Keith Valentine hails from Johannesburg, South Africa, where his interest in the outdoors, wildlife and especially African birds developed at an extremely young age. Keith has always had a passion for adventure and while he was growing up spent more time away from the metropolis than within. Keith has through time in the field acquired extensive and specialist knowledge of the birds, mammals and overall ecology of many diverse regions throughout Africa, Asia and Madagascar. At 21 years of age, Keith became the youngest person to have ever seen 850 birds in the Southern African sub region. His expertise has been gained through numerous field trips, where he has observed and studied birds and other wildlife and their behavior in depth. As well as researching the birds and wildlife of Africa, he holds a Bachelor of Commerce Degree in Financial Management from the University of South Africa. Keith spends most of his time guiding tours throughout Africa, Asia and Madagascar for Rockjumper Birding Tours. Keith has a wholehearted excitement for wildlife and birds and gains immense enjoyment from sharing these experiences whilst on tour.

"There are just not enough superlatives in the English language to describe the superb birding/holiday experience that we just completed with Keith Valentine. His birding skills are legendary and well known in Southern Africa, and he is well on his way to joining the elite group of birding guides known throughout the International birding community. Our recent month long custom tour with Keith provided us our best holiday experience in over 35 years of world travels to over 80 countries. I’ve had the pleasure to bird on 6 continents with many of each country’s top birding guides. Keith would match skills with any of them. His knowledge of the birds, their vocalizations and seasonal habitat preferences are astoundingly keen. He assured fantastic views of all, but the most difficult skulkers, providing outstanding photographic opportunities in addition to the enjoyment and study of the birds seen. He was also competent in identifying all the mammals, trees and flowers, and then providing interesting tidbits of information, making the experience even more memorable. And, if this wasn’t enough, he’s a great travel leader and companion. All of our personal needs were attended to caringly, promptly and efficiently. His keen sense of humor was always a delight. Add to this his glowing enthusiasm for each bird seen and you can understand our great pleasure with this trip."

Tom & Edie Schall
North Padre Island, Texas
USA

"I had the pleasure of meeting Keith as our guide for Rockjumper's Eastern South Africa tour in November 2005. Keith has extensive knowledge of South Africa's birds and was very helpful in pointing out the finer points of difficult identifications, both visual and vocal. Most importantly, he always did this with his usual cheerful attitude. I thoroughly enjoyed his company and the birding experience and would love to go birding with him again."

Dave Klauber
Hicksville, New York
USA

Scoping shorebirds in South Texas, USA