Bain’s Baobabs - Cindy Todd Safari, Classic Escapes - Nov 2025

I am honoured to currently partner with both TMAC (for tailoring custom luxury safaris since 2018) and Classic Escapes for guiding and planning luxury group safaris (since 2017). I am also privileged to work closely with Wilderness Safaris (since 2012) as well as Phil West Safaris, Biggest Leaf, and a number of highly respected tourism operators in each of the destinations I operate.

In addition to designing and guiding safaris, I present lectures on natural history & conservation issues for both guests and organisations, often connecting with people from all walks of life. I aim to inspire curiosity, respect, and a lasting appreciation for the natural world.

As an ecologist, I offer my guests a deep, immersive understanding of the wildlife and natural environments that I hold dear. I remain actively involved with a range of environmental initiatives and citizen science programs that help shape the work I do and in recent times have developed a fascination with the rich cultural diversity of Africa’s people, which I integrate into the experiences I provide.

About My Work

Giving oxygen while fitting tracking devices - Botswana - Aug 2013

How I got into safari

I spent my early childhood immersed in the wonders of the natural world alongside my brother. Starting out in the incredible biodiversity of Cape Town’s unique fynbos, we soon ventured further afield with family and friends into the classic African savannas of Kruger and into the deep red sands of the Kalahari. When it came time for tertiary education, I earned degrees in both Ecology and Earth & Geographic Sciences at UCT, and later completed postgraduate studies in Zoology at Stellenbosch. These became the foundations and tools I needed to set out on my own journey.

In 2012, I began my second life-changing role, this time as a Conservation Ecologist for Wilderness Safaris in the Okavango. The work was endlessly varied—no two days were ever the same. My responsibilities spanned almost all of northern Botswana’s private concessions and reserves, from extensive wildlife monitoring and sustainability work to hosting researchers, guests and donors, conducting camp audits, and collaborating closely with government departments.

A highlight of those 6 years was my involvement in Botswana’s black and white rhino reintroduction program, where I served as boma manager at both Mombo and Piajio. Together with some of the continent’s leading vets, game capture teams, and tourism partners, we successfully brought in over 40 black rhinos and numerous white rhinos (see book).

It was also during this time on Botswana that I started my conservation blog, Bush24, sharing insights from my work in the Okavango and beyond.

After university I started out assisting on various projects before finding my first permanent work in the bush as a safari guide at Mala Mala. There I developed a keen interest in wildlife photography, eventually joining my dad’s photographic studio back in Cape Town. Having a Mom as an English teacher and with years under the watchful eye of the ‘grammar police’ I realised that I was becoming a very keen writer, which, together with the photography, enabled me to share my experiences.