Alan McSmith
Alan McSmith, nature guide and founder of Wilderness Vision
Alan McSmith is the founder of Wilderness Vision, a non-profit organization dedicated to the conservation of the wild.
For over 20 years he has served as a professional guide, having walked, poled & paddled through the wild-lands of six African countries. He has led trails and safaris in the big game regions of Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa and Swaziland. Alan McSmith Safaris was formed in 1999, pioneering walking trails and low-impact tented camps in the South African Lowveld. Through leading trails, key-note speaking and writing, Alan has dedicated his life to wilderness conservation.
Between 2004 and 2006 he made history as the first guide to lead five mokoro (dug-out canoe) traverses of the Okavango Delta in Botswana. The expeditions explore some of the remotest country in Africa – without permanent structures, communication or support. In the process he has poled some 3000 kilometers by dug-out.
If you’d have asked Alan as a young boy what he wanted to do with his life, he would have answered, ‘I want to put on a backpack, camp in the bush, and track animals.’ And for the past 25 years as a wilderness guide in Africa he has done just that. His life values have been shaped by nature, and the wilderness wisdom of African friends.
Wilderness, for Alan, now has a far deeper meaning. It is more than just a place …it is a way of life, he says. When considering the social and environmental issues of our age, this is more relevant than ever before, he states. He passionately believes that we all need to conserve this sacred attitude.
‘There is a balance in nature that inspires grounding, humility and tolerance which can even inspire European societies far from the African bush. After all, are these not the sacred core values that should bind us together as human beings?’
More about this speaker:
Facebook
Twitter
Youtube
Flickr