Resume CV

RÉSUMÉ/CURRICULUM VITAE

Vernon Swanepoel

Career objectives: Naturalist Guiding and related services in Namibia - to carry on and develop my field knowledge and in the long run, to build my company, Frantic Naturalist Tours and Safaris. I would love to explore other areas such as getting involved in travel for people with physical disabilities.

PERSONAL DETAILS

CONTACT: Click here for contact details
FULL NAME: Vernon Stephan Swanepoel
DATE OF BIRTH: 5 July 1972
NATIONALITY: South African (I have permanent residence in Namibia and travel on a British Passport)
DRIVER'S LICENCE: Valid Code 10 license with a public driving permit for goods and passengers (I am competent at driving quad bikes and motorcycles)
LANGUAGES: English (I can speak a little Afrikaans, and with practice, a little Swahili)

EDUCATION

PRIMARY SCHOOL

1978 Riviera Laerskool (Pretoria, South Africa) in Afrikaans
1978 Richard's Bay Primary School (Richard's Bay, South Africa) in Afrikaans
1979-1980 Durban North Primary School (Durban, South Africa) in Afrikaans
1980-1983 Correspondence (Kenya) switched to English, British System
1983-1986 St. Andrews (Turi, Kenya) British System - LINK

School achievements in primary school: School prefect & Boy Scout patrol leader. At St. Andrew's my big passion at the time was computer programming.

HIGH SCHOOL

1986-1992 Rift Valley Academy (Kijabe, Kenya) American System - LINK

SUBJECTS COMPLETED IN HIGH SCHOOL

English, Mathematics, Biology, Chemistry, World History, Computer (mostly programming in BASIC,) Graphic Arts (including photography, developing and printing photographs, and layout and design of printed material,) Swahili, Physical Education, African Cultures, and Typing. I excelled in Mathematics and did well in Biology and Graphics Arts.

INVOLVEMENT IN HIGH SCHOOL

Rugby for six years, the last two on the fist team
School yearbook staff, one year
Community project at an orphanage in the Rift Valley

The school was situated on the Rift Valley escarpment, and a lot of time was spent hiking in the indigenous forests and savanna below. I developed a casual interest in birds and birding. I was an avid fitness fanatic, and did weight training (including being trained to run the weight room and developing weight training programs for other school students. I did a lot of running, at one point doing up to 18km per day. I was interested in becoming a guide and went on a tour with Game Trackers and Best Camping Safaris I did a lot of touring with friends and family, including some walking, motorbikes and all sorts. My parents worked at a rural area in northern Kenya and I spent a lot of my holiday time hiking deserts, tracking wildlife, following birds down river beds, and climbing mountains.

UNIVERSITY

1993 Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa (BA HMS fist year) - LINK

Reason for leaving: I had a growing interest in fauna and flora, and wanted to move to a career field which involved nature.

TECHNIKON

1995-1997 Port Elizabeth Technikon, Saasveld Campus, George, South Africa (National Diploma in Nature Conservation) - LINK (Note: Saasveld is now a part of the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU)

The course is laid out as follows:
First, third, fourth, and sixth semesters (six months each) are done full time at the technikon (Theory.)

During this time a practical is taken one day each week, resulting in a wide range of exposure to various aspects of the field.

Second and fifth semesters are practical semesters, done on nature reserves, game parks, or other suitable areas.

SUBJECTS COMPLETED

Computers (which was mainly about computer models used for game management,) Animals, Plants, Conservation Development, Ecology, Soils, Resource Management, Communications. I have two subjects to complete in order to get my diploma, Animals III and Administration I.

INVOLVMENT IN TECHNIKON

I became somewhat fanatical about birding, and kept both a life list and a monthly regional lsit which was handed in to regional conservation authorities. I did a lot of cycling, partly to do birding, including cycling regularly to various towns around George on the weekends and cycling twice between George and Cape Town. I was a member of the running club, and ran a number or road races. I took part in various related events. I was a member of the hiking club and did some organized hikes with them as well as doing a lot of walking in the area around George and Wilderness. I learned to use various firearms, including pistols, rifles and shotguns.

INKWAZI RANGER'S TRAINING

Although perhaps not official recognized, I did the six weeks, in house 'ranger' training at Phinda in South Africa early in 2001. In this training all aspects of lodge guiding are covered, including on vehicle presentation skills, introduction to walking in high profile game areas, game drive basics, first aid, some vehicle managment, rifle handling (using .375 rifles,) and guest hosting basics. It is very comprehensive and well recognized in the industry. You will find more information on this page of Andbeyond's website.

NATH

I did the badge one ornithology course with NATH. I passed well.

