I was born in 1972 in South Africa, where I attended primary school before my family moved to Kenya. During my high school years in Kijabe on the Great Rift Valley escarpment, I was an avid rugby player and fitness fanatic. My parents worked in a rural area in northern Kenya and I spent the majority of my holidays there hiking in the desert, tracking wildlife, following birds down riverbeds, and climbing mountains. I returned to South Africa in 1993 to pursue a degree at Rhodes University in Grahamstown, but soon discovered that my growing interest in flora and fauna meant that I belonged in the wilderness, not a classroom. Between 1995 and 1997, I studied nature conservation at Port Elizabeth Technikon. During this time, I became fanatical about birding, and as a member of the hiking club, I enjoyed many walks around George and Wilderness. In 1995, I worked at Addo Elephant National Park as part of my diploma requirement, helping to maintain trails, roads and fences, and building rhino bomas, catching hippos and assisting with general game captures. In 1997, I spent my time studying the breeding biology of red-winged starlings for the Percy Fitzpatrick Institute of African Ornithology at the University of Cape Town. I developed a keen interest in arid ecology while working in the Karoo and this is what inspired me to move to Namibia. After spending two years guiding around Swakopmund and Namibia’s central coastal region, I enrolled at &Beyond’s renowned Inkwazi Ranger Training School. From 2000 to 2008, I worked at &Beyond Sossusvlei Desert Lodge in varied roles, from lodge naturalist and head ranger, to assistant lodge manager. I now live in Windhoek with my wife and two young boys.