I have always had a sense of adventure and the outdoors. From a young age I remember my father telling me stories that we are descendants of Vikings and the Queen made my great great grandfather Robert Sharpe a Rear Admiral of the Northern Fleet for the British Navy (true story). Viking or not, the travel bug is in my blood for sure. The reason we ended up in Africa was because Captain Sharpe, my great grandfather and son of the Admiral met Hilda Swan (daughter of Sir Joseph Wilson Swan- my other great great grandfather) on a ski trip and eloped with her to start a life in South Africa (sound familiar?). When my name sake Kenneth Raydon Swan (Hilda’s brother) came to Natal and found her with her two children living in a kraal he send her back to England where is became my grandfather’s ambition to study Geology and come back to Africa to help his father with his mining endeavours. Dr Noel Sharpe moved to South Africa where my father was born in 1938 and from there he moved to Northern and Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe).

With that backdrop of family history I have always loved the outdoors being a keen bird photographer in my teens, doing nature walks and in later years hiking and mountain climbing. In my early twenties I got hooked on paragliding until I fell 4000 ft out of the sky with no reserve.

I have always enjoyed fishing in different parts of the world (the more remote the better e.g. Salmon fishing off Alaska or on the Kola peninsula). I enjoy kitesurfing, scuba diving, wake surfing and wake boarding as well as have recently tried long board surfing in Costa Rica and Hawaii. My love of all sports in road cycling which at one stage I would do at least 3 times a week covering 2-300km weekly and even manged to get a sub 3 hour time in the annual Cape Town Argus 109 km cycle race which is considered a pro time! I am always up for a challenge and like to keep healthy and fit with some form of daily workout.