What the Bush Teaches You

Who’s on the Podcast

Mike Grover – Nature Positive Enterprise Development Manager at Conserve Global
Jo Cooper – BHS Guide and Sales Consultant

Mike works in conservation and protected area development across Africa, bridging community land and long-term sustainability.
Jo’s journey into guiding began by accident, shaped by years in the bush, hard lessons, and unforgettable campfire stories.

Recorded beneath a fruiting jackalberry at Raptor’s View, episode three of Sundowner Sessions brings Brett Horley together with two familiar bush characters, Mike Grover and Jo Cooper, for a fireside catch-up that drifts effortlessly between laughter, nostalgia, and hard-earned perspective.

The conversation opens with shared history. Careers that started deep in the bush, a podcast launched during COVID, and the strange reality that years later they now share office space for entirely different reasons. It’s a reminder that in conservation and safari life, paths twist, overlap, and often circle back when you least expect it.

Mike reflects on his journey from long stretches in the field to his current role with Conserve Global, helping establish protected areas across Africa on community land. While much of the work now happens behind a computer, the bush years still shape everything,  especially his view of guiding. That perspective is tested the moment he’s thrown into guiding without ever having officially guided a day in his life.

Armed with confidence, bush knowledge, and a world-class tracker, Mike quickly discovers that knowing animals and being a guide are very different things. A group of guests arrive with a Facebook-fueled leopard wish list, an encyclopaedic birding appetite, and high expectations. What follows is a slow unravel: missed turnoffs, the same windmill driven past multiple times, an increasingly irritated tracker, and a leopard that quietly crosses into a neighbouring property.

“I thought, how hard can it be? Geez… was I wrong.”

The humbling moment comes when Mike is gently replaced,  only for the truth to land later, when guests realise he isn’t a lodge guide at all, but an ecologist. Ironically, that honesty flips the script, leaving them more interested than ever. The takeaway is simple: guiding is a craft, and respect for it is earned.

Jo’s path into guiding follows, entirely by accident. A would-be chef with dreadlocks and zero intention of becoming a professional guide, he finds himself in Balule on his very first job, learning fast and making questionable decisions even faster. One late night, convinced a leopard is following him, Jo opts for the only logical solution: climb a tree and wait it out.

“Climbing a tree wouldn’t save me from a leopard… but that didn’t cross my mind at the time.”

He wakes at dawn, climbs down, showers, puts on his guiding badge,  and suddenly, it’s official. The story is funny, self-deprecating, and deeply familiar to anyone who’s learned the bush the hard way.

Woven through the episode are classic campfire moments: embellished guide stories, legends who shaped the culture but are no longer around to tell the tales, and unforgettable characters,  including one man who casually walked four and a half kilometres carrying a spare wheel under his arm, bartering hats for beers along the way.

Relaxed, reflective, and full of laughter, this episode captures the heart of Sundowner Sessions: the stories that never make it into brochures, told honestly by the people who lived them.

Until next time - keep your sundowners cold and your stories wild.

Interesting Facts from the Episode

• Guiding is a skill, not a shortcut - deep bush knowledge doesn’t automatically translate into being a good safari guide.
  
  
• Early bush careers are rarely polished - most great guides start underqualified, nervous, and learning fast.
  
  
• Campfire culture matters - many of the bush’s best lessons, legends, and laughs are passed on orally, long after the tracks have faded.

Explore Conserve Global’s approach to long-term conservation.

Listen now!