Mike Main

Mike Main

Mike Main is a businessman and management consultant specializing in leadership, team building, and presentation skills. Born in Devon, England, he has lived in West, East, Central, and Southern Africa for most of his life and is now, after twenty-five years there, a citizen of Botswana.

In addition to his professional career, he is known as a photographer and a safari guide. He has also written a number of books on southern Africa and lectured extensively, both regionally and on cruise liners. He is a committee member of Transparency International and The Botswana Society, and Chairman of the Maru-a-Pula School Council and the Gaborone Music Society.

Mike's cultural tip

My experience suggests two approaches to people that appears to work all over the world, which are smile, be polite and, especially, be patient - westerners are too accustomed to things happening quickly. Make the effort to learn the simplest greetings and "thank you".

Memorable travel experience

Watching and listening to a Bushman tracker convince me, from a single footprint in the sand, that an adult eland we were seeking was 'not far away', was hungry and had left the footprint between 5 and 7pm last night. It was science personified!

Culture Smart! guide(s):

botswana