulge in her passion for the bush and work with people who share that interest. Colleen herself has not only explored Namibia, South Africa, Botswana, Victoria Falls, Zanzibar, parts of Kenya and most of the &Beyond lodges; but has also ventured to places beyond Southern Africa, including Thailand, Singapore, Australia (relishing the 2000 Olympics), London and many countries in Europe. Colleen's attention to detail is like no other and her enjoyment for people and travelling combine well to put together life enriching journeys to the beautiful diverse country she calls home! One of her favourite quotes: "Working hard for something we don't care about is called stress; working hard for something we love is called passion."

Born in Germany, Elizabeth has traveled all over the world, including Egypt, Eritrea, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia (Vic. Falls), South Africa, England, Denmark, France, Belgium and Canada. She’s been around Namibia as well and her favorite place is the Zambezi Strip, which she loves it with all her “tourism” heart. For her, the lush vegetation and river life makes her feel as if she has stepped into another world.

Growing up in a family where some members are guides, tour consultants, one is a chef and many have worked in lodges, it was only natural for her to choose tourism as a career.

Elizabeth has by now over 10 years’ experience in tourism, including being responsible for wellness spa and lodge reservations. But her years of experience in the diverse fields of tourism has made her especially adept as a tour consultant, especially appreciated for her precise attention to detail and not being afraid of hard work.

She enjoys how traveling gives her the opportunity to experience new cultures, view alternative landscapes and learn about the unique history of each country she visits. She’s also keenly interested in astronomy but her real vibrant passion comes alive when it comes to planning annually for Halloween.

Gillian is a born and bred Namibian who from a young age traveled widely around Namibia (the only place left on her bucket list to explore would the Khaudum/Tsumkwe area and the far north-west of Namibia) and South Africa (all the usual attractions such as Garden Route, Drakensberg, and even Lesotho and Swaziland). Even though her first few jobs were in a very different industry, she eventually was able to find her way into tourism, which always fascinated her. Her greatest passion is promoting the country she loves, tailoring various personalized and group travel packages for people looking to experience this “land of contrasts” for themselves. She has over 14 years of experience in the industry, and has been with Ultimate Safaris since 2010 (with a short break in between). Her favorite destination is Damaraland because of its remarkable diversity and deceptively barren appearance. With her passion and the advantage of having travelled extensively across the country, she has an in-depth and firsthand knowledge of the itineraries she puts together, ensuring that she creates memorable and life enriching journeys.

Jan was born in Erlangen in Germany where he spent the majority of his childhood and he only really got his first real taste of Namibia when his father purchased a farm near Outjo, just south of Etosha in 1998. After spending a couple of years there he moved back to Germany and started his tourism career working in a local hotel while also taking courses in English translation training.

Jan moved back to Namibia in 2006 and started working for as a guide for &Beyond, before moving back to Germany again in 2009 to continue his education in natural history. In 2011 he finally moved back to Namibia and helped his father work their family farm. During that time he also did more specialist language freelance guiding for Ultimate Safaris and others before joining the Ultimate guiding team in mid-2013.

Jan is now based in Windhoek with some of his family in Namibia, but is single with no children. He is very dedicated to his job and enjoying the opportunity to work with some of the most experienced naturalist guides in the country. He has always taken an active interest in the bush, especially when living on the farm, and he is very happy to have the chance to have a career in an area which gives him so much pleasure and satisfaction.

Swenja de Vos didn't initially consider venturing into the tourism industry as a possible career option, however, a short stint after school working as receptionist at a tour operator quickly ignited in her the passion to make tourism her chosen calling and in 2007 she started to develop her career in tourism when she started to specialize in self-drive FIT tours. She believes tourism is exactly where she belongs and as a Namibian, loves nothing more than present her lovely country, with its amazing landscape and wildlife, to the rest of the world. The Etosha National Park is her favourite place in Namibia as this is where her utter love affair for elephants was ignited when she had her first encounter with a baby elephant playing at a waterhole while her mother was drinking. Swenja has travelled to most areas in Namibia apart from the Kaokoland and Fish River Canyon, which she is planning to visit soon. She has also explored parts of Botswana and the Okavango Delta, as well as the Victoria Falls. Swenja is often called "Smiley" because she smiles and laughs a lot, having fun whilst being highly driven to offer nothing but the best service to her clients, always with her heart-warming smile.

