A curious young elephant calf breaks away from mom and approaches our safari vehicle. #tellthemwhowereallyare

ICONIC ELEPHANT INTERACTION: BEHIND THE SCENES. There's more to tracking elephant on foot than you may realise. One of Africa premier wildlife guides shares a fascinating philosophy. Discover more at www.alanmcsmith.com #tellthemwhowereallyare

We’re almost at the end of another turbulent year … perhaps a good time to revisit the value of humbling relationships. To consciously re-examine how we are with ourselves, others and our natural world. Our spirituality, and nature, cannot be separated. My empathetic interaction with a wild elephant was a once in a lifetime gift. For us at AMS, elephant are keystone in this awareness, and an understanding of the threat to all wildlife, ecosystems and our own wild natures. I, for one, am amping up my sense of awe! #tellthemwhowereallyare

Today, we were due to be on a Christmas elephant safari in the Okavango. But it could not happen. When it comes to adventure and when it comes to elephant, we are not going anywhere! Look forward to many more meaningful encounters in 2022. THANK YOU🙏

An adventurous and inspiring collaboration with @natucate offers another unique wilderness experience in the Okavango Delta Botswana in July 2022. Explore the power of nature in self-leadership.

LEADERSHIP IS A LIFESTYLE Some of you may have heard my mantra: ‘Wilderness is not a place, its a way of life.” Perhaps the same applies for leadership? After all, living is not a series of random events. Do our relationships with ourselves, one another and our planet not warrant attention and contemplated leadership? And as life is dynamic, this contemplation and exploration of self must be constant. A lifestyle! With the hot topics of ‘new normals’, ‘post-covid’ or ‘post-pandemic living’ heading our inspirational media waves, it is now time to take stock. And what better time than a forced slow down? It has always been in our hands. Our curiosity, our intelligence, creativity and imagination have essentially created the rod for our backs. A rod which, in very simplistic terms, puts consumerism before ecology. Faster, more, bigger, better; another dollar, another toy. The result? Ecologically speaking: habitat loss, global warming, climate change, over population and loss of bio-diversity. But the erosion of our natural world is far more than this, for ecology is the operating system of everything. It is about the weathering of other precious commodities; those of spiritual loss, loss of balance, loss of empathy, loss of understanding, of respect and of tolerance. The time of separateness must end, as we are now in a time of consequences. We need to lead though our lifestyle. Its time to be more curious, creative and innovative in the challenges we face … the crucial tasks of regenerating the chaos our own incredible intellectual and creative capacity has created. Time to take stock. But lets be brutal about it! Lets reflect without fear! Lets live consciously and question our behaviour. Put need above want. Put the soil above the plant, the forest before the hamburger. The more we reconnect with nature, the more we reconnect with ourselves. Make our own inner leadership a lifestyle! After all, how can we transform and lead the world around us, if we don’t truly LEAD our own selves?

SCOUTING FOR ELEPHANTS with Joel Sithole of @elephantsalive. It's a thrill to operate these meaningful activities ... To bring folks closer to understanding the importance of elephant conservation. #tellthemwhowereallyare

THE DUSTY WETLANDS OF BOTSWANA : MAKGADIKGADI The remnants of a vast super-lake, the largest ever known, offer wild extremes. Sometimes dry and desolate, other times green and plentiful ... But always enchanting. Let's safari!

ITS BEEN 8 MONTHS SINCE WE POSTED THIS VIDEO, with iconic elephant bull Kilimanjaro. With much positive momentum in the air, perhaps it's a good time to remind ourselves how far we've come. And always to remain grounded within our natural world. Sound on ! @elephantsalive @robin_cook_in_the_wild #tellthemwhowereallyare

UPCOMING BOTSWANA DECEMBER SAFARI IN PICTURES ! Okavango & Chobe 9 Bucket-listing nights! CONTACT US AT www.alanmcsmith.com

Cheetah with an impala kill at Mashatu, Botswana. These majestic speedsters are one of our more overlooked predators!

MATES, GREATS & ELEPHANTS Part 3: Voortrekker In June 2019, the legendary Namibian desert elephant Voortrekker, pioneer of the Damaraland desert elephant population was shot. He was killed as a hunting trophy, under the guise of being a problem animal. Voortrekker was a true elephant patriarch, challenging our understandings of the value of older males in elephant society. He was personally responsible for leading family groups to the Ugab River in southern Damaraland making the Ugab/Huab systems perhaps the most viable desert elephant population in the world. This remarkably gentle elephant was even revered by community members, this within a tough landscape of escalating human/elephant conflict. Like an elephant-diplomat his presence was a major role-player in establishing and maintaining a viable and potentially long term eco-tourism revenue stream within the conservancies of the region. He was actually showing us the way if we had just taken a moment to realise it. For me, all of this addresses one of the most crucial fallacies of elephant conservation, trophy hunting, and the notion of sustainable consumption: that older bulls have no value to elephant society and conservation, and can be hunted under the banner of ecological/commercial benefit. As the senator bull, his death was not only a tragedy for desert elephant conservation, but also a landscape of viability and possibility. Another casualty of that day, possibly most significantly, was man’s inability to associate Voortrekker with sustainable tourism value, community benefit, ecological integrity or a sense of wonder. Instead he was killed under the banner of short term greed, stupidity and consumptive madness. RIP Sir Voortrekker … i apologise for what my kind has done. #tellthemwhowereallyare Pic courtesy of : @christophe_pitot @conservation.diaries