Africa | India | Chile
Seth Vorster
&Beyond Private Guide & Guide Trainer
At a glance
FAMILY. ADVENTUROUS. FUN-LOVING.
Fluent in English. My Zulu is ever improving.
25 years of guiding experience, & counting...
Regional expertise in Africa, as well as India & Chile
Special interest in travelling, exploring & sharing experiences with guests in nature
Love accompanying solo guests, groups, families & couples
HELLO, I’M SETH
Growing up on a sugarcane farm in South Africa’s rural Kwazulu-Natal, with the magical outdoor spaces to discover and explore, shaped my early interest in the natural environment. My time-out from school and civil engineering studies was dedicated to exploring game reserves both in and outside of South Africa, hiking South Africa’s spectacular Drakensberg Mountains, and kayaking every off-the-beaten-track river I could access.
My guiding career began in 1999 at &Beyond Phinda Mountain Lodge, and in the years following, I have fulfilled the roles of lodge-based mentor, assistant head ranger, and head ranger. Forming part of the original team that pioneered specialist safaris for &Beyond’s South African lodges, I was then invited to join &Beyond’s dedicated guide training programme as an active member required to train, develop, and maintain the exemplary standards of the &Beyond guides and trackers across the country. My guide-training duties have taken me far and wide: to all our South African lodges as well as to &Beyond East Africa, India, and South America.
I have also obtained my highly specialised &Beyond advanced walking and tracking guide qualification, which enables me to provide guests with the unique experience of tracking dangerous game, including buffalo, black and white rhino, and elephant, on foot.
I currently live in South Africa, KwaZulu Natal, at &Beyond Phinda Private Game Reserve.
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?
I have two and a half decades, and counting, of guiding experience under my belt.
2. Where do you currently live?
I currently live in South Africa, KwaZulu Natal, at &Beyond Phinda Private Game Reserve.
3. Expertise and regional knowledge?
My regional knowledge and expertise extends into East, Southern (particularly Botswana and Namibia) and South Africa, as well as India & Chile as I have spent time working and travelling in these regions.
4. What do you love to do in your spare time?
I love to spend time with family and friends going on adventures to explore the wonders the world has to offer, whether it be from the oceans to the mountains or the rivers in-between.
5. What sets you apart from other Private Guides?
I have a great passion for sharing and experiencing wild places with others and want to turn every adventure we have into long–lasting memories.
6. Do you have any special interests?
Travelling, exploring, and sharing experiences with guests in nature.
7. Where haven't you been that you want to travel to?
Definitely to see gorilla in East Africa as well as travel to Antarctica.
8. Do you have a favourite travel itinerary?
No, with the variety of exciting travel destinations and experiences I feel it would be a shame to hang one’s hat on a single itinerary.
9. What is your most memorable sighting to date?
Too many to choose from – seeing a predator bringing her cubs out for the first time, masses of animals in the migrations of East Africa…
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… the spectacle around the greatest marine migration of all, the sardine run with the insane amount of marine life following them to the breathtaking scenery of mountain ranges like the Drakensberg in South Africa to the snow-capped Andes in South America.
10. Who do you most enjoy accompanying?
I wouldn’t limit myself to just one kind of guest, and rather enjoy accompanying all types of travellers.
11. Do you have a favourite memory with guests?
Every time I see a guests’ eyes light up when experiencing and connecting with nature, be it on their own or as a family.
12. Tell us one quirky fact about you
I don’t do social media. Part of the reason is that some of the guests I travel with and have hosted need to travel without others knowing who they or where they are staying…
13. Do you have a favourite animal or bird, and why?
Forked tailed drongo.
It’s not afraid to take on birds bigger than itself such as eagles. By following a forked tailed drongo through the bush you stand a high chance of finding some of the elusive big animals one is often looking for.
Best learning from African outdoors – the more you open yourself up to see and experience every little thing, the more you seem to get out of it.
Begin your adventure with Seth
Let Seth guide you on a journey-of-a-lifetime
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 Seth on one of these incredible itineraries
years