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Your Private Djuma
Experience
Graham Cooke, guide
extraordinaire
Graham Cooke has been living and working in the bush for twenty two
years. Graham has been involved in training as well as operating as
a private guide, working in various locations (from Zambia, Botswana,Swaziland,
through to Northern Kwazulu-Natal) for the past eleven years.
He has worked and lived in a variety of wildlife areas within South
and Southern Africa, including Londolozi,Sabi Sand Game Reserve in
Mpumalanga, on the two main rivers of Zambia, namely the Kafue and
Luangwa, Phinda Forest Lodge and Djuma Game Reserve, where he is now
permanently based.
Graham has a deep seated love and understanding of wildlife and their
environment. He is a devoted bird watcher, leading him to obtain a
diploma in Ornithology, as well as setting up and running a rehabilitation
operation for birds of prey.
He has had hands-on experience working close-up with some of the large
predators; hand-rearing 2 leopard cubs which he lived with in the
bush for over a year, as well as assisting in the hand-rearing and
release of a lion cub. Other interesting projects have been a close
study on a troop of baboons within the Sabi Sand Game Reserve.
He and his wife are founder members of the highly respected, Ecotraining
School. The first of its kind in Southern Africa to cater for the
training of field guides. Affiliated with Allenby Campus, it is an
internationally attended course. He is still used as a freelance trainer
and lecturer within the organization.
Although birds are Graham's main interest, his knowledge base extends
far beyond. Not only will you have a more intimate experience of the
African bush - from the collossal elephant through to the myriads
of insects that inhabit it, but his extensive indigeneous cultural
knowledge will contextualize your whole southern African experience.
From the Okavango Delta in Botswana to the Greater Kruger National
Park in the Lowveld a private guide like Graham will enhance your
safari, making it a treasured memory of unrivalled quality.
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