Arnold was born in the farming town of Otjiwarongo, where he completed both his junior and senior schooling. His mother moved there from Damaraland where she met his father who was involved in the road construction industry. During his school years, Arnold became a very keen and avid golfer and ended up teaching golf lessons at the local high school in between working at pharmacy in town. It was through his golfing that he made a connection with someone in the tourism industry.

He was offered a job on a game farm near Etosha National park, where he would track animals and take guests to them. This is where his love nature developed; he then went on to work as a guide at several different tour safari companies before joining the Ultimate Safaris family. He met his wife in Windhoek and moved to the coastal town of Swakopmund due to job opportunity for her. They both still live at the coast with their five year old daughter, who Arnold has all the love in the world for.

Guiding Experience

After working as an animal tracker on the Game farm; where he gained valuable experience in tracking wildlife and understanding their behavior, Arnold followed his current manager to Okonjima, where he was offered a position as a guide. Here Arnold got his first taste of working with big cats, as he took guests out tracking both leopard and cheetah using telemetry, another great skill to have under ones belt. He was part of the Okonjima family for four years before he moved to Windhoek to become a freelance tour guide.

He did freelancing for various companies which not only allowed him to explore the entire country, but had various specializations. He mastered the art of cooking over an open fire for large groups while he did camping safaris across Namibia, and also had the opportunity to explore areas off the beaten track in the North West of Namibia. He also freelanced for companies at the coast where he got to run day trips into the dune belt, where he got to specialize in the small desert dwelling creatures.

After freelancing for a couple of years he joined Wilderness Safaris, where he was placed at a variety of camps in remote areas of Namibia. He was able to master the Sossusvlei area and the Namib Desert before he made his way back to the North West of Namibia. His time up there proved valuable as he learnt all the small roads around the Hoanib River and the Hartmann’s Valley. A desolate and harsh terrain; where he polished his guiding techniques.

With a lot of experience under his belt in many of the areas in Namibia, Arnold has grown into a brilliant Naturalist guide and adds great value to the already strong Ultimate Safaris team. He is a pleasure to travel with and will ensure you get the most out of this beautiful country.

Personal Interests

Golf and studying up on conservation

Why I enjoy guiding

“It is all about the passion.”

Memorable experience on trail

While I was based at Hoanib Skeleton Coast Camp, I took my guests out to search for the desert adapted elephant. We went out soon after breakfast and we searched for them the entire day, luckily I decided to bring a picnic lunch with me. With no luck in finding the elephants I set up a beautiful picnic lunch under the shade of an Ana tree in the middle of the river. As we sat down and started talking about the morning, out of nowhere a big bull elephant approached from the thickets across the river and snuck up on me.

I managed to scramble my guests into the vehicle and we drove off to get away from him, as he started to charge at us the closer he got. In my haste I was not able to pack away the picnic I had set out. Once we came to a stop and looked back at the tree we saw the elephant sniff the picnic before rejecting human food and reaching for the pods of the tree. We sat there in awe, having not seen them that morning, they found us. It was so amazing to this gentle giant doing what nature intended him to do and not taking any notice of us or our picnic.