James’s knowledge was honed by the briefings he gave to passengers when flying them to the camps and lodges in the Okavango, Linyanti, Chobe, and the neighbouring Victoria Falls area.
Meet James H, a safari expert at Yellow Zebra Safaris. He is a professional pilot, and he has an in-depth knowledge of Botswana and South Africa.
James’s knowledge was honed by the briefings he gave to passengers when flying them to the camps and lodges in the Okavango, Linyanti, Chobe, and the neighbouring Victoria Falls area.
James’s experience within the industry comes from years working as a senior training captain for Wilderness Safaris (Botswana’s leading lodge owner) and as a camp manager at &Beyond’s Phinda Game Reserve. He has spent many years flying clients across Botswana, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, and has stayed in many camps across the region. James has dual citizenship and a family home in South Africa. At Yellow Zebra, James works as a Southern Africa specialist with a focus on Botswana, South Africa, and Victoria Falls.
James returns to South Africa every year to see his family. James' recent visits to the continent include Botswana’s Okavango Delta, South Africa's Phinda Game Reserve and the latest destination he visited was to Zimbabwe in July 2019.
Botswana, South Africa, Victoria Falls and Zimbabwe.
Botswana, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Namibia, Lesotho, Swaziland, Mozambique, Malawi, Kenya, Tanzania, Mauritius.
James was born in Kent to an English father and a Zimbabwean mother. He developed a love for Africa during childhood trips starting from a very young age, normally being the youngest guest in the camps. Once he’d finished school, he moved to South Africa and studied to be a commercial pilot with the aim of flying in the bush. When not flying he made sure to exercise his camping, tracking, birding, and photography skills on self-drives.
In July 2017, James and his wife (whom he met in Botswana) decided to start their married life back in the UK.
James has an extensive knowledge of Botswana, South Africa, and Victoria Falls. All of these are destinations he knows inside out, and they are the areas he focuses on at Yellow Zebra.
“I am so fortunate to have a wealth of magical memories from Africa. It is therefore very difficult to single out the most memorable of them all, but it would probably have to be Christmas in the Timbavati in 1996.
“Christmas is a special time when you are 9 years old, but when you are from the Northern Hemisphere and it’s conventional to have cold wintery weather, a first Christmas in South Africa’s summer is certainly memorable.
“We were staying at &Beyond’s Ngala Safari Lodge, and the world was so green and alive. I went to bed on Christmas Eve and during the night there was a tropical-style downpour. I woke up excited for presents, but little did I know that there had been so much overnight rain that the bone-dry riverbeds we had seen on the previous day’s game drive had transformed into raging torrents. For me and many others this was an excellent present, especially since it meant Land Rover river crossings were in order, quite the Christmas adventure!”
"James spent time understanding what my son and I were looking for in the safari. Given this was our first safari James developed an itinerary that started with an introduction to our game viewing desires and built with each camp/lodge we visited such that by the end of our 10 nights we had achieved our desired viewing...the Big 5! Well done and thank you for a trip of a lifetime!
"I can't recommend Yellow Zebra more highly. We were extremely late in our safari planning, and James and the YZ team were still able to put together the honeymoon safari of our dreams! Every aspect of the itinerary they put together was perfect -- the hotels, camps, lodges, order of events, transfers, etc. I would sincerely recommend you let the folks at Yellow Zebra plan an amazing trip for you -- for us, it was worth every penny. Thank you James and the whole YZ team!"
"We worked with James Herrington to design a bucket list trip for us. Our first time on Safari, first time to Africa. James took the time to understand our needs, via phone calls and emails. He expertly honed in to what we were looking for and came up with an itinerary that now that we have taken the trip, far exceeded our expectations."
Chitabe is widely regarded as one of the Delta’s finest wildlife-viewing camps!
Nxamaseri Lodge is best known as a fishing lodge, but is also particularly good for birdlife, as there is a fantastic range of waterbirds here.
Intimate, unspoiled, and full of character, Zarafa is one of our favourite camps in Safari Africa!
This is a great camp with access to game-driving areas as good as any other camp in the region.
Jacana is a stunning little camp offering both land- and water-based activities! There’s a minimum age requirement of 13 years, but 6–12s may be accepted and all ages are welcome when the property is booked for exclusive use.
Vumbura Plains is a really superb base from which to enjoy both land- and water-based Delta activities!
Northern Botswana is home to some of the most striking and magnificent trees found in Africa! Our Botswana safari expert James H reveals the top 5 unique trees and where to find them.
By JAMES H | 26 November 2018
Recently, YZ expert James H was able to get to know some fantastic guides across northern Botswana, finding out about their heritage and their fascination with the wildlife of their homeland.
By JAMES H | 17 July 2018
