Our Ethos
About Us
We believe that behind every small business is a family and supporting local is imperative.
Therefore, we’re careful about who we choose to give you the most authentic experience that we can. We’re passionate conservationists and have worked with most of the authoritative bodies in the Cape Whale Coast for many years. It’s through them that we find our leaders, guides and sweepers, and our chef Megs makes sure that we support the local farmers, and suppliers.
Dumisani manages our drivers and cleaning teams.
Come Join Us!
Meet the team
Leanne
Leanne was born into a family of adventurers and loved the outdoors, mountains, mud and animals, so she went to board at Treverton at the age of 12 in the early 1980’s, where she blossomed into who she was born to be. Treverton offered environmental education, hikes, conservation initiatives.
After school her love of the ocean found her working at a diving school; her love of photography got her to do a diploma in photography; and then her love of Africa found her in Botswana on the Delta as an exchange for taking wildlife photographs. These photos sold to raise funds and create awareness for the Endangered Wild Life Trust.
While her commercial photography is predominantly portraits, families and weddings, her passion has always been to use her photography as a voice for helping animals.
For the past seven years she has been helping protect and look after the Rooisand Wild Horses, which you may see on the Whale Coast Camino and the Kogelberg Nature Trail. She is completing her third annual calendar, which helps spread the message of ‘Admire from a distance and help keep them wild’.
Leanne has completed many hikes including the Drakensberg, Otter trail, Whale trail, Cape Whale Coast, Italy and the Camino De Santiago in Spain with her husband Peter.
Peter
Peter’s love for the great outdoors started with his first mountain adventure at age fifteen. Together with a friend, they cobbled together something that resembled backpacks and set off for a mountain range, a half-day train ride from Johannesburg. Totally unprepared and ill-equipped, they struggled to climb, pitch tents, stay warm, and cook their tinned food. What a memorable start to a lifelong journey! Since that time, many holidays have been filled with hiking adventures across Southern Africa, with many a lesson learned and thankfully, cooking skills greatly improved!
As a professional commercial photographer since 1983 and for the last ten years with his wife Leanne, has taught photography to passionate amateurs in beautiful locations across South Africa and the world.
They gave up city living about ten years ago and chose to relocate their home to a small nature estate 100km from Cape Town in the Cape Fynbos region, one of the six floral kingdoms of the world.
‘This has given us the opportunity to truly sink our toes into this incredible environment and spend our lives walking with whales, wildflowers, and wonderful weather’.
Peter has always been deeply interested in Die Strandlopers, and has incredible knowledge and history to share.
Megs
Megs is a French-trained chef who concentrates on creating healthy and balanced meals that work for your gut and well being.
Having studied in Cape Town, she has been a chef for almost 10 years. She has been passionate about cooking since she was a child.
Her main product line and day-to-day business is creating vegan and bone broths, as well as three and five day detoxes. ‘It took me months to find farmers and suppliers who are truly free-range, organic and nourishing. I can now confidentially share these suppliers on all fronts of my catering, ensuring my clients have the highest quality of locally sourced ingredients in the Overstrand.I have a tried and tested track record and I love what I do, so a lot of love goes into my food.’
Megan specialises in all ranges of dietary requirements, allergies and preferences so your meal will be to your specifications and, to your liking.
She has also grown up in a hiking family, and has summited many peaks in the Drakensberg as well as hiked the Whale and Otter Trails.
‘Just because you are hiking, you do not need to eat badly.’ And with her doing your catering, none of our clients do!
Dumisani
I have been driving this wonderful team, their families and their clients all around South Africa for the past 9 years and I am a proud member of it.
Dumisani will be the first person you meet at the airport and the last person to say goodbye. We will get to know each other well as I will drive you safely to where you need to be.
The owner and manager of his own carpet cleaning company: KARP KLEEN and is a respected member of the Hermanus community.
A committed family man and his wife to Gertrude, dad to Charlene, David and Michael who all live in Hermanus.
Why choose our team
- Coastal walks are heavily affected by weather and tides. Our team are all experienced hikers with local knowledge and hands-on experience.
- Walk through this natural wilderness, knowing that this route has been meticulously researched, planned and tested.
- We have travelled to the Northern Mountains of Spain to gain a full understanding and appreciation of how an authentic Camino works.
- Group logistics can be a daunting task. Getting everyone to the start (and to the finish!) at the same time, requires lots of understanding, juggling, adjusting, and care.
We’ve done this successfully for over 10 years on a variety of trails and destinations, with 80% of our clients returning for additional adventures. - One of the most popular trails in South Africa is Cape Nature’s ‘Whale Trail’, which we have hosted 15 times since 2007 and have coached, prepared, transported, fed and guided many people through this challenging trail. That’s a fair track record!
- We have specifically created a safe and welcoming environment to include solo travellers, who need to be able to join groups and integrate on an equal footing.
- It is vitally important to support the communities and small businesses and educate everyone about this very special piece of our fragile planet. We encourage our clients to join our ongoing initiatives in this regard.
