Your Guides

Simon Graham was brought up in South Africa where, after having served in the army for 2 years, he spent 4 years (1988-1992) in the Kruger National Park, working for an anti-pouching unit and guiding tourists on game drives and bush-walks. He also guided hiking trips to the Drakensburg Mountains. In 1995 he left for London, but after 10 years of fishing in the Thames, he felt the call of the wild again and headed for Finland in 2005. Here he took the International Wilderness Guide course at the Kuru Institute of Forestry. He became a qualified wilderness guide in 2006 and was sent by the institute to Serengeti National Park in Tanzania to teach guiding and wilderness skills to the rangers working there. The winter seasons of 2007/08 he worked in Lapland as a wilderness guide for Luonto Loma at Saariselkä as well as for Frog Adventures in Enontekiö dealing with many clients on numerous outdoor activities. Simon runs his own pike fly-fishing tours business Baltic Pike Tours, bringing overseas clients here to fish. He is also a keen bird watcher, canoer, wilderness cook and nature photographer.

Lena Karlsson grew up in and around Vasa. She spent her youth in the scouts tumbling around in the forests. After upper secondary school she spent many years working abroad in various jobs all over Europe. In 2005 though, Lena left for Tenerife and worked nearly two years as a trekking-guide in the Masca gorge. In 2007 she returned to Finland, to the Kuru Institute of Forestry, and she became a qualified wilderness guide in 2008. Lena is educated as a graphic designer and illustrator and runs LK Graphics. She enjoys hiking, mushroom picking, canoeing, snowboarding and art.

We both hold Fist Aid I & II qualifications for wilderness conditions as well as food hygiene certificates.