NightingTales: Get To Know The Founders - Matt Shock

What first got you into travel?

I’ve always had a fascination with the natural world, with history, with people and a desire to learn more. My parents instilled in me from a young age that the quest for knowledge and to learn new things is a brilliant and virtuous thing. I fundamentally believe that travelling the world achieves that and opens one’s eyes beyond our immediate perspective.

What is your favourite adventure you’ve ever been on?

I was lucky enough to go on a research trip to Guyana in 2019, which is a place most people know very little about and even fewer have had the pleasure of visiting. I was overawed by what I found there. We trekked through pristine rainforest, swam in great rivers, met Amerindian communities deep in the jungle, rode with cowboys on the savanna, watched Giant River Otters hunt in the streams, and uncovered what I can only describe as the closest thing to true, untamed wilderness as one can still find in the world.

Luxury travel or roughing it adventure?

I’ve stayed at my fair share of 5* hotels and loved every one of them, but give me a tent, a pair of boots and a walking trail in the South Luangwa anyday! 

Do you have any favourite travel books?

I love Peter Mathiessen’s books, particularly the Tree Where Man Was Born, he recounts stories of Africa and safari before tourism as we know it. I would have loved to explore the vast emptiness of the Serengeti or the Ruaha with nothing but a beat up old Land Rover and a pair of binoculars!

What do you look for when you travel?

I’m all about the wildlife. Most of my trips have to give some sort of “nature fix”. Much to my partner’s dismay, I never leave the country without my binoculars!

Do you have a favourite country to travel to?

I would go back to Zimbabwe again, again, and again - I can’t get enough. Zimbabweans are some of the warmest and kindest people I have ever met. The wildlife, the scenery, the “wildness” of it’s National Parks - Zimbabwe is absolutely incredible.

Where’s next on your bucket list?

Its a tough one, but probably visiting the Pantanal in Brazil to try and see Jaguars!