A safari with a difference! Become a Wilderness Eco-Expert

Learn from the best and become an expert on Africa’s rich ecosystem, conservation agendas and the ancient art of tracking wild animals.
Our pioneering seven-day programme offers a life-changing wildlife experience in remote Botswana, where your classroom is one of Africa’s finest wilderness areas, and your teachers highly-skilled Wilderness Safaris private guides.

Programme Dates (choose one):
10-16 Feb 2019 (Guide Trainer – Letsogile Kamogelo)
10-16 Mar 2019 (Guide Trainer – Victor Horatius)
Cost: $3,750 per person sharing (No single supplement)

Accommodation: Linyanti Tented Camp

View Program Details

Wilderness Safaris Eco Expert Program

For more information, please contact us @ Africa Discovery:
1 800 886-7321, (415) 444-5100
or Email us

The Best of Zimbabwe- African Bush Camps

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Best of Zimbabwe
African Bush Camps

Mana Pools
Kanga Camp
Pristine and undeveloped, this area gives you a pure, unspoilt, private African safari experience.

Hwange National Park
Somalisa Camp
Award winning tented camp in the heart of Hwange.
If you love elephants, your heart will be lost forever!

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Lake Kariba
Bumi Hills Safari Lodge

Bumi Hills is home to lion, leopard, big herds of elephant and buffalo, as well as a multitude of different plains game. Guests can indulge in superb fishing in the lake.
*See video below

The Creator of these African Bush Camps – Beks

“I met this young man on the first group trip I escorted to Botswana about 15 yrs ago.
His name is Beks, he was one of the camp managers at Matusadona Water camp on Lake Kariba.
A splendid camp where you had to canoe to get to each floating bungalow
& main camp among the Hippos and crocks!
We became friends & each evening he would tell me of his plans.
He had a dream, he was 26!
He wanted to build wonderful camps in Zimbabwe where he was from, he had specific ideas…….
The rest is history!
Welcome to his award-winning camps in Zimbabwe!”

-Cindi LaRaia
owner of Africa Discovery

To explore the Best of Zimbabwe or to get more details,

Email Us

Africa Discovery
PO Box 9807
San Rafael, CA 94912
Ph (800)886-7321/ (415)444-5100

Russel Friedman Wins PURE Award for Contribution to Experiential Travel

September 2018 – The late Russel Friedman – one of Wilderness Safaris’ co-founders, a pioneer of sustainable ecotourism, a champion for vulture conservation and a true safari industry stalwart – has received the 2018 PURE Award for his enormous contribution to experiential travel. The awards were announced at an exclusive ceremony held during the PURE Life Experiences travel trade show in Marrakesh, Morocco, on 11 September 2018.

Russel FriedmanRussel played an instrumental role in the growth and success of Wilderness Safaris and its non-profit partners, Children in the Wilderness and the Wilderness Wildlife Trust

Now in its sixth year, the PURE Awards are held annually to celebrate excellence in the field of high-end experiential travel. After the judging panel selected a shortlist of finalists for seven categories, PURE attendees voted for the most deserving initiative in each one.

“It is an honour to accept this award on Russel’s behalf and we’d like to thank PURE and our valued network of travel trade partners for giving him this esteemed and much-deserved recognition”, said Wilderness Safaris Chief Sales Officer, Dave Bennett. “Although we were deeply saddened to say farewell to Russel in February 2018, we are proud to celebrate his legacy and to receive this recognition for the numerous achievements he made to sustainable ecotourism in Africa”.

In the 1970s, Russel had been instrumental in founding the Vulture Study Group and pioneering a change in attitudes to these birds (hence his nickname ‘Vulcha’), and by the early 1980s was running the country’s most influential natural history book dealer and publisher. It was through the book business that he met Colin Bell and Chris MacIntyre, the other two founding partners of Wilderness Safaris. He supplied them, and a host of other naturalists, with books and material for their overland safaris into Botswana and Zimbabwe from Johannesburg. It wasn’t long though before he joined the fledgling business – in 1984, quickly making a substantial impact not only with his conservation ethos, but also his considerable business acumen.

Russel’s enormous contribution to the development of Wilderness Safaris is one that is not widely enough known. As its longest-serving co-founder, Russel played a pivotal part in its growth and development, over the years taking on roles of Trustee of the Wilderness Wildlife Trust, Chairman of Children in the Wilderness (CITW), while still being a core member of the Vulture Study Group, an avid mountain-biker and passionate patron and cyclist leader of the annual Nedbank Tour de Tuli mountain bike fundraising event; not to mention an adventurous traveller and fun-loving, loyal and committed friend and family man.

Through all Russel’s travels, he made friends with guests and donors far and wide, spreading the Wilderness story and raising thousands of dollars to ensure the sustainability and success of CITW, as well as for the Wilderness Wildlife Trust. Russel knew that in order for conservation to be successful, it was vital to ensure that the people living in or adjacent to wilderness areas directly benefitted from ecotourism as well.

He made an incredible contribution to the empowerment of Africa’s people and the protection of its wilderness areas and is enormously missed, not only by his family but by many in the vulture conservation community, the book dealer and publishing world, the cycling fraternity and of course, several generations of CITW and Wilderness Safaris employees who he mentored and guided.

“To this day, after some 34 years of passionate commitment, Russel was still an integral part of our Wilderness family and business. It is with deep gratitude that we remember him and the role he played in our lives, the life of the company and to experiential travel as a whole”, Dave concluded.