Meet the Team
African Safari is in our blood.
Collectively, we have lived and experienced all the corners of the African continent and surrounding islands. As professional guides, lodge managers, independent travelers, professional guide trainers, and even wine makers, we have a great feel for what different safaris are all about. We look after all the details of your safari ourselves and love
#makingsafaridreamscometrue.
Alastair Kilpin
Private Guide
Guide Trainer
African Travel Expert
Family Man
I have been out in the nature since I was born. It started with an encounter with a Puff Adder when I was still in my cot and has not slowed since. My early days were spent in the mountains and rivers of the Cape. I was blessed to grow up on a farm and explore most of South Africa before I started guiding at the incomparable Phinda Game Reserve in 1998. It is one of the most superb reserves to be found anywhere and here I honed my skills in tracking big game, birding, botanizing, photography and and a range of other life forms…including people!
Some of my most exciting encounters have been whilst out training guides in South & East Africa. My wife and I started a family in the Serengeti whilst managing the Kleins community concession in Tanzania. In between I have been privileged to explore Costa Rica, Peru, Brazil, India, parts of North America and Europe. I am now based back in my home Elgin Valley, managing Mammoth Safaris and guiding short trips in the spectacular Cape mountains in and around Cape Town. As a professional guide I am also still leading longer trips further afield in Africa and Madagascar as well as assisting other guides to develop with passion through our Essential Guiding courses.
With my binoculars and camera at hand in my office and my children who drag in all sorts of weird and wonderful creatures (dead or alive!) for me to comment on, life is always interesting at the southern tip of Africa!
Gavin Lautenbach
Private Guide
Guide Trainer
African Travel Expert
Husband to the American
I started working in the bush in 1997 after travelling through Europe and the United States. Guiding was my only calling and I reveled in the space and freedom of sharing the wild with my guests. I started in the lowveld around the Kruger National Park before moving to the world-famous Phinda Private Game Reserve where I had a particularly amazing time getting to know and understand the cheetah and other big cats. I followed this passion through with some amazing years in the Sabi Sand getting acquainted with the leopards at Londolozi.
After spending time living in Mexico and travelling, I returned to Africa and branched out into professional wildlife and bird guiding across the African continent. Africa is my passion and I love sharing it with people, whether it’s a birding tour in Ethiopia, tracking gorillas in the Congo or a photographic workshop in Botswana. I have also led numerous trips to the exciting destination of Borneo to strengthen my understanding and passion for forests and their incredible diversity. I have also spent time with polar bears in Alaska as I love to keep discovering new places and people!
For a long time I have been involved in training and mentoring other guides, something which I now do through our Essential Guiding courses.
Katlyn Lautenbach
The American
Honorary African
Mother to Zulu
Wife to Gavin
Born and bred in Chicago with a career in fashion as a personal shopper, I never imagined that I would be living a safari lovers dream in South Africa just a few years later. But after my first safari to Tanzania in 2011, I was hooked and by 2013 I had moved to Johannesburg and began to travel the African continent with my now husband Gavin Lautenbach.
Some of my highlights over the past years include trekking Lowland Gorillas through waist-deep water in Odzala-Kokoua National Park in the Congo, searching the forests for crazy creatures in Madagascar, and tracking Rhino on foot at Kwandwe Private Game Reserve. Now having travelled throughout most of Southern Africa and beyond, I can offer my knowledge of these magical destinations to those who are first time safari-goers or seasoned travelers.
My favorite part of safari is the feeling you get inside that you are suddenly one with nature and everything else in the world seems to fall away for that time and I think everyone needs to experience this at least once in their life!
