Fanie Mpiping
Fanie Mpiping
Fanie was born and raised in Molepolole, a village in southwestern Botswana. He grew up in a farming family, where agriculture and conservation efforts were often in conflict. Witnessing farmers kill predators that preyed on livestock deeply affected him, and he made it his mission to find ways for humans and wildlife to coexist peacefully.
Fanie pursued a course in conservation to deepen his understanding of animals and went on to educate farmers in his community about the importance of protecting wildlife. He holds a National Diploma in Nature Conservation from Tshwane University of Technology in South Africa.
Fanie has guided at camps across Botswana, including Kalahari Plains in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, where he became head guide after two years. Since 2016, he has been based at King's Pool Camp, leading a team of five enthusiastic guides. Fanie has been a guide with Wilderness Safaris since 2007 and became a Nat Hab Expedition Leader in 2024.
In addition to guiding and watching wildlife documentaries, Fanie enjoys photography and traveling.
What Our Guests Say
Fanie is extremely knowledgeable about Botswana's animals, birds and vegetation and shared his knowledge in a captivating and fun way. He is an excellent tracker and worked hard to find animals and teach us how to read tracks. He was a pleasure to be with at meals, and our family group grew very fond of him. I can’t imagine having a better guide!
Wow, where do I start? We all fell in love with Fanie! He is an expert in Botswana, and each and every one of us was so impressed with his expertise, knowledge, tracking experience and the effort he put in to give us the best experience. Everything went smoothly, and his relationship with the camp staff was genuine and appreciative, which made it extra nice. His love for nature, his job and the people he works with was clear and contagious. We had the best time ever, and who knows, maybe we'll go back again to have the experience in the summer. Fanie says it's a different experience and well worth it, and if Fanie says it, it must be true!
The entire trip was above and beyond, and Fanie had a huge hand in that. Between his professional education, experience, attention to detail and sense of humor, we laughed for 12 days straight. We saw things even he had never seen before and we saw many species and examples of animal behavior that are rarely seen by guests. Were I to take another safari, or recommend the trip to a friend, my two pieces of advice are go with Nat Hab and schedule with Fanie specifically!
