For over three decades as a wilderness guide and tracker, i have spoken of a deeper meaning of what nature represents to us. This in a humble attempt to share what may normally be unseen, what lies beneath the surface hidden from view. Or perhaps that what normally appears silent. I believe, that in our modern world, these are the very spaces we need to go to ... this to discover inspiration in our lives.

The African wilderness has so much to offer this process. It is within these ancient landscapes that the human being emerged. It is home. Therefore the conservation of African wildlife is an issue of global significance for us all.

​This is what my story of stories is about.

​Alan / Old Bull
Articles
THE LION AND THE JACKAL

MAY 2025

Every morning I wake up before the dawn. There is something profound about this time of the day, when the animals and birds are silent or asleep. The darkness. There is a moment when the wind stops, and the quiet black is all there is. Even mother earth herself seems to rest. As if she is taking a long deep rejuvenating breath in anticipation of the day.
PUBLISHED AT WWW.MAATSCHAPWIJ.NL
SPOTTED CAT AND A BONNET

APRIL 2025

​​Following the controversial footage of a leopard cub on the bonnet of a game viewer, and the volleys of resulting venomous rhetoric on social media about the guide, please find the following article written by my dear friend Peter Comley. A moment to reflect on the responsibility of the safari industry ... and how it all transpired.
KALAHARI TRANCE DANCE / FALLING UPWARDS

MARCH 2025

I felt alive, electric, inspired. A cramp began in my calves and it slowly rose up to my stomach, chest and head. My hands tingled. I felt a warmth, an ease, a deep and surprising peace. One which I have not felt before nor since. I felt as if I was falling. But not downwards. I felt as if I was falling upwards.
SEARCHING FOR UBUNTU

14 Jan 2025

"I am because we are, but only if the planet is." An ancient African way of life that transcends our behaviour, dialogue, statesmanship and redemptive leadership. With a reverence for nature and social equality, Ubuntu is quite possibly the most relevant social keystone in the world. Discover why.
PUBLISHED AT WWW.MAATSCHAPWIJ.NL

IMPRESSIONS FROM THE WILD

1 December 2024

An extract from our weather beaten old trail journal:

There is surely no other space on earth that evokes such rawness and depth than the African wilderness. If you travel through on her terms, that is. This is our speciality.
Read on and enjoy ...

INTERVIEW WITH SCOTT RAMSAY.AFRICA

Published on www.scottramsay.africa, November 2024

Thank you friend and conservation-colleague SCOTT RAMSAY for untangling my thoughts and skilfully crafting a meaningful dialogue and interview. Scott is a leading conservation writer, photographer and traveller and it's a privilege to be included in his portfolio. Looking forward to more campfire time again soon.


​CAN YOU HEAR THE MOON?

Article published by Willem Vreeswijk / New Financial Magazine, June 2024
​
EXCERPT: "The milky way hung low in the Kalahari night, this in the land where the sky meets the earth. In the quiet black we were all silent now, alone with our thoughts. The glow of the fire, like a cozy cocoon in the darkness, seemed like all there was. It was then that the old Bushman eventually spoke again. Touching my arm lightly to get my attention, he looked upward toward the vast empty sky. “Can you hear the moon?” he asked softly."

​ON AN ELEPHANT PATH with Alan
@ Umlani Bushcamp, Timbavati

7-11 June 2024

What a privilege to follow the largest walking mammal on earth for 5 days. Holding space with these magnificent animals challenges our perceptions: that other beings have the right to co-create alongside us. That perhaps our understanding of elephants, and therefore the very notion of intelligent connection, needs refining.
Picture
25 years of walking with the wild

ALAN McSMITH SAFARIS TURNS 25

January 2024
​
In 1999 Sarah and i left Tanda Tula to embark on an amazing journey. A journey of exploration, discovery, privilege and deep personal meaning. One that has taken us through the wild-lands of 7 African countries in search of the ultimate wilderness and wildlife encounter ....

"VOICE FROM THE WILDERNESS" - EUROPE CONVERSATION TOUR /APRIL 2024

APRIL 2024

It's a wrap! Our 2024 impact conversation tour to The Netherlands. Keeping the conversation going; of nature, leadership, connection and ultimately, transformation. Herewith a short summary...

