All your senses on overdrive, tracking Africa's big game, intimately exploring the ecology and smaller aspects of an ecosystem. Andreas is a fully qualified trails guide and loves taking his guests and students on walks, be it to safely and deliberately approach large mammals or narrow down the focus to tracks, signs, botany and birds.
There are few more exhilarating experiences than being on foot in the presence of animals such as elephants and lions. Being out of a vehicle gives you full connection to your senses and the earth you stand on. You will inevitably feel vulnerable, but this quickly turns into a sense of awe and a greater ability to interpret animal behaviour and contextualize. The ultimate goal is to walk as if we belong, to minimize any disturbance and possibly even go undetected, giving us a candid look into an ecosystem behaving entirely naturally. Occasionally we will be noticed, but by using year’s of experience, Andreas will always consider the safety of his group as paramount. In most cases, a firearm and back-up will feature on each trail, as a legal requirement. Andreas and his team are all fully qualified to handle these rifles safely and professionally, in the specific context of a walking safari.
Lodge and Camp based Trails
Only certain lodges and reserves offer the chance of a true wilderness walk. In Kenya, the walking safari industry is largely undeveloped, with only a few options in comparison to countries like Zambia, Botswana and South Africa. It is in places like these that Andreas has been mentored, honed his skills and now teaches the principles of safe, experiential walking trails. With Kenya’s pioneering community conservancy model, access to new wilderness areas is possible and the true essence of walking safari more realistic. Currently developing relationships with numerous conservancies, Andreas has the ambition to create a unique set of itineraries, allowing broader access to the phenomenal experience of walking amongst Kenya’s wild animals. These trails can be done from a lodge in place of traditional game drives, or arranged to feature the Ker & Downey luxury mobile fly-camps with hot showers and amazing cuisine or even as a far more basic, but arguably more holistic multi-day experience.
Holistic Wilderness Trails
A multi-night wilderness trail is a transformational experience. Sleep out under the stars, collect water from and bathe in natural springs, tune in to the bush, its rhythms, survive as a team and come out with a greater appreciation for wilderness and its importance to conservation and the human spirit. Inspired by the likes of the late Dr. Ian Player’s and his late mentor Magqubu Ntombela’s, Wilderness Leadership School, these trails offer so much from an idea so basic. Do away with everyday luxuries; carry only what you need, traverse wilderness shared only by wildlife and occasionally pastoralist communities practicing centuries-old traditions. The group’s safety is ensured through experience and by working as a team. Each night, every participant will play their part in keeping watch over the sleeping group. With only the flicker of a small fire, you are left alone with your thoughts, listening to the night’s sounds, be it a chorus of cicadas, whooping hyaenas, rumbling elephants, roaring lions and chuffing leopards. It is an experience that cannot be summed up in words. But don’t worry, if anything comes too close for comfort, you can wake up Andreas and his back-up. Without mobile phones or even watches, you will learn to tell the time by the stars and other natural indicators, waking up the next person on shift once your watch is over.
These trips are perfect for the individual traveller hoping for a deeply personal experience, or even for a group of friends or colleagues who will relish both the personal and team development opportunity. Andreas can currently arrange these experiences in Laikipia, Kenya; the Tuli Block, Botswana; and in northern Kruger National Park, South Africa. For more information or to share your thoughts and ideas, please don’t hesitate to contact us.