What a Safari Looks Like When a Woman Is at the Wheel

What does a safari look like when the guide isn't a man? Award-winning writer and editor Ellen Carpenter went to Botswana's Okavango Delta to find out. (To learn more, read her Afar story about the experience.) Meet this week's guests Ellen Carpenter is a New York–based culture and travel journalist. She served as editor in chief of Hemispheres, United's inflight magazine, for seven years, and before that was an editor at Rhapsody, Nylon, Spin, and Rolling Stone. Baemule "Bae" Siethuka, 32, grew up in Tutume in northeastern Botswana and was working in HR when she saw African Bush Camps' guiding program posted on Facebook. She became the program's first graduate in 2025 and is now a junior guide at Atzaró Okavango. Tshidi Phalaagae, 28, is a trainee guide from Gaborone, Botswana's capital — a true city girl who came to the program with, in her words, "zero knowledge of nature." At the time of Ellen's visit, she was just a few weeks shy of graduating. Jessica Motshegwa, 26, is a trainee guide from Mmadinare, Botswana, who joined the program in 2025. She once tried to enlist in the Botswana army. A Facebook link from her cousin changed her path. In this episode you'll learn Why more than 90 percent of African safari guides are male — and what one company is doing about it How African Bush Camp(ABC)'s three-year female guiding program works, from theory exams to practical training to first solo drives What it was like for Bae, ABC's first female guide, to complete her training while pregnant — and earn her license when her son was six months old Why Dutch Kasale, ABC's head guide and mentor, says training women from the city is often easier than training men who grew up in the bush What makes a female guide's approach on the game drive feel different The moment Bae manifests a leopard into view About African Bush Camps ABC was founded in 2006 by Beks Ndlovu, one of a handful of Black Africans to own a safari company. He launched the female guiding program in late 2021 with an ambitious goal: 50 percent female guides across all 18 camps in Botswana, Zimbabwe, and Zambia by 2030. There are currently 12 women in the program — eight trainees and four qualified guides. Chapters 00:00 — Into the Okavango 02:00 — The Case for Change 06:00 — Meet Tshidi 08:00 —Bae Siethuka Takes the Wheel 13:00 — Tracking the Leopard 16:00 — Inside the Program 21:00 — Bae's Big Moment Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices