Khoisan Karoo Conservancy, Northern Cape, South Africa
Rooi-Els, Western Cape, South Africa
Pilanesberg National Park, North West, South Africa
Khoisan Karoo Conservancy, Northern Cape, South Africa
Indelible expeditions in search of
the rarest species
Indelible expeditions in search of
the rarest species
Tour Leaders
Michael Wright - Principal Tour Leader
Michael is a passionate naturalist, conservationist and adventurer who loves birding, walking trails and photography. He is a registered professional in natural science, ecotourism consulting and nature tour guiding with 22 years’ of industry experience. He obtained a BSc (Agribusiness and Wildlife Science) in 2001, and has since travelled extensively through Southern Africa and North America, and further to his great passion for birds; also enjoys animal behaviour, flyfishing, butterflies, herping, trees, and ball sports.
Michael currently holds a Southern African bird lifelist of 725 species, a Southern African mammal lifelist of 115 species, a South African butterfly lifelist of 103 species, and a South African frog lifelist of 36 species.
Although Michael has developed valuable knowledge and experience in the field over many years, he loves taking every opportunity to immerse himself in nature, to continue to learn from it, to teach others about its extraordinary beauty and value, and to share nature-based experiences with people from all over the world.
His work life has largely been entrepreneurial in nature: relating to the nature guiding, environmental consulting, ecotourism consulting, safari lodge development, operating and marketing fields. Michael has worked in South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, Mozambique, Eswatini, Lesotho, and the United States of America, and has visited Zimbabwe, Mauritius and Mexico several times on holiday. During his Southern African adventures he has explored over 112 National Parks, Game Reserves and Nature Reserves, and to date has stayed in 143 safari lodges, bush camps, resorts, hotels and campsites, while having visited many more.
When combined with his dedication and enthusiasm for nature and outdoor adventure, these experiences should ensure that he hosts and guides you with professionalism, skill and care.
Michael has been married for 16 years to his wonderful lady, Natalie, and together they have 2 amazing children, a courageous son aged 15 years and a delightful daughter aged 11 years. They currently reside in Somerset West, Western Cape, South Africa.
Rick Nuttall - Tour Leader
Rick grew up in Grahamstown, in South Africa’s Eastern Cape Province and has had a keen interest in birds from a very young age. He obtained a BSc (Zoology and Botany) and MSc (Zoology) degrees with birds – and bird behaviour – the main focus of his studies. Rick is passionate about birds and birding and enjoys sharing his knowledge and experiences with others. He has led small group birding trips to various places in South Africa and Lesotho on occasion since 1993, and has also travelled widely in Southern Africa in search of birds and other wildlife.
Rick joined the National Museum in Bloemfontein as an Ornithologist in 1991, undertaking research and overseeing the Museum’s bird collection for ten years, before moving into a management role, first as Deputy Director and then as Director, a position he held until November 2017. Rick has authored numerous scientific, semi-scientific and popular publications, including contributions to The Atlas of southern African Birds, Roberts Birds of Southern Africa (7th Edition), The Eskom Red Data Book of Birds of South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland and Important Bird Areas of southern Africa.
Rick has served on the review panels of a number of zoological and ornithological journals, and has been a Trustee of the John Voelcker Bird Book Fund, responsible for publication of quality ornithological books in South Africa (essentially Roberts Birds of Southern Africa and associated publications).
A keen amateur photographer and bird sound recordist, Rick’s most recent interests include watching and photographing butterflies, dragonflies and damselflies; he regularly contributes photographs to the citizen science projects of the Virtual Museum hosted by the Fitzpatrick Institute at the University of Cape Town and the Biodiversity and Development Institute.
Rick now follows his passions of birds, and other wildlife, sharing these with like-minded people through organizing and leading birding and nature experience tours, including tours with a special focus on butterflies, mainly in South Africa. Rick also undertakes bird survey and monitoring work related to wind and solar energy facilities; he has also assisted with the survey and monitoring of Damara and Saunders’ Terns and other bird species on the San Sebastian Peninsula in Mozambique.