Sea Davidson started Wild Dog Safaris to raise the bar in Africa’s luxury safari business. She aimed high. Sea is the founder, majority owner, CEO, Director of Sales & Marketing, Emergency Medical Technician and bush pilot. She is also one of your lead security guides.
Sea was raised in Kenya’s Maasai country many years before the Maasai Mara became a reserve, and she speaks Swahili and Maasai. Sea co-authored her father’s memoirs during British Colonial Kenya, An East African Saga (coming soon), which led to her passion for writing about bush suspense. You can ask her the difference between a lion and a leopard kill and get an inside look into the predator’s lives and their prey.
Sea was also Director of Sales & Marketing for three US luxury hotels, and as the big boss, she booked many high-end bands into her hotels, like The Eagles, Robert Plant, ZZ Top, Whitney Houston, James Taylor, and many more. Sea works closely with high-end clients who want “exclusive use” during their safari, emphasizing privacy, strong security, discretion, and a whole lot of fun.
Sea was also one of the first female Alaska State Troopers, considered one of the best-trained police departments in the United States. She is also one of your lead security guides.
Peter Wang’ombe was born a Kikuyu, yet he felt he was born into the wrong tribe. He should have been a Maasai.
Peter has been a professional safari guide on the East African circuit since 2009 and has driven for Abercrombie & Kent, Sanctuary Retreats, and other high-end safari companies. Peter is a bushman with the uncanny ability to spot game. He’s a co-owner of Wild Dog, Director of Safari Operations, driver, and wildlife photographer.
Peter is committed to providing you with the best African safari experience possible.
Patricia is our safari nurse, has an extensive medical background, and will work with your doctor to get you out on safari, which she will accompany. She has assisted in cardiovascular and chest surgeries, cared for patients before and after operations, worked in intensive care, patient teaching, professional teaching, and energy/holistic medicine.
Patricia, a seasoned yoga practitioner, will introduce you to breathtaking locations for yoga practice during your safari, should you be interested. As an owner guide, Patricia is hands-on and your perfect travel assistant.
Jeannette has a rich travel history, with a particular fondness for East Africa since her initial journey in 1990.
Jeanette has a unique medical background that includes many alternative protocols, and she can quickly take charge of any situation. If you want to be spoiled on safari, this lady can be your safari travel assistant.
Michelle enhances our team with extensive travel experience and has worked as a cruise line medical officer. This means she can accompany you on safari while working with your doctor.
Michelle has over twenty years of experience as a critical care nurse specializing in trauma, surgical ICU, and emergency care. She balances her passion for adventure and excitement with her love for practicing and teaching yoga. Michelle would love to introduce you to extraordinary yoga locations and work with you on mind and body practices.
She deeply appreciates nature and wildlife and is excited to share her love of Africa through our luxurious owner-guided safaris.
Africa can be complicated. Who could be a more fitting companion and guide for your safari than one of the owners of Wild Dog themselves? Your safari experience will be enhanced by traveling with a top-notch owner guide who accompanies you throughout your safari. They provide continuity throughout your trip, making it a seamless safari experience.
Your owner guide will be the “constant” when moving from one game park to another or on multi-country safaris. This ensures each safari camp has every detail taken care of in advance, including specific dietary and medical requirements.
Our owner guides are naturalists who know the game parks and ecosystems that support abundant wildlife. They’ll point out different species, habitats, hunting grounds, rare and unusual birds, and ancient geological events that formed the Great Rift Valley. As for the local cultures, we love to take clients to backroad villages that haven’t seen the hand of tourism.
And our owner guides love to tell entertaining bush stories around the campfire. These all fall under the remit of a top owner guide, your ultimate travel companion, adding value to your extraordinary luxury safari experience.
Many areas visited are far from medical facilities and are difficult to reach. Our safari nurse is part of our team if you are anxious about various medical concerns while on your “dream safari of a lifetime.”
Your nurse’s safari expenses are already included in most of our packages as an owner guide, except for her medical care fee. You pay her separately on a sliding scale based on your medical conditions.
Our East African helicopter pilot is a shy guy and wants to be behind the scenes, or should I say, in the sand! He has a long history of flying helicopters in Africa since the 1980s.
Our shy guy flies our high-end clients in and out of camps, flies to extraordinary places, and offers “exclusive use” of his helicopter. This means he can fly you to the top of a Rift Valley cliff for premium sundowner cocktails as the sun sets over the bush.
His extensive knowledge of East Africa will take you to extraordinary places that only a helicopter pilot can deliver.