- We are committed conservationists (some of you may know Leanne Dryburgh for her work on The Rooisand Wild Horses – see below).
- Indulge in one of the greatest walks and land-based whale watching experiences in the world and allow us to take care of all the logistics that go into making your walk a great success.
- Explore the ancient routes, lifestyle and history of the Strandloper (beach walkers) and experience their legacy first hand.
- Join an outdoor adventure trail and learn all about us.
Our proudest moment in tourism
Some interesting information about us, is that in 2014, at the Getaway Travel Fair, South Africa’s largest travel expo, we were awarded 1st Prize for Best Adventure 2014. Teaching photography in beautiful parts of SA and the world, while actually learning and working with your own camera, combined with our walking tours and support shown to our clients, excited the judges to the extent that we were awarded the coveted trophy.
Small bespoke groups is what we love, and we are excited to transfer our energy from teaching photography, to walking in the beautiful Whale Coast, with the same energy and ethos.
How we got in to hiking
About us and our touring business, The Photowalkers’, taught photography to people who wanted to improve their photography on location.
We walked through villages, towns, cities, and nature and so the hikes and walks slowly materialised as part of our offering.
Our ‘Head Office’ Wild Wellness, was born from this, and since 2007, we have taken 15 groups on the famous Whale Trail, which finishes just 30 km up from where our Camino ends or where our first ‘Walk with Whales’ begins.
For the last year, we have been taking day hikes throughout the Overberg, and weekly community walks in Onrus, where people get out to walk in groups and meet their neighbou
A glimpse of our tours
Years ago, Peter and Leanne decided to share their photographic knowledge, so in 2012, they opened The Photowalkers, and took small groups of aspiring photographers around the world. An interesting fact about us is that when Covid hit, they were taking 17 tours a year!
The tours included: Italy, Botswana, India, Zanzibar, Mandela’s journey, Spring in the Cape, the Karoo, the Garden Route, the Winelands, Jozi, Magoebaskloof, Cape Town, Hermanus and the Overberg – and so many more!
Why are we including this information?
We understand how to host groups and take care of all of the logistics of a tour – seamlessly.
Leanne and Peter have ‘re-grouped’ and are bringing all of their experience in tourism and managing groups to the Whale Coast. This has been a three-year research project for them and they are bringing new hikes and walks to you and this incredible area.
A glimpse of Peters portfolio
For 40 years, Peter has specialised in photographing the Built Environment. His passion for form, balance and light, has taken him inside, outside and on top of these structures. He has worked with some significant global brands and many of South Africa’s leading professionals in this environment.
A few of these include: Porche, Microsoft, Bentley, Investec, Growth Point, Nedbank, Waco International, Barlow World, Lamborghini, Liberty Group, WBHO, Empowered Spaces, Paragon Architects, Apple South Africa, V&A Waterfront and Waterfall City.
“I’m only as good as my last photograph, so I try harder every time to make an image that is unusual, captivating and better than my previous work.” Peter’s served as the President of the South African Professional Photographers for the last 10 years.
A glimpse of Leannes portfolio
A real life Hero, Leanne’s love of people and her understanding of the vulnerability one feels when having a portrait taken, has been honed throughout her career.
Weddings, portraits and family shoots have been part of her journey for 32 years My ‘new families’ stay with me and I photograph their maternities, births, newborns and milestones in their families. Her services often stretch into their corporate portfolios too.
My first love in photography is light and how to capture it, and then the moments between people, or people connecting with nature.
‘My clients stay with me – my work is consistent. I love what I do.’
A glimpse of Leannes work with the Wild Horses
‘I became aware of The Wild Horses when I moved to the Overberg in 2013 and in 2016 on a long walk near our home, we stumbled across a lone injured stallion. Learning that it was Brassy, who had separated himself from the herd to heal after challenging another stallion. I’ve been involved ever since. It was easy for me to pick up my camera, and very quickly realised that a zoom lens is imperative as the minute you go close, their dynamic changes.
Interested in their bloodlines, who belonged to whom, what their history is, and slowly started meeting people who had studied the horses many years before me. It was an honour for me to meet Prof. Frans van der Merwe who studied them deeply since 1972. To have him share his deep knowledge with me was incredible. I will always be enormously grateful.
Introduced to a woman who is 102 and grew up on the Farm where Arabella is. She remembers free roaming horses from her youth. I am in the process of producing a book on The Rooisand Wild Horses which includes all of this information. I photographed, designed and printed a beautiful and informative annual calendar in 2022 and 2023, and am busy with the 2024 version.
Prof Van Der Merwe and Brassy laid their heads to rest for the last time, within 24 hours of each-other. Two legends of the Vlei. It was very moving when I called his daughter to ask her to tell Prof about Brassy, and together we realised what had happened.
Share Leanne’s knowledge on the horses during the Whale Coast Camino.
2024 calendar is here!
Order yours NOW!
Email: free@rooisandwildhorses.com
This is Leanne’s passion project and the proceeds go to The Wild Horse Fund.