Having been raised in a small town within a wildlife area I had my first interactions with wildlife at a very young age. Sightings of rhino, buffalo and elephant characterized our 10 mile drive to school. Weekends were spent between sporting events at school and outings to the bush to collect tamarind, baobab and other seasonal fruits much to the shock of my parents as they considered these unguided schoolboy trips through the bush a risk. At 14 years of age I visited Fothergill Island on Lake Kariba and had what I considered then, a very close encounter with a ginger-maned lion that growled at me after noticing an unusually fast movement in our vehicle. He then made himself heard by sending a mighty roar echoing along the foreshore for miles. This sparked the wild side of me and after high school I returned to Fothergill Island again this time looking to start a career in professional guiding. My new career led me to different parks of the country as I slowly progressed towards my Professional Guide qualification. This took me 4 years of rigorous training with different safari operators. An opportunity came within these 4 years to also pursue my canoe guiding licence and at this stage in my life if there was anything to be learnt or experienced, I was there. After qualifying as a professional walking and canoeing guide I then tackled my dream occupation, to be a canoeing and walking guide on the Zambezi River. Season by season went by with all the adventures that came with the package. Being a seasonal area of the region I found myself without guests for a few months of the year at which I took time to travel and work in other areas including helping with a turtle research programme on the Maputaland Coastline of South Africa when the rains didn’t allow for safaris in the Zambezi Valley. I then decided to venture into other countries to learn about the culture and wildlife in them starting of with travels to Namibia. Taking up a job in Zambia I managed to spend some “quality time” in the Kafue and the South Luangwa national parks. Learning the dynamics of the wildlife in these parks together with a few new species of birds and animals was as exciting as when I started guiding. Having enjoyed the different experiences in Zambia and knowing that I had to be back to share the wealth of this country with others I decided to head South in search for new experiences. Botswana had to be the next destination on the list. Even though I had travelled to Botswana and led safaris through its parks I yearned to take my knowledge of this vast country to a higher level. Based in Northern Botswana I guided safaris mostly into areas of the Chobe/Linyanti system, the Okavango Delta, the Moremi game reserve, Nxai and the Magkadigkadi Pans. Understanding these fragile ecosystems has been an exciting experience and passionately sharing my ‘little’ knowledge with guests that are seeking an educational and fun safari experience in these areas only my pleasure.             "There are few guides in Africa who are qualified, licensed and excel in vehicle guiding, water guiding and walking safaris. We experienced all three with Humphrey and can say without hesitation that we had experiences and created memories while travelling with him that will remain at the top of our list. With Humphrey our experiences exceeded our expectations." Michael Rosen. Seattle. USA                 humphreygumpo.com - 2008