Guides and Team

Here is some information about the people involved in A Step Ahead, including our guides and those who work behind the scenes.

A Step Ahead guides

A Step Ahead crew – Justin Dave and Gillian

Our own A Step Ahead guides help design itineraries and accompany you if you decide to go on a premium style journey.

They have traveled to various parts of the world, are erudite and entertaining, and are expert all-rounders with vast knowledge in fields such as wildlife in general, or rural life in northern Spain. They usually also have several specialist interests such as a period of history, ornithology or photography.

Our A Step Ahead professional guides include –

Dave Christensen, an outstanding African all-rounder guide, qualified as a specialist walking guide, and who has been on the Professional Hunters and Guides Examining Board in Zimbabwe since 1992. Dave is also an avid wildlife photographer.

Travel expert and guide Justin Bell who has traveled extensively. He has guided safaris in several countries in Africa, accomplished over 20 summits up Mount Kilimanjaro, and organized and guided cultural journeys in the Spanish peninsula.

Iberian expert guide Richard Cash has walked the Pyrenean High Route from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean no less than four times. He delights in showing visitors the amazing landscapes, virgin nature and mountain villages, culture and history that first captivated him in 1988.

Professional specialist walking guide Carl Nicholson was born and educated in Zimbabwe. He is also licensed to handle and administer drugs used for immobilising wildlife when veterinary care or relocation is required. Carl is very entertaining and has interesting stories about life in Zimbabwe, his safaris and times helping animals.

Regional guides

Regional guides are generally based in one country or a particular camp. They become specialists in their area, often knowing the various prides of lions and when certain individuals were born for instance, or other details specific to their area. Aside from enriching a safari experience because you get to know the local people, they also provide insight into the customs, language and traditions.

Often our professional A Step Ahead guides are supported by the same regional guides each time they visit an area, or they request one to guide with them. Our regional expert guides include Tanzanian specialists who work for excellent ground operators – Chediel Mnzava and Wilfred (aka Kakae) Saiteu from Nomad Tanzania, and Fazo Mtoro from the Asilia Group. Others have experience in non-profits or in other fields.

Chediel Mnzava

Chediel is a member of the industrious Chagga tribe who inhabit the area surrounding Mount Kilimanjaro, where he was raised. He was educated in the town of Moshi and continued his education in Kenya, where he qualified as a radio technician.

In 1995 Chediel took the opportunity to embark on some formal wildlife studies, and then decided to become a safari guide. He guided in most national parks, and became very familiar with the northern areas. In 1999 Chediel joined one of Tanzania’s best local operators, Nomad Tanzania and widened his experience working in the more remote areas in southern Tanzania as well. He also was trained as a walking guide, which he enjoys immensely.

Chediel’s relaxed manner, in-depth knowledge of the bush and love of his country make him an ideal companion for a safari in Tanzania.

Wilfred (Kakae) Saiteu

After Kakae finished his formal education, when he was awarded his Bachelor of Science degree in Wildlife Conservation and Management, he worked with a team of Norwegian geologists carrying out ‘Limnology Studies’ at Lake Natron.

Every evening they would sit around the fire telling stories of African and European cultures and their respective wildlife, and the more Kakae spoke of his love for the Tanzania wilderness, the more he realized there was a lot more to life than brine and sodium carbonate!

He then joined Nomad Tanzania, one of Tanzania’s best local operators, and guided in one of the most remote camps in Africa – Nomad’s Greystoke Camp on the shores of Lake Tanganyika, fascinating his guests with his general knowledge and passion for the chimps. Widening his repertoire, he guided beside the meandering Rufiji River in Nyerere National Park, before moving to the Serengeti ecoystem in the far north of the country, so he has experience throughout Tanzania!

A Step Ahead office

Our office is based in a tiny village in the Spanish Pyrenees and is run by travel expert Gillian Lyons. She is helped by Justin and their son Laurence Bell, who never shies from taking on a new task. Laurence was born in Kenya and raised in Tanzania and Spain. His first safari was when he was 6 weeks old!