ABOUT
I’ve never been one for the easy route.
Welcome to VivienneGunning.com. This website is my digital campfire.
Expedition leader. Story-seeker. Photographer of the quiet and the wild.
You won’t find glossy perfection here. But you will find stories shaped by dust, silence, colour, chaos, heartbreak, and wonder — shared through photographs and words gathered over a lifetime in motion.
Through my work, I explore the quiet dignity of a market vendor in Ethiopia, the wild pulse of a leopard in the Thuli Block, or the stillness of a grounded aircraft on a remote airstrip. Life, unscripted — but deeply felt.
This space is not about travel tips. It is about what travel does to you.
To travel is not to escape life but for life not escaping us!
I am Vivienne Gunning — senior expedition leader, artist, and observer of the human spirit. My professional life has unfolded in the field: on expedition routes, in remote lodges, on airstrips far from infrastructure, in situations where calm judgement matters more than bravado.
I don't rush Africa. I understand its rhythms, its unpredictability, and the quiet signals that only experience teaches you to read.
Over the years, my work has included expedition leadership, hospitality and lodge management, aviation-related operational support, crisis coordination, and guest care at a high level of responsibility. These experiences have shaped the way I travel — and the way I guide others.
Alongside expedition work, I specialise in accessible and assisted travel planning and accompaniment across Africa for solo travellers, senior guests, and those with mobility considerations.
Accessible travel, when done properly, is not about limitation. It is about possibility, presence, and care. This work is grounded in realism, empathy, and experience, not promises or assumptions. With thoughtful pacing, honest assessments, and calm on-the-ground support, travel becomes both dignified and deeply rewarding.
I don’t rush Africa.I understand its rhythms, its unpredictability, and the quiet signals that only experience teaches you to read.
EXPEDITION LEADERSHIP
25+ years leading complex African expeditions
AVIATION OPERATIONS
ACMI & charter logistics across 34 countries
PHOTOGRAPHY
Professional training. Emotional instinct.
ACCESSIBLE TRAVEL
Specialist companioning for mobility needs
On photography
Photography is how I pause the world long enough to truly see it.
My photographic work brings together images I’m most proud of — technically, emotionally, and artistically. They reflect professional photographic training, yes, but also instinct, patience, and an emotional response to light and form.
Please note that these images are protected works and may not be downloaded or shared without permission.
On painting
Long before the lens, there was the brush.
Painting is where I first learned to see — not only with my eyes, but with breath, skin, and instinct. These works are not photorealistic; they are interpretations. Emotional translations of places, faces, and moments that stayed with me long after I left.
Some paintings are layered and bold, others spare and still. All are deeply personal. Each brushstroke says: this is how it felt.
Original works and prints are available on request. Commissions are welcomed by conversation.
Thank you for being here
Thank you for stepping into this curated visual journey.
If something resonates, I’d love to hear from you.
📷 You can follow my current work on Instagram:
@VivieGunning | @VNGwild
Facebook: Vivienne Gunning | Vivie Gunning Explorer
MY CREATIVE SIGNATURE
The moment you stop trying to capture life — and allow life to meet you.
I have never been drawn to places that are perfectly polished or carefully prepared for visitors.
I am interested in spaces that are lived in. Not abandoned. Not staged. Simply real.
I often find myself asking a quiet question: How do humans create home — anywhere?
Children playing in dust. Old buildings still breathing. Languages returning in conversation.
Communities holding identity even as the world changes around them.
My photographs have slowly begun to reflect this — hands, movement, presence, small gestures that carry entire stories.
I feel I am entering a phase where everything in my life finally connects.
Photography. Writing. Travel. Experience.
All merging into one voice.
I am, at once:
an expedition leader, a photographer, a writer, a woman reinventing life after sixty, an African field professional, a quiet observer of the world
For many years these felt like separate paths.Now they feel like one continuous process.
Sometimes something makes me slow down. There is no drama. No excitement.
Just a soft internal pause. An awareness without urgency.
In photography, I have stopped hunting for images. I no longer chase composition.
Instead, I recognise alignment: gesture, light, emotion. truth
I press the shutter almost instinctively. Later I look at the photograph and think,
That frame works… but I don’t quite know why. Perhaps because I photographed recognition — not a subject.
The same happens in my writing. A sentence arrives creatively and easily:
"My heart smiled. Childhood still knows how to fly".
I did not construct it.I simply remembered the feeling of the moment.
Neuroscience may call this integrated attention. Artists call it flow. Field people call it instinct.
I think it is simply presence.
Technique improves photographs. Presence creates meaning.
That is why technically perfect images sometimes feel empty —while one imperfect frame feels alive.
The same is true for writing.
And perhaps for life itself.
My camera is almost always within reach now — not as equipment, but as invitation.
Expedition leader. Story-seeker. Photographer of the quiet and the wild.
You won’t find glossy perfection here. But you will find stories shaped by dust, silence, colour, chaos, heartbreak, and wonder — shared through photographs and words gathered over a lifetime in motion.
Through my work, I explore the quiet dignity of a market vendor in Ethiopia, the wild pulse of a leopard in the Thuli Block, or the stillness of a grounded aircraft on a remote airstrip. Life, unscripted — but deeply felt.
This space is not about travel tips. It is about what travel does to you.
To travel is not to escape life but for life not escaping us!
I am Vivienne Gunning — senior expedition leader, artist, and observer of the human spirit. My professional life has unfolded in the field: on expedition routes, in remote lodges, on airstrips far from infrastructure, in situations where calm judgement matters more than bravado.
I don't rush Africa. I understand its rhythms, its unpredictability, and the quiet signals that only experience teaches you to read.
Over the years, my work has included expedition leadership, hospitality and lodge management, aviation-related operational support, crisis coordination, and guest care at a high level of responsibility. These experiences have shaped the way I travel — and the way I guide others.
Alongside expedition work, I specialise in accessible and assisted travel planning and accompaniment across Africa for solo travellers, senior guests, and those with mobility considerations.
Accessible travel, when done properly, is not about limitation. It is about possibility, presence, and care. This work is grounded in realism, empathy, and experience, not promises or assumptions. With thoughtful pacing, honest assessments, and calm on-the-ground support, travel becomes both dignified and deeply rewarding.
I don’t rush Africa.I understand its rhythms, its unpredictability, and the quiet signals that only experience teaches you to read.
EXPEDITION LEADERSHIP
25+ years leading complex African expeditions
AVIATION OPERATIONS
ACMI & charter logistics across 34 countries
PHOTOGRAPHY
Professional training. Emotional instinct.
ACCESSIBLE TRAVEL
Specialist companioning for