Angus Begg, an award-winning TV producer and photojournalist turned private safari guide

Angus has been telling stories for decades since his days as a novice journalist covering Nelson Mandela’s release, subjects covered ranging from politics and current affairs to conservation and travel. Working for the national broadcaster in South Africa during the early to mid-1990’s - covering the conflict in Somalia, the genocide in Rwanda and his country’s first democratic elections - cemented his enthusiasm for and curiosity in the narratives to be found in the wildlife tourism and conservation industry. During this period, in which he visited most of the national parks and game reserves in Southern Africa, he and the safari industry discovered each other.

Over the next roughly 20 years, Angus pursued almost parallel, related careers – one as a current affairs and conservation television producer and the other as a travel-writer and photojournalist. With a CNN award and various commendations in his back pocket, Angus used his experience and talents to start his next career – that of private guide and safari itinerary designer

He loves little better than sharing his passion for the bush, southern Africa’s cultures, rhinos, fynbos and conservation, using his many, diverse experiences to inform his second career as a private guide and public speaker – entertaining his guests with stories of his travels across sub-Saharan Africa.

Together, Angus & Hartley’s Safaris plan special interest itineraries, each with its own story line, a specific narrative, an element of the “road less travelled”, pioneering an unusual destination that we see belongs on a “bucket list”

Every itinerary is planned with a specific purpose and African story in mind - with one of the greatest story tellers to bring it all together!

We are excited to share a few of these special interest itineraries, with more to be published soon.

Mozambique

Having first visited Mozambique as a backpacker with university mates in the early 90s, when the civil war was still on, Angus went on to cover the reopening of the iconic Polana Hotel, before producing television stories on, amongst other topics, the now-famed resurrection of Gorongosa National Park. He believes that, while Gorongosa redefines the values of a national park, Mozambique’s unspoilt beaches and islands are the next big thing on Africa's safari map.

Zimbabwe

Angus draws on his first visit to Zimbabwe, as a schoolboy with his family in 1977, on which he became pen-pals with a young Zimbabwean named Zwanai. He returned as a journalist many years later, both travel-writing and sharing Zimbabwe’s ‘best bits’, while exposing poaching and other shenanigans during the Robert Mugabe dictatorship. He has returned repeatedly to Victoria Falls and Hwange in recent years, which he believes are home to among southern Africa’s finest tourist establishments and wildlife experiences.

Human Origins

Ever since he learnt about the discovery of the fossilised skeleton of a mussel-cracker (a popular item on South African seafood menus) in a southern Cape cave, and its possible link to early humankind’s cognitive evolutionary leap, Angus has held a fascination for the stunning stretch of coastline dubbed ’the Cradle of Human Culture’.

iRhino Safari

As a child I read a book called ‘Game Ranger on Horseback’, by one of KwaZulu-Natal’s legendary rangers and conservationists. I loved horse-riding, and our early family holidays were spent in the mountains and game reserves of what is today known as KZN province. Those early days shaped my thinking, interest and career, as a photojournalist and TV producer focusing on conservation.