Private Guided Safaris is a small safari operation that conducts privately guided safaris into twelve different African countries. All of our trips are personally guided by Anthony, with Rawana occasionally accompanying him. Both Rawana and Anthony are involved in all correspondence and trip planning and whilst Anthony is away on safari Rawana is usually around to answer any important queries.

Anthony is a third generation Zimbabwean whose family have been living in Africa for the last five generations. He was raised and educated in Zimbabwe and South Africa and in addition to holding one of the highest guiding qualifications on the continent also has two university degrees - A BSc. in Ecology and Environmental & Geographical Science from the University of Cape Town and a MSc. in Tropical Resource Ecology from the University of Zimbabwe.

Whilst he has numerous wildlife interests ranging from botany to entomology his particular area of interest is the complex interplay between animals and plants having done his master’s thesis on “The impacts of elephants on the woody component of sandveld vegetation communities in the Malilangwe Wildlife Reserve, South Eastern Lowveld, Zimbabwe.

On the guiding side, Ant was apprenticed under Ivan Carter for a period of twenty months during which time he qualified in the shortest ever known time as a fully licensed professional guide. This is no mean feat as the Zimbabwean guiding certification process is the most rigorous on the continent with an average pass rate of <5%. For those few who manage to stick it through, apprenticeships typically lasts a minimum of three to five years.

Since qualifying as a Zimbabwean licensed professional guide in 2000 he has led safaris into twelve different African countries and from the experience and exposure he has gained from doing this is able to privately guide small groups of guests into some of the most interesting locations in each country.

Besides his academic and guiding qualifications he also holds a private pilots license and has spent two years as the head guide and lodge manager of Borana Lodge one of Kenya’s most upmarket safari lodges.

He is well travelled regionally and internationally and has worked and travelled in the United States and Europe.

 

Rawana is a born and bred Kenyan, whose family have been in the safari business in East Africa for over 30 years.

Neice of Richard Bonham, who started some of the first walking safaris in the Selous Game Reserve in southern Tanzania in the 1980s, Rawana has spent most of her life in the safari environment.

Her family own a safari lodge in the Chyulu Hills and in addition to experience gained from helping to run the lodge she has also lived and worked in a number of upmarket safari camps in Kenya and Tanzania and is well travelled regionally and internationally. She holds a BA in Law and Sociology from the University of Warwick, UK.