It’s been proven time and time again that your safari is only as good as your guide. Passion, enthusiasm and the ability to interpret your experience is paramount to meeting all your expectations. The opportunity to build relationships from start to finish is just as important, not to mention the fact that your private guide is not only there to interpret the wildlife experience, but will also deal with logistics and other issues which may arise, giving you time and space to sit back, relax and enjoy the show. In the words of Moses and Shelly (friends and guests):
“After you’ve had great coffee it’s hard to drink ordinary coffee. After you’ve had great chocolate it’s hard to eat ordinary chocolate. After you’ve had a truly great guided safari it’s hard to accept an ordinary safari.
Take your safari experience beyond ordinary. Phill Steffny is a truly great safari guide and he made our safari experience extraordinary.” Moses Brown and Dr. Shelly Stelzer.
Looking after people’s expectations while on safari in Africa has always been in my blood. I spent my childhood on a game reserve in the vicinity of the Kruger National Park. Attending an outdoor-based school, and getting my first job as a river guide at the age of 15 gave me the responsibility of the safety kayaker on some of Africa’s wildest rivers. It was a natural progression that as soon as I left school in 1998, after a six month stint of professional rugby in Germany, I joined one of South Africa’s most prestigious safari companies (&beyond, formerly CCAfrica) as a naturalist guide at the young age of 19.
Being part of such a well-established company afforded me the opportunity to work and live in a number of Africa’s wildlife hotspots. I began my guiding career in the subtropical region of Kwa-Zulu Natal in South Africa, then moved further afield to Botswana’s Okavango Delta, and explored Zimbabwe and Namibia, before moving back down to my home country and childhood environment of the Kruger National Park. I spent half a decade in the diverse Karoo biosphere in the Eastern Cape, before moving to Cape Town with my family more than two years ago. Since then, I’ve been offering my services as a professional private guide throughout a number of African countries. I lead many safaris to Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana and South Africa. I consider myself a naturalist guide whose main aim is to exceed expectations of each and every group of guests I have the pleasure of guiding. Whether it’s hiking, photography, birds, walking – the list is endless. My passion, enthusiasm and sometimes crazy humour has allowed me to build some ever-lasting friendships with all of my guests, no matter where their special interests lie.
I’m South African, with German as my second language – this gives me the ability to communicate and interpret a wildlife experience for many of my European guests. I also speak fluent Zulu, and Afrikaans, with a smattering of many local languages in the areas in which I travel.