Ulrike was born in the Mpumalunga region of South Africa and moved to Namibia when she was very young. Her childhood was spent in the bush on farms and when she graduated high school in Otjiwarongo in 2001, she went to Germany to work as an Au Pair. After a year she decided to join the tourism industry in 2002 and qualified in Hotel Management. She spent twelve years in Europe, continuing her studies but also worked as a freelance translator as well as working for the Edelweiss Lodge and Resort in southern Germany. During that time, Ulrike backpacked and camped around Europe as well as parts of Asia. She loves the outdoors and has hiked mountains in Switzerland, Austria, Italy and Germany’s highest mountain, Zugspitze, twice! She has also travelled to Croatia, Slovenia, France and the Netherlands. She moved back to Namibia in 2013 and her love for the bush had her work the Erindi Private Game Reserve as the guest relations manager. She’s also worked in one of the remotest lodges in Africa, Serra Cafema, in the north west of Namibia as the camp manager. She then took some time off to travel extensively throughout Southern Africa, exploring Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and parts of Zambia in 2016, before joining the Ultimate tribe in 2017.

Ulrike especially enjoys wildlife photography.

Edna has been actively involved in the travel industry for many years, starting at a time when the choice of establishments was limited and luxury tourism unheard of! She grew up on a farm in the Khomas Hochland, where she developed her love for the outdoors exploring the farm on foot or horseback. In order to satisfy her quest for knowledge she successfully completed the NATH courses, a guide certification program in Windhoek. She also learned to speak French fluently. She has learned to work with a variety of different markets, from upmarket to backpackers, for different language groups, such as German (which is her home language), French and Dutch. She especially enjoys meeting guests on arrival in Namibia, taking time to brief them on their journey in Namibia and has guided a few tours. She has been to South Africa, Botswana, Victoria Falls and a part of Zambia. However Namibia’s deserts remain her favorite destination, as she is fascinated by Namibia’s desert adapted plants and its small inhabitants. She an avid hobby geologist which is clearly evident in her garden. Lately she has developed an interest in all creepy crawlies, including spiders and snakes. Environment issues are a great concern to Edna and she is a member of various societies such as the Environment and Wildlife Society, the Scientific, Botanical and Geological Society.

Helvi Nghaamwa was introduced to the tourism industry in 2004 when she joined the Italian Embassy. When the embassy closed their office in Namibia in 2007, the ambassador invited her to join them in Italy for six months, before she continued on to Switzerland for a year. During her time in Europe, she learned to speak Italian fluently. She returned to Namibia in 2009 and did volunteer work at the Sossus Dune Lodge before she joined Wilderness Safaris a year later as their airport presentative at the Hosea Kutako International Airport. She met all guests arriving off international flights and coordinated their onward safari arrangements and absolutely loved welcoming all arrivals. She eventually joined the logistics and reservations team at Wilderness Air, where her ability to multitask and her calm demeanor helped her in managing the immense pressure of coordinating complex flight routes. She has now joined the Ultimate Tribe in the Journey Enrichment team and is an integral part of the documentation and logistics support administration. It’s hard to imagine that she once dreamed of becoming a doctor, but now loves the industry that has given her the opportunity to explore places such as Sossusvlei, Etosha, Damaraland and Serra Cafema.

Martin came to Namibia from Kenya in 1993 to run the Namibian end of a British safari operation, but this quickly developed into a fully Namibian safari company called SandyAcre Safaris. The company initially only concentrated on providing private guided safaris for visitors from the UK, but this soon spread into other source markets such as the USA, Switzerland, France, Spain and Australia. It also became established as a reliable film services support company, specifically as a sub-contractor for the BBC. SandyAcre Safaris was incorporated into the newly formed Ultimate Safaris in 2008, and Martin now oversees the running of the new company in partnership with Tristan Cowley. At various times, they have filled most of the executive positions in private sector tourism associations, and they are still Trustees for NATH (Namibian Academy of Tourism and Hospitality) as well as acting as Administrators and Trustees for the non-profit Conservation Travel Foundation which works to assist rural development and conservation initiatives in the areas where the safari company is most active. Martin has retained his passion for arranging seamless holidays for individuals as well as for the larger tour groups that now make up the majority of the company's business - and the words "A holiday of a lifetime" are still guaranteed to provide considerable satisfaction