WORK EXPERIENCE

July 2008 to present: Self employed, doing various guiding and tourism related things. I have a big focus currently on moving to doing primarily birding tours.
September 2007 - June 2008: Sossusvlei Mountain Lodge, CCAfrica - (now Sossusvlei Desert Lodge, Andbeyond - LINK.) Duties included mainly guiding with a strong involvement with management of the field team and with management of the Lodge as a whole. I had moved back to a field/guiding position as a preparation for leaving the lodge and getting back into full time guiding.
December 2005 - November 2007: Sossusvlei Mountain Lodge, CCAfirca, Namibia, Assistant Manager. This job included a range of duties including checking guests into the lodge, seeing to their needs, controlling drinks and doing the drinks orders, managing the guides, managing the workshop and maintenance side of the lodge, as well as assisting with virtually every aspect of running the lodge. At times I was left in charge of the lodge running while the general manager was away.
January 2004 - November 2005: Sossusvlei Mountain Lodge, CCAfrica, Namibia, Head Ranger. This position included guiding (doing Sossusvlei excursions, guided drives, walks and guiding controlled quad bike tours,) managing the existing guiding team, recruiting and training new guides, and managing the vehicles and equipment of the guiding team. I was involved in many aspects of the running of the lodge, including doing Astronomy at night for the guests when we did not have resident astronomers, and adding our guides sightings to the companies wildlife blog, wildwatch, and hosting the evening at the lodge on occasion during dinner time, just as examples.
November 2002 - December 2003: CCAfrica Expeditions, Windhoek, Namibia, Operations Manager. I worked in various ways to support tours that were out on the road, and worked with the vehicles and equipment used for the camping tours when it was in Windhoek. The equipment used on these tours is quiet extensive, including large walk in tents and moblile kitchen trucks. I alsoassisted with helping guides and potential guides to upgrade their skills. I did some tours both with the back-up crews and as a guide.
December 2000-November 2002: Sossusvlei Mountain Lodge, CCAfrica, Namibia, Head Ranger. I was asked to come in to the lodge from the beginning of my stay as the lodge naturalist. After my first three months probabtion period, I started taking on all the responsibilities of the head of the guiding department for the lodge. I did a lot of guide training and recruitment. I managed the sightings reports, both for the reserve and for wildwatch. I contributed various things to other publications and helped numerous journalists doing work on the desert, the reserve or the lodge. I assisted in the creation of the ecoguide for the lodge (a small booklet which each guest receives) and I compiled a birdlist for the reserve. The birdlist was kept current during my whole time at the lodge, and has been published in various places, including in the Wildwatch publication produced by CCAfrica. I also compiled a list of mammals, reptiles, and plants for the lodge. I also collected a lot of material for ongoing training of guides and as reference materials. During my time there I used most of my free time to walk and explore, climbing all the hills, taking long walks in the dunes and looking for birds and reptiles.
May 2000 - November 2000: Afro Ventures Namibia, Quality Controller. I was involved in all aspects of preparing vehicles and equipment for tours. I also did many day tours around Swakopmund and the central coastal region of Namibia I assisted the Operations Manager with all aspects of running the tours side of the business. At the time we were also involved in logistical support for various photoshoots and filmmaking. We also did a lot of logisical support for various incentive groups, including doing tours in the desert, setting up large dinners in the dunes and transporting people.
February 1998 - February 2000: Afro Ventures Namibia, Guide. I did camping and accommodated tours around Namibia. I started early on to help train potential guides and later this became a big part of my job. I also did road transfers and day tours around Swakopmund and Namibia's central coastal region.
January 1997 - July 1997: Percy Fitzpatrick Institute of African Ornithology, University of Cape Town, South Africa - LINK. The work involved starting and running a project on Redwinded Starlings Onichognathus morio's breeding biology. I also worked in the Karoo on various ornithological and vegetation research projects, as well as setting up a museum display on Karoo seed dispersal. I learned to catch and ring passerines with cages and mist nets (however, I am not a licenced ringer yet.) During this time I met and went birding with many very experienced birders and really developed as a birder/bird observer. I also developed my interest in arid area ecology through the work in the Karoo. (This sparked an interest that lead me to come to Namibia in the first place.)
December 1995: Napier Plant Nursery, Napier, South Africa. Holiday job looking after the nursery.
July 1995 - December 1995: Addo Elephant National Park, South Africa. This job was done as part of my requirements towards my diploma in nature conservation. The work involved maintaining a hiking trail, a horse trail, roads and fences (including electrical fences and Addo's famous 'elephant proof' frence. I built rhino bomas, caught hippos and did some general game capture stuff. I learned a lot about managing hippos in limited areas. I was also involved in anit-poaching as well as problem plant control. During the whole time I recorded sightings that were used in the managment of the park. Although I had a long interest in birding before this, I started for the first time to record my personal life list. I had plenty of time to myself after work each day and managed to work up to 200 push-ups while I was there.
July 1994 - September1994: A compost company, Cape Town, South Africa. I worked as a Salesperson.
December 1993: A donut and take away shop, Summerset West, South Africa. Holiday job managing the shop through the very busy Christmas period.
October 1993 - November 1993: Pizza delivery, Grahamstown, South Africa.
July 1992 - October 1992: Rendile Relief, Korr, Kenya. I worked for my parents project in northern Kenya assisting with building office buildings, setting out the grounds of a school that my mother was planning, building many solar panel frames, trusses for roofing and assisting with fetching people at remote villages who need to go to hospital.

OTHER INTERESTS AND ACTIVITIES

I currently go birding vertually daily, and have been a serious birder for a while now. With more free time than before, and with good mentors, I am really improving my birding a lot at the moment. I read various birding publications and blogs.

I ahve extensive cross-cultural experience, both growing up in Kenya and working in Namibia.

I am a keen naturalist. I spent a lot of my childhood exploring various parts of Kenya, especially the Kaisut Desert where I grew up and the Rift Valley escarpment where I went to school. Since then I have done the same in South Africa and Namibia in the areas that I have lived. Working as a guide for over a decade now, my passion and ethusiasm for nature is feed by a lot of experience. With around seven years around the Sossusvlei, NamibRand area I know the area's fauna very well. I have been birding at the coast for many years and guided at the coast and know this area reasonably well as well. Aside from birds, I have a serious interest in deserts.

My other interests include a growing interest in astronomy, I aspire to fly fixed wing aircraft one day, I enjoy working on computers as a hobby, including building websites, blogging, and learning python and now also C++. I am a passionate family man and have a wife and two boys.