THE REAL ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM

Article published in New Financial Magazine, December 2023

​Using my iconic elephant encounter video as an analogy, my intention is to re-write our deeply flawed narrative and mis-understanding of what fear is. To also address the destructive nature of fear and prejudice, and how this creates polarity and exclusiveness in so many societies in the world right now. my story is one of hope, transference, reconciliation and trans-boundary connections on so many levels.

INTERVIEW BY FOREST ME (www.forestme.nl)

Sept 2023

​"I believe we can receive information on three levels. The first is through our intuition. The second level is through our heart, our emotions. And the third through our brain, our logic. To arrive at the best choices for the well-being of yourself and those around you, receiving information should happen in that order." (Excerpt)

ARTICLE IN NEW FINANCIAL MAGAZINE - THE BITE OF TEMPERANCE

20 Sept 2023

On the surface, the story may seem to be about a deer and a plant. But of course its about infinitely more. Its about connecting people and ecology. Its about what is beneath the surface. Unseen. Silent. For these are spaces from which inspiration, collaboration and transformation emerges.​

MATES, GREATS & ELEPHANTS

2023

A column about inspirational friends, mould-breaking conservation and guiding folks, as well as iconic elephant personalities. All of whom have challenged my perceptions of meaning, connection and disrupting the understanding of what is normal.

VOORTREKKER THE DESERT ELEPHANT: LEST WE FORGET

26 June 2023

Four years ago today the legendary Namibian desert elephant known as Voortrekker was shot by a trophy hunter. The incident caused a global controversy, disrupting our contemporary understanding of elephant conservation and trophy hunting. This is the story. ​​

"TAKING OUR LEAD FROM THE WILD" EUROPE CONVERSATION TOUR / APRIL 2023

APRIL 2023

21 events, 21 days, 16 venues. Challenging, probing and celebrating the meaning of nature in our lives and how re-connecting to our own wild natures can inspire, create and innovate. Time to sit, slow and listen. A highway of interconnection emerges from this space. Plug into Alan’s story, a story that emerged from the wilds of Africa, from the most unexpected places…but exists in us all.

​A FUN Q&A SESSION WITH PRU ALLISON OF NATURAL SELECTIONS

March 2023

​Natural Selections is a leading African safari operator operating camps in southern Africa. Alan works as a free-lance guide running private safaris on their behalf. 

​WHAT'S TO AN AFRICAN HUT?
​MORE THAN YOU MAY FIRST THINK ...

​Reposted March 2023

Why should a simple African hut and village scene be valuable and of considerable interest to a world of modern cities, skyscrapers and shopping malls? Read on ...

​SINCE THE NEW PEOPLE CAME. A STORY OF DEATH AND DISPAIR ... BUT ULTIMATELY HOPE. AS TOLD THROUGH THE EYES OF A ZAKOUMA ELEPHANT

Reposted May 2023

After spending time at Zakouma National Park in Chad and discovering a little about the history, i wrote a fictional elephant biography. The story of Zakouma from an elephant's perspective. It's dedicated to the staff of African Parks who have revitalised the region into the greatest conservation success story on earth.

​ZAKOUMA IN CHAD.
​BEYOND THE FRONTIER
 
Reposted May 2023

Wildlife, not only in abundance, but layers of abundance. A bonanza of beauty, conservation success and incredible hope from the most unlikely of regions; Chad and the so called dead heart of Africa. A safari here, beyond the frontier, is more experimental than experiential. Not for the feint of heart, and despite extreme conditions, Zakouma will leave you stirred and speechless.

​WHAT CAN WE LEARN ABOUT ECOLOGY AND ECONOMY FROM ELEPHANTS?

May 2023

Well for starters, that they cannot be separated. When elephants kill tees we associate this impact through a corporate lens of deficit or scarcity. The elephant becomes the antagonist or problem. But what if this process is ecologically intelligent and creates resource abundance instead. Like a door opening in ways we cannot yet 'see'. We need to rewild the story of our relationships with ecology and see our economy as something that is not apart.