Background

The Cowley family has been involved in tourism in southern Africa for almost two decades. As one of the pioneering families in the tourism field in Namibia, the Cowley family (Clive and Doris) produced the first in-depth travel guide for Namibia in the late 1980's, setting an unprecedented benchmark for others to follow. The Namibia Guidebook (now called Clive Cowley's Journey into Namibia) was the first tourist guidebook which offered both visitors and potential visitors an in-depth account of this great country. Having a true love and passion for the natural environment, Tristan followed in his parents' footsteps and founded Tou (meaning "elephant" in the Lozi language) Safaris in 2003, specializing in naturalist guided safaris to Namibia. In 2008 Tou Safaris merged with another like-minded safari company to form Ultimate Safaris, which has grown to be one of Namibia's most renowned naturalist and specialist guiding safari companies.

Tristan is married to Stefanie, who is a lawyer in Windhoek, and together they have two sons called Dylan and Joshua. He has a passion for photography and developing tourism in Namibia in a sustainable way, to ensure benefit for everyone involved.

Guiding experience

Tristan's life in the natural environment and tourism began as a teenager working as a river guide in South Africa, guiding canoe and kayak safaris on 3 different rivers. After school he moved on to manage one of Africa's finest camps, Wolwedans, where he became a specialist desert guide. He then studied Natural Resource Management (Nature Conservation), where after he completed both the National and Hunting Guide Qualifications and was assigned to lead exclusive safaris in southern Africa for leading safari operators. Tristan is a Namibia specialist, but has led safaris in South Africa, Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda. In his early guiding years, Tristan also worked as a field researcher, conducting field research on two sandgrouse species as well as the newly described endemic black mongoose. He has had numerous research papers published in learned journals as well as popular publications. Tristan has also spent a fair amount of time as a lecturer at NATH (Namibian Academy for Tourism and Hospitality), lecturing young and aspiring safari guides.

Having served as the chairman of TASA (Tour and Safari Association of Namibia), vice chairman of NATH (Namibian Academy for Tourism and Hospitality), on the executive council of FENATA (Federation of Namibian Tourism Associations) and the advisory council to the school of natural resource management at the University of Technology in Namibia, it is fair to say that Tristan is a well-known and respected personality within the Namibian tourism industry.

Tristan was also the founder of the Conservation Travel Foundation, a legally registered non-profit trust which has been established to assist humanitarian and conservation initiatives in the areas in which Ultimate Safaris operates. He is one of the trustees for the NATH Education Trust, another legally registered trust which is responsible for granting bursaries for up and coming aspiring safari guides in Namibia.

Since its inception, Ultimate Safaris has grown to a team of almost 25 staff, so Tristan spends most of his time running the operations as well as the marketing for Ultimate Safaris, which also involves extensive travels to Europe, Australasia and North America, as well as more occasional visits to South America. However, he still finds time to guide the occasional specialist or specific repeat groups, so continues to engage in what is his real passion.

Personal interests

Sport, traveling, socializing and photography.

Why I enjoy guiding

It's not a job, it's a way of life!

On trail

Having spent many months in the field on my own (mainly during research expeditions) the most humbling experience for me was coming face to face with a leopard at very close range on a narrow ridge in the Erongo Mountains. The encounter happened when I was coming around a blind corner on a mountain ridge and I suddenly came across, and woke, a large sleeping male leopard. The leopard got to his feet instantly, staying stationary and staring straight at me. He then took four steps toward me, before grunting and then turning around, making off in the direction I was going (the path was narrow so there was obviously no way past me). I was able to stand and watch him walk away from me for about 200 m, before he disappeared around another corner. Having had a sufficiently memorable encounter for that day, I turned around and decided to go back the way I had come!