John’s passion for wildlife was molded by his grandfather, who took him camping starting when he was three. Now with over 20 years working in the wildlife industry, John is a fully licensed Zimbabwean Professional Guide. He is committed to protecting Africa’s wilderness and says the way to do this is to engage visitors and promote the need for tourism that benefits local communities, who will in turn look after and care for the environment. John’s two personal fields of interest are birds and trees, and he’s become something of an authority on the latter in Zambezi National Park. According to one trip member, "John's knowledge, enthusiasm, and care for the environment and wildlife are contagious!"
John is extremely competent. He has an intuitive knowledge of the natural environment, plants, insects, animals, and geography. He is also very personable, funny, and passionately ethical in his approach to the trip and its participants and the natural surroundings.
John knows the Latin names of most trees, flowers, and birds and was a wealth of information about the large mammals, their habitats, and habits. He is congenial and obviously enjoys interacting with clients and natives alike and is a wonderful guide. He is perceptive and willing to spend time answering all our group's many questions with patience and good humor.
John had the perfect combination of humor, patience, no-nonsense approach, warmth, passion, and energy. He made everything happen and was transparent. His concern for our safety, well being, and happiness showed in everything he did. His ability to read people and the group is really amazing and appreciated. And in addition to all that, he is an amazing wilderness/safari/botany expert. Would go on any excursion with him.
John was the perfect trip leader for our family. Outstanding knowledge across the board: animals, birds, plants, country, people, history, environmentalism, etc. We really loved his passion and his desire to make things better for the country and its environment. Attentive, fun to be around, and just a great person overall.
John was truly knowledgeable, concerned with each guest, concerned with our safety, outstanding at finding the animals and places we wanted to see, and very personable.
Our trip leader, John Laing, is a SUPERSTAR! Could not be better!
John is an excellent guide with many years of experience. Passionate about people, animals, the environment, and helping to improve schools and job opportunities in his country.
John was an amazing leader. Knowledgable, open, caring. Shared his efforts and thoughts about the future of conservation, his country, and the people. Very impressive. He took amazing care of us and offered us many opportunities to have memorable and more unique experiences.
John is a consummate advocate and activist in the very best sense of those words. He was tireless in ensuring that we had varied, educational, and interesting experiences and adventures, and also a lot of laughs.
John's knowledge, enthusiasm, and care for the environment and wildlife was contagious.