Ryan Outram has been a bush pilot in East Africa since 2012. He has a keen sense of adventure and especially loves to fly off the beaten track to remote African locations.
He spent his childhood on his parent’s Mt. Kenya farm staring skyward as farmers flew overhead to their fields. Ryan followed his dream and graduated from Cape Town Flight Training Centre and Flying Frontiers Bush Pilot Academy in South Africa.
Ryan is a passionate outdoors enthusiast, active conservationist, water skier, kite surfer, and the perfect gentleman host who loves to see the excited reaction of guests witnessing their first sightings of African wildlife from the air. The Captain offers “exclusive use” of his bush plane for certain packages, sundowners from above, and private charters between camps.
David Foot, our Ride Botswana safari partner, was born and raised in Malawi (Nyasaland) and had a passion for wildlife and Africa’s wilderness from an early age.
Fortunate to work and train under some of the early pioneers of the photographic safari industry, his early years were spent in Zimbabwe and then in the Luangwa Valley in Zambia. Alongside developing lodges and camps, David and his wife Robyn ended up with a string of 40 horses.
In 2008 they moved to Botswana and started Ride Botswana with horse safaris in the Okavango Delta and the Kalahari Desert. David has ridden horseback through every valley of the Nyika National Park, across the Maasai Mara, and he has an intimate knowledge of the Okavango, Kalahari, and the Namib Desert. During the pandemic, David undertook a 930-mile (1,500 km) ride through some of the wildest parts of northern Botswana over 53 days for fun!
As you can see, his passion is being out of the safari vehicle on horseback or walking safaris in the Okavango Delta so guests can fully immerse themselves into the African wilderness...
Victoria Lieberstein is our partner specialist for Kilimanjaro expeditions in Tanzania. Back in her college days, Victoria did a year exchange program with the University of Dar es Salaam. Unable to leave Africa behind after her studies, she joined the team of Altezza Travel, the largest and most reliable mountain tour operator in the region.
Over the years, Victoria developed an extensive expertise in mountain climbing and currently curates personalized high-end groups, such as the guests of Wild Dog Luxury Safaris. Victoria’s passion for travel extends to hiking in remote areas around the globe and capturing the beauty of mountain landscapes through her love for photography.
With her profound knowledge and genuine love for Tanzania, Victoria is a true asset to our team.
Here at Wild Dog Luxury Safaris, we support our partner, the Painted Dog Conservation Project in Zimbabwe.
Their mission is to create an environment where painted dogs can thrive despite being endangered. We work together like a pack of painted dogs on the hunt for conservation.
Ron van der A is co-founder and chairman of the Stichting Painted Dog Conservation Foundation. His passion for African wildlife, especially the painted dogs, resulted in starting this foundation in 2004.
His story is the story of someone who is intoxicated by Africa and who wanted to do something in return for nature, be it big or small. After volunteering in Swaziland and Kenia, Ron learned about Zimbabwe’s Painted Dog Conservation Project. The project and the cooperation with the local people appealed to him, especially considering the challenging circumstances in Zimbabwe.
After volunteering for years, Ron’s passion changed. It was a feeling that was hard to put into words, as he felt overwhelmed by something that touched his soul and seemed to trigger the essence of his existence. The cooperation between all those involved became more and more constructive and led to a more professional approach.
Thus in 2004, the Painted Dog Foundation was established. Ron is also a specialist guide on all our wild dog safaris south of Tanzania (coming soon).
The first company to set a balloon aloft over the Serengeti.
They set the bar high for lifetime experiences and are adventurers at heart with an experienced eye for detail. They carried their 200,000th passenger, making it one of the top balloon companies in the world.
This company’s balloon safari is on your “bucket list.” They have flown members of royal families, Presidents, Heads of State, and international celebrities.
Balloon Safaris Ltd. understands that every dawn in the Mara is a different adventure. It was founded in 1976, when the owner, Alan Root, lofted Kenya’s first hot air balloon and filmed “Safari by Balloon,” which has been seen by over 93 million people.
The company has flown thousands of passengers, including the late Jackie Onassis and wildlife expert Professor Bernhard Grzimek. Other famous passengers include Robert Redford, Paul Simon, Catherine Deneuve, and Goldie Hawn.
Kilimanjaro Balloon Safaris is one of the largest hot air balloon companies internationally, operating in the foothills of Kilimanjaro in Amboseli National Park. This park is renowned for its elephants, lions, giraffe, cheetah, zebra, wildebeests, and over 400 bird species.
Mother nature dictates where they fly daily; they “walk the winds” in man’s oldest flight form.
