Richard White was born and educated in KwaZulu-Natal’s largest city - Durban. After completing a degree in the unrelated field of Social Science and partaking of some globetrotting he began a career in guiding. He has worked as a bird and general nature guide in one of South Africa’s most exclusive game lodges. Here he discovered his passion for birds and guiding. Richard then worked as a bird and nature guide at Sacha Lodge in Ecuador for a year. He has now returned to South Africa and is a full-time guide for Rockjumper Birding Tours and his portfolio includes all of Africa and Madagascar. Although birds are his prime passion he maintains an active interest in plants, especially trees and other wildlife. His love of people and passion for birds has ensured that bird guiding is not only a job for him but also a way of life.

"We thoroughly enjoyed the trip around Namibia under Richard's informed and attentive guidance. His information and enthusiasm about the birds (we saw 390 species), his familiarity with the mammals and other wildlife, his knowledge of botany made Richard a truly superb guide. Richard's professionalism extended to all aspects of the trip. In addition, he was a delightful companion - impeccably polite, but highly congenial and an engaging conversationalist. We have hired guides on quite a few of our other trips, some of whom were expert birders, but Richard, without doubt, tops the list on all counts."

Dr Seyomb and Vanda Browne
Washington DC
USA

"Richard was a brilliant guide enabling us to see (and hear) almost 270 bird species, 26 mammal species and we managed to see about 90% of the possible endemics. This was due mainly to Richard’s enthusiasm and attention to detail, which did not wane, even on some very long, cold and rainy days. He is a real asset to your company."

Dr Stephen Browne
The Game Conservancy Trust
UK