Namibia Wildlife Safari Tour Specialists

The Naturalist Collection offers wildlife safari tours in Namibia specialising in herpetology, entomology, botany, birding, general wildlife and wildlife photography throughout Namibia.  The Naturalist Collection, originally Batis Birding Safaris, has been offering Wildlife Safari Tours in Namibia for over 10 years.

We are a group of born and raised Namibian Naturalists passionate and knowledgeable about all fauna and flora in Namibia. We offer tailor-made tours

Steve Braine has been actively involved in Namibian conservation for the past 40 years and has contributed invaluable data to the Namibian ornithological and natural history database.

He has also captured and ringed an endless number of birds and has contributed and published several articles on distribution and other aspects of ornithology in popular journals and magazines. He discovered several butterfly species as well as a species of desert beetle,  Onymacris brainei in the northern Namib Desert as well as a sub-species of the Speckled Burrowing Skink Typlocontias puctatissimus brainei along the Skeleton Coast.

His sons, Sean and Dayne, were born while Steve was working in the Skeleton Coast Park as a ranger and they had the privilege of growing up in this pristine wilderness area. Sean, the eldest, after completing his studies worked as a fly-fishing and bird guide at a lodge on the Zambezi River in the eastern Caprivi.  He was then promoted and was transferred to a lodge on the Kwando River where he managed the lodge for three years.

From here, Sean led specialized birding trips as well as doing guided walks with big game. He has also done specialized birding tours for Birding Holiday in the Caprivi and Botswana, the area in which he has developed a thorough understanding of the environment and especially the diverse birdlife as well as wildlife of this region.  Dayne the youngest on the other hand is a qualified commercial pilot but opted to do land-based safaris. He has led several coastal and desert birding tours.

Dayne and Sean grew up during their teens in the unspoiled wilderness and wildlife area of the Hobatere concession. After their studies, both boys eventually joined Steve and Louise at the Hobatere Lodge and gained invaluable experience in the tourism industry.  While here, the invaluable experience was gained guiding wildlife safari in Namibia tours and the general hospitality trade. Both Dayne and Sean are keen photographers and both have found their own niche in the photographic world within Namibia.

They are passionate and enthusiastic about the bush and cannot wait to share this enthusiasm with others.

The Naturalist Collection includes Batis Birding Safaris, Namibian Naturalist Tours & Safaris and Braine Photography.