With a childhood in Pretoria punctuated with weekend camping trips and barefoot holidays on his grandparents’ farm, Bryan wanted to live and work in the bush for as long as he can remember. Dreams of becoming a wildlife veterinarian morphed into a career as a nature guide with &Beyond, and this has taken him on the adventure of a lifetime!
Bryan’s adventure began in 1997 at &Beyond Phinda Private Game Reserve and includes working in the Eastern Cape of South Africa and Namib Desert of Namibia. After fulfilling roles of guide, walking guide, mentor, head guide, lodge operations manager, lodge general manager, specialist guide and private guide, Bryan’s journey came full circle with him returning to &Beyond Phinda Private Game Reserve in 2008 as one of &Beyond’s guide trainers – a role he still relishes. It also allows him to keep guiding and connecting with &Beyond’s family of guests. With an Honours degree in Geography, and a passion for birding, walking and astronomy, Bryan considers himself a general naturalist, keen to understand and positively influence the human-nature relationship.
Bryan met and married his wife during those early years at &Beyond Phinda Private Game Reserve, and they have raised two happy wild children in the African bush. Through &Beyond and on his own steam, Bryan has explored much of Southern and East Africa’s game reserves and wild areas, and has had the opportunity to be involved in training guides in these areas, too.