Private Guides

East Africa Safari Ventures pride ourselves with having only the best private guides in Kenya for your safaris. Privately guided safaris are a true experience, having your own personal guide throughout your safari who will share his knowledge and experience, is a fantastic way to make your safari even more spectacular. It also allows for better consistancy throughout the safari. All our preferred guides are KPSGA rated and come with many years of personal experience. They have a firsthand knowledge of the African bush, wildlife, flora and fauna, as well as a close link to the African culture and the many tribes you may encounter whilst on your safari. The costs of each guide is different and are each guide is subject to availablity. All costs depend upon to length of safari, time of year and vehicle hire rates.

• Joe Charleson
• Anthony Dodds
• William Tumate Ole Siara
• Andrew Campbell
• Anton Childs
• Charlie Babault
• Dave Simpson
• Richard Kashu

Joe Charleson

Born in 1975 in northern England and, at the age of 10, moved with his parents to Kenya, where his adventure truly began. After schooling in Kenya, He returned to England to complete my studies and graduated from Bristol University in 1997 with a degree in Biological Sciences. Since then he has maintained a deep interest in wildlife and its conservation. Joe continued his career as a professional safari guide and was a manager at Cottar’s 1920’s Camp in the Maasai Mara Game Reserve, which is where he met my wife, Gillian.
Joe established his own company offering professional safari guiding services and soon after he and Gillian set up Leleshwa Camp, an intimate private tented camp on the edge of the Maasai Mara. Some of his most interesting work during the setting up of Leleshwa Camp was with our local Maasai community, in a remote part of the Mara ecosystem, untouched by tourism. Joe continues to work with the community as a whole to ensure that this important wilderness areas is protected and that all community members see the benefits of tourism on their land.

William Tumate Ole Siara

William is a Maasai and was born on the foot of the Loita hills, Narok district. He was brought up herding his parent’s cattle before a government directive required that every family must send at least one child to school. While on his herding duties William had numerous encounters with different wild animals. William has been involved in conservation and the travel tourism industry for over 10 years especially on Mara issues. He has profound knowledge of Maasai culture, NGO operations and how community development and Tourism are linked, which has enabled him see communities around the Mara succeed in conservation issues.
William holds a Bronze Level Guides Certificate from KPSGA and is working toward his Silver.
He has recently worked for Friends of Conservation, focusing on community involvement in conservation. Based at the Maasai Mara Game Reserve headquarters William was also in charge of a team of 74 scouts all around the Mara monitoring Wildlife and threats.
He is involved in various programmes and William’s deep knowledge of his own culture combined with his extraordinary ability to understand the intimacies of western culture has been able to bridge the relevance of being with indigenous communities and link it back to the participants own lives. His knowledge has clearly been enhanced by his extensive travel to Europe, Asia and Australia.

Andrew Campbell

Having been born and brought up in Kenya, Andrew has had the luxury of living a good deal of my life on safari. He spent his most memorable schooling years in Kenya and went on to further education in the United Kingdom graduating in languages. Having worked for a brief period in London he decided to return to my homeland to pursue his obsession for the bush as a professional safari guide.
Andrew is a fanatical fly-fisherman and spends much of his time outside of safaris, on the crystal clear trout streams of Kenya’s central highlands. His experience, knowledge of and enthusiasm for both flora and fauna as well as being fluent in English, Kiswahili, French and Spanish, ensures everyone has an unforgettable safari and hopefully leaves with that feeling of wanting to come back to see more of this amazing continent.

Anton Childs

Anton was born in Keighley Yorkshire in 1975 then moved to Homa Bay in Western Kenya where he grew up. After completing university in England, I returned to Kenya where I joined the Kenya Wildlife Service in Shimba Hills National Park, primarily monitoring elephant movements around the park and studying their impact in the area.
Anton became a freelance guide, before moving to Kilalinda Lodge which borders Tsavo East National Park and lived there for two years running the lodge. He then joined my wife, Emma, at the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust where we were a mobile support unit moving throughout the Tsavo National Park helping with anti-poaching training, the elephant project and also moving film crews around the various projects which were run by the trust. Anton and Emma spent a few year working in lodges and training guides all over Kenya. They are now building their own lodge bordering Nairobi National Park , however Anton is still dedicated to guiding.
His speciality is snakes and 4 years ago managed to discover a new species of Cobra which he have named after James Ash. If you are interested in reading about the snake you can look up the National Geographic Website – Naja Ashes or the largest spitting cobra in the world.

Charlie Babault

Charlie was blessed with a truly idyllic childhood his father was a naturalist and adventurer who hunted the length and breadth of the African Continent, and in Kenya married a general’s daughter.
While growing up, the Babault family camped along the way with a loving and cheerful Kamba crew – trackers, skinners, cooks and drivers – who became their extended family. His father’s passion for wilderness and huge elephants and his mother’s artistic eye guided our growing love for all things natural, and instilled an appetite for adventure. He is as passionate about the animals as he is about the wild herbs and flowers, and remote untouched peoples.
Some of his most profound life changing experiences have happened very recently. First his marriage to Nee Nee and the arrival of thier daughter, Amara Joanna. These experiences have only added a new dimension to sharing beautiful experiences. For them of course, but also for the clients, he feels very privileged to guide.

Dave Simpson

Dave was born in 1966 in Nakuru, Kenya, into a family who had been farming in the Solai Valley since 1912. After finishing his schooling, Dave worked with the overland industry running “long haul safaris” (6 – 10 weeks) from Kenya to Zimbabwe. This was invaluable experience for him. He then began guiding with a small company running safaris through East Africa, namely Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Congo and Ethiopia, where he learnt most of his bush craft, safari logistics and how to manage some of Africa’s cultural differences. He has since worked with various high end guiding companies, and has guided all ranges of clients.
Dave’s two main interests are travel and photography. These, coupled with his love for camping, has enabled him to visit half of Africa’s countries.
He has been a Kenya Professional Safari Guide Association (KPSGA) Silver level guide for 6 years and have submitted for Gold status. He speaks Kiswahili as well as English.

Richard Kashu

Richard Kashu was born in 1978 in Loita Hills in the Mara Region. He joined primary school from 1984 to 1992 then high school from 1993 to 1996.After school he joined a safari company as a spotter from 1998 to 1999.In 2000 he underwent training as a guide at the Wildlife Club of Kenya till 2002. He followed this by becoming a camp driver in mobile safaris and then started guiding. In 2007, he joined East Africa Safari Ventures as a freelance driver guide where he has been offering the services to date.