Meet Ben
Childhood
I was born in South Africa very close to the southernmost tip of Africa. My formative years were spent on lighthouse stations along the South African and Namibian coastline until we moved into the city for schooling. It was a struggle for me to settle into city life, feeling restless and out of place in the built-up environment.
My mom read to us when we were young, and this, coupled with my dad’s animated storytelling, contributed to developing in me a vivid imagination and a sense of adventure. For reasons I never fully understood, I grew up painfully unconfident, particularly when dealing with authority figures. At the same time, I developed an insatiable appetite for adventure and independence. It has been this internal tension—this yin and yang—that has made every adventure and seemingly ordinary moment in my life feel worthy of remembering.
Discovering my Path
From my early primary school years, I was part of a small group of friends, and together we explored the mountains of the Cape Province. During senior high school, I discovered surfing and was completely taken over by the experience. Once a surfer, always a surfer.
Two years of military service gave me a tougher skin, guiding my transition from innocence to young adulthood. On re-entering civilian life, I fell headlong into the dazed and confused years of my early twenties. With no opportunity to study further, or any real career guidance, I took on a series of dead-end jobs. Although I was conscientious and moved quickly up the ladder, I must confess that I was motivated largely by the need to fund my surfing and social life.
Eventually things fell apart, and I reached the point where I could honestly say, “Not another day!” From that point on, my life was transformed. I sailed across the ocean to St Helena, met and married my wife, and finally found the career I was destined for: nature conservation.
Early Conservation
As a nature reserve manager, I worked on some of the most iconic reserves in the Western Cape of South Africa, and my family grew and flourished in the freedom that this environment provided. Living inside the parks, away from the city, my children experienced a childhood few can dream of nowadays. It was during this time that I picked up my studies again and, through distance learning, received first my National Diploma in Nature Conservation and later a BA degree in Environmental Management.
As a family, we took a few detours along the way. I left conservation for five years, during which I started a small construction and maintenance business, briefly ran a youth group, managed a sheep farm and, later, a poultry hatchery.
When I finally returned to conservation, things had changed. I found myself working in a mountain catchment area where wildfires and alien vegetation control were the primary conservation activities.
Later Conservation Work
In 1994, the political situation in South Africa changed for the better, and I soon found myself at the forefront of reconstruction and development within the context of conservation in the new South Africa. I had much to learn and was perfectly placed to do so. After being a key part of a very successful community conservation project in the Western Cape, my reward was to return to De Hoop Nature Reserve, my first posting as a student conservator, but this time as the officer-in-charge.
Instead of leaving for the city, as my parents had done when we were old enough for school, we home-schooled our three children for a major part of their schooling. This enabled us to live on some of the best reserves, many of them a long way from any formal education institutions. Later, we moved to a mountain reserve, still within distant sight of De Hoop.
Eventually, storm clouds began to loom. My wife and children packed up and left for the city to continue their post-school education, while I remained behind in the mountains. At that point, I found myself, once again, alone..
Surviving Through Movement
For the next few years, I focused on rediscovering myself, which had somehow got lost in the whirlwind of the years before. I competed in two ultra-long, unsupported mountain bike races across South Africa, trained for and completed two Ironman events, and cycled across the country from north to south.
Out of necessity, I needed to earn more money to cope with the family debt that had accumulated while educating our children. It was at this point that I discovered I had a talent for photography and was able to pay off a sizeable chunk of my immediate short-term debt through selling photos. I also rediscovered my love of motorcycling and began exploring the dirt roads around the country.
Then, one day, an email arrived in my inbox at work that provided the key to the next stage of my life. The stage was a small, landlocked country in Southeast Asia called Lao PDR, or Laos.
Laos and Beyond
Initially, I was to provide technical support to the government of Laos for the management of a protected area. It was a one-year contract. It’s now been 15 years since I arrived, and I am still here in 2026, offering management and technical support to the Lao Government for an amazing conservation area, Nam Et-Phou Louey NP, having worked hard as part of a team to have it finally declared as the first National Park in Laos.
During my time here in Laos, I realised that, unlike South Africa, affordable international travel was an option, with at least a dozen countries within a few hours' flight from Laos. I dusted off my travel gear, oiled my bicycle and cycled in Thailand, Malaysia and China before cycling clear across Bhutan and into India and Nepal with my son Dylan.
Why I Write
Today, (2026) I still live in Laos, and conservation continues to be an important part of my life. But increasingly, I find myself looking back as well as forward—writing, photographing and sharing stories gathered along the way. There are still places I want to see, roads that disappear around the corner that need exploring. The journey is far from over; the destination still uncertain.