Brian Huggins

From a young age, Brian has been traveling with his family. Every summer they went on cross country road trips, visiting every state. Since then he has widely explored Mexico, even going on a spontaneous road trip down and back in one weekend with his college friends. Ten years after graduating, he quit his job for a nine month adventure through Southeast Asia with nothing but a backpack. He returned refreshed and ready to turn his passion for travel into a career. Joining Mango was a natural fit for him with his expertise and longtime friendships with Casey and Teresa. 

As a veteran traveler he has had endless incredible experiences, but his favorite was trekking to the rare mountain gorillas in Rwanda. The trek was arduous with steamy humidity and slippery terrain, but all of that vanished the moment they came upon the gorillas. It was magical to spend time with some of our closest relatives, to see how similar they are to us, even having individual personalities. Brian was forever changed when a baby gorilla approached him, tugged on his pant leg and looked up at him with curiosity and understanding. He has become our resident primate trekking expert with the chimpanzees of Mahale, and the gorillas and golden monkeys of Rwanda and Uganda under his belt.

Last year Brian did a grand tour of Tanzania, checking out some fantastic new destinations, as well as revisiting old favorites. Among the new areas we love is Ruaha National Park, a largely unexplored area that offers pristine and diverse wilderness with huge populations of wildlife – this no frills area is perfect for those looking to get away from the crowds. Namiri Plains in the short grass plains of the Serengeti is another new camp that really stands out. Having been closed for 20 years for cheetah conservation research, the camp’s surroundings are untouched and quite extraordinary.  He also toured around the many options in the Seychelles.

This past October found Brian back in Botswana with a visit to the Kalahari, Cape Town, as well as a return visit to the Delta (always a favorite.)   This spring will bring him back to South Africa to explore different camps in the Delta and more time in Cape Town.  On the horizon is plenty of scuba diving and delicious spicy food in Southeast Asia, his go-to vacation destination.