Steve Faulconbridge
It begins with a pair of red gumboots: Steve was six years old on his grandfather's farm in KwaZulu-Natal when the wild first claimed him, though he wouldn't know it until much later. He remembers pulling those boots on in the half-dark, racing out to find the cattle before sunrise. The doves were already calling and the mud pressed and squelched underfoot. The dew sat heavy on the grass, and the smell of the earth - raw, alive, unfiltered - filled everything. A simple morning on a simple farm, but lifechanging moments for a child.
The path, it turned out, had some detours. He qualified as a nature conservationist, then as a fully certified guide, worked at a prestigious lodge, went back to university, completed an Honours degree and then a Master's in Nature Conservation at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University - medicinal plants, sustainability, a PhD somewhere on the horizon. Then Wilderness Safaris came calling with a trails camp in the Northern Kruger. He said yes. The PhD went on hold and the bush took over.
What followed is a career that resists tidy summary: guiding, then training guides, then nearly nine years as a wildlife television presenter on WildEarth's SafariLive - the unscripted intelligence of the African wild, broadcast into the homes of millions.
"Nature has a way of calling me back" he says. "I can't see myself living a life that does not involve spending time in the wild places."
Over fifteen years of guiding, training and mentoring across East and Southern Africa, Steve's work has moved well beyond tracking animals and reading landscapes - though he does both with quiet authority. His focus now is what he calls Conscious Nature Connection: a practice that draws on ancient earth-based traditions, emotional-release techniques, energy-flow modalities, and intuitive coaching. He leads rites of passage. He holds rewilding journeys for people carrying too much of the world on them. He doesn't talk much about individual clients - those experiences belong to them - but he'll offer this: "By holding a safe container, I have witnessed many clients really open up and connect with a deeper level of themselves. These are transformational and healing journeys."
Whether he's leading a walking trail through Big Five territory or curating something more deliberately interior, Steve moves between ancient ecological knowledge and modern conservation science without treating them as opposites. He makes space for both.
His mission has never shifted: to help people rewild their spirit, rekindle their relationship with nature, and remember who they are beneath all the noise.
And he leaves every person he guides with the same instruction — his philosophy, his compass, his gift:
"Take a deep breath. Feel the ground beneath your feet. We are all connected.”
Home location: South Africa
Guides in: Southern and Eastern Africa
Languages: English
Guiding Fee: $$$
