The People Behind Every Trip

Meet Your Safari Guide

Every guide on this page is a real member of our team: licensed, PSV-badged, tourism-certified and personally known to us. We are adding more profiles as the season goes on. Ask for one by name and they will remember you.

Francis Njenga Kariuki, Driver-Guide, Kenya Southern & Northern Circuits at Leopard Orchid Safaris

Francis Njenga Kariuki

Driver-Guide, Kenya Southern & Northern Circuits
Certified tour guide, active PSV-licensed driver-guide English, Kiswahili, Kikuyu

Francis is the guide guests ask for when they want the whole circuit done properly. He runs the southern parks of Amboseli and Tsavo, the Rift Valley loop through Lake Nakuru and Hell's Gate, and the long northern drive up to Samburu and Meru, so a ten day itinerary stays with one familiar face from arrival to airport.

His background in sales, marketing and management shows in how he handles a trip. Timings are communicated clearly, lodge check-ins are handled before you reach the desk, and game drives are planned around light and animal movement rather than a fixed clock. Guests consistently note how calm the logistics feel.

In the field he is patient and quietly persistent. He would rather sit with a sleeping leopard for forty minutes and wait for it to move than chase three distant sightings in the same hour.

Credentials
  • Tour Guiding Certificate
  • Diploma, Sales Marketing & Management (2020, 2021)
  • Licensed professional driving licence and PSV badge
Parks guided
Maasai Mara Amboseli Tsavo East & West Samburu Meru Lake Nakuru Hell's Gate
"The animals decide the schedule. My job is to put you in the right place, then keep quiet."
5.0 guest rating
Request Francis for your safari
Paul Okello, Senior Driver-Guide, Full Kenya Circuit & Conservancies at Leopard Orchid Safaris

Paul Okello

Senior Driver-Guide, Full Kenya Circuit & Conservancies
Diploma in Tourism since 2004, over two decades guiding English, Kiswahili, Dholuo

Paul qualified in tourism in 2004 and has been on the road ever since. Twenty years across the Kenyan circuit means he has driven the Mara in every season, watched the migration arrive early and late, and knows which conservancy gate saves you an hour on a Friday afternoon.

He is strongest on the wider, less crowded routes: Buffalo Springs and Samburu in the north, the Laikipia conservancies, Meru, the Borabu highlands and the approach to Mount Kenya. If you want a Kenya itinerary that steps away from the standard three park run, Paul is the guide who designs it.

He also mentors younger guides on the team, which is exactly how he wants to spend the next stretch of his career. Standards on our vehicles hold because Paul sets them.

Credentials
  • Diploma in Tourism (2004)
  • Licensed professional driving licence and PSV badge
  • Tourism Regulatory Authority compliant
Parks guided
Maasai Mara Lake Nakuru Hell's Gate Amboseli Tsavo East & West Meru Buffalo Springs Samburu Laikipia conservancies Borabu Mount Kenya
"I have driven the Mara for twenty years and it has never once repeated itself."
4.9 guest rating
Request Paul for your safari

More guides joining this page

We are photographing and profiling the rest of the team through this season. Every guide we add holds a valid driving licence, PSV badge and recognised tourism qualification before they carry a single guest.

Prefer to request a specific guide?

Repeat guests ask for Francis or Paul by name. Tell us in your enquiry and we will match your dates to their availability.

Request a Guide