​33 YEARS AGO I MET MADIBA; MR. NELSON MANDELA. WHAT A DAY.

Reposted February 2023

This is a memory of a watershed and incredibly profound moment in my life; The pic was taken at a game lodge in South Africa, circa 1990. It's been 10 years since the legendary statesman, politician, leader and empathetic human being passed away. And Madiba's legacy of reconciliation and foresight will forever be remembered around the world.  Read more about the concept of UBUNTU here:

​THE CROCODILE, THE ELEPHANT AND THE TRANSFORMATION

Published by New Financial Forum / December 2022

The incident with a crocodile some 25 years ago changed me. From that day on i would look differently at the yellow eye and the river of life. I made a pact to skim lightly, mindful of my impact on its flow and the other skimmers along the way.
​I realised that the well being of the river could not be separated from the well being of my own.

​WHAT DOES MY HASHTAG #tellthemwhowereallyare MEAN?

September 2022

I have dedicated my life to share the complete story of elephants. As if in partnership with the elephants themselves and as a voice for their silence. I've often wondered what an elephant would say to me if it could speak, and perhaps this would be it: “tell them who we really are”. This is the short version of a story best told on trail or safari and around remote campfires ... but discover a little more here:

​HOW ALAN McSMITH CREATES NATURAL SPACE, AND WHAT IT TRULY MEANS

From interview with Marcell Kampmann / Happyspaces Project / August 2022

What the wilderness experience does, and why nature is incredibly important in modern society, is that is allows  a little space between the past and the future, between our imagination and memory. You can literally come home to yourself and make an appointment with life in that space. It is there where this original creative inspiration emerges.

​LEARNING FROM THE PAST; THE VALUE OF INDIGENOUS WISDOM

July 2022

For me, spending time with San Bushmen in the Kalahari reminds us of this. It is an enlightening journey, a completely natural comforting step into the past, and a glance into the smokey mirror of time. In the reflection I recognised not only myself, but my own ancestry, and felt connected once again to the landscapes of our origins.

ON THE TRACK OF YOUR INNER LEADER

October 2022

Tracking is all about paying attention, about being available to explore the processes of life. Modern society, although not on the track of antelope to hunt or predators to avoid, are still searching for the tracks of survival in other ways. Is there not an inner tracker in us all?

THE ORIGINS OF MANKIND ARE ROOTED IN NATURE

May 2022

​Nature and what she represents, is a healing and redemptive place. Then, by virtue, it ceases to be a place but something far more valuable than that. We can’t go to it as it is in us. And we are it. It is something that requires protection at all costs. ​


​

​VOORTREKKER; DESERT ELEGEND OF DAMARALAND

December 2021
​
Two years ago, legendary Namibian desert elephant Voortrekker, pioneer of the Damaralnd desert elephant population was shot. Discover why Voortrekker’s story needs to be heard. Elephant, generally, are considered as a keystone of an ecological circuit, but THIS elephant could be considered as a keystone of elephant consciousness. Discover why.

NATURE & 2021. THOUGHTS DURING A PANDEMIC

​January 2022

​It could be said that the conservation of our natural world is not just about landscapes and resources. It is about this fundamental inspirational reconnection with our spiritual home.
​It is about a repaired connection with the basic laws of ecology that are pertinent to mankind on this planet.

​DISPATCH FROM THE FRONTIER; 6-WEEK GUIDE TRAINING COURSE AT ZAKOUMA

Posted 2019

There is no guiding qualification structure in Chad so my mission is to create one. Its another privilege to be asked to design course and assessment content by African Parks at Zakouma NP, on behalf of the Tinga Camp, Camp Nomade and the community guides.

​CHAD IS WILD. ZAKOUMA IS REMOTE.
AND THEN THERE IS ENNEDI. THIS IS DELTA D'ARCHEI
 
Posted 2019

It's moonrise in the Sahara and I’m doing my best to untangle my emotions. Behind me is a towering turreted sandstone ridge, gloriously sculptured by wind and time. Perhaps by the hand of God himself.





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Copyright exists on all material. Intellectual property of ©Alan McSmith
Wildlife photography by ©Jens Cullmann / website / instagram
Design by OLD BULL