East Africa | Southern Africa
Ian Lombard
&Beyond Private Guide & Guide Trainer
At a glance
FUN. CURIOUS. EMPATHETC.
Fluent in English. My Swahili is always improving.
13 years of guiding experience, & counting...
Regional expertise in East Africa, South Africa, Botswana, Namibia & Zambia
Enjoy walking, birding, trail running, history & photography
Love accompanying anyone willing to head out on a safari before sunrise
HELLO, I’M IAN
I grew up in the Winelands region close to Cape Town in South Africa. I was fortunate enough to grow up in a family passionate about history and reading, along with a witty grandfather who loved nature and had a knack for storytelling.
I completed &Beyond’s Inkwazi Ranger Training course in early 2010 and fulfilled a childhood dream of living and working in the bush. After guiding in the Kalahari and Karoo for a couple of years, I returned to &Beyond Phinda Private Game Reserve in 2012. I spent the next 10 years exploring this magical corner of Maputaland, met my wife and started a family. In 2018 I did a full circle and returned to the Inkwazi Ranger Training School as a guide trainer. It afforded me the opportunity to help mentor guides in Botswana, South Africa and India.
In early 2022 the Lombard family embarked on a new adventure and moved to East Africa to join the &Beyond Mwewe Ranger Training team. After living in the Masai Mara and the Serengeti for six months, we eventually settled in a small town between two of Africa’s highest mountains, Mt Kilimanjaro and Mt Meru.
My current role provides me the opportunity to explore some of Africa’s most iconic and wild places as well as contribute to the development of some of Tanzania and Kenya’s finest guides.
An &Beyond Private Guide is someone who has undergone rigorous training at one of our elite ranger training schools and who has been carefully handpicked for this role because of their extensive guiding experience. These individuals are recognised as the best in the industry offering exceptional professionalism, accomplished interpretative guiding and an extraordinary guest experience overall.
Questions and answers
GET TO KNOW ME
1. How many years of guiding experience do you have?
13 years, and counting…
2. Where do you currently live?
I divide my time between our home close to Arusha, Mwewe Ranger Training school in the Serengeti, and travelling to the various &Beyond lodges and camps in East Africa.
3. Expertise and regional knowledge?
East Africa, South Africa, Botswana, Namibia and Zambia.
4. What do you love to do in your spare time?
Running, birding in the garden and having a quiet beer with friends and family.
5. What sets you apart from other Private Guides?
My awareness, curiosity and love for a good story.
6. Do you have any special interests?
Walking, birding, trail running, history and photography.
7. Where haven't you been that you want to travel to?
Ethiopia and Madagascar.
8. Do you have a favourite travel itinerary?
Northern Botswana and Kenya.
9. What is your most memorable sighting to date?
Probably the sighting that had the biggest impression on me as a trainee guide was watching a pack of African wild dog catch and kill a kudu…
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… while having to fend off a clan of hyena and eventually losing it to a coalition of male lion. More recent highlights include a cheetah kill at &Beyond Klein’s Camp, finding a coalition of five male lion at Kichwa Tembo, mountain gorilla in Rwanda, turtle hatching at Mnemba Island and catching a Peter’s twinspot and black-and-white colobus monkey in the garden at home.
10. Who do you most enjoy accompanying?
Anyone with a willingness to wake up early, head out on a safari before sunrise and still have enough in the tank for a drink around the fire later that evening.
11. Do you have a favourite memory with guests?
Too many to mention. Following a pride of lion hunting after dinner, having a beer in Chobe National Park, sunrises in the Masai Mara or looking for African broadbill in Zululand in winter.
12. Tell us one quirky fact about you
I am petrified of house rats. I’m talking terrifying city rats that grow to the size of a small antelope and can kill you with a mere touch of that hairless tail.
13. Do you have a favourite animal or bird, and why?
African wild dog – social, intelligent and relentless
African broadbill – elusive, unique and reminds me of the Forests of Zululand where I spent most of my guiding career
Patience always prevails
Begin your adventure with Ian
Let Ian guide you on a journey-of-a-lifetime
My photography showcase
FROZEN IN TIME
Travel with me
A SELECTION OF MY ALL-TIME FAVOURITE ITINERARIES
Gorilla trekking in Rwanda
Kigali | Volcanoes National Park
Let me take you on a truly once-in-a-lifetime wildlife experience in search of the world’s largest population of wild mountain gorillas.
Choose your ideal privately guided adventure
Journey with Ian on one of these incredible itineraries
Keep connected
Follow @ian_lombard on Instagram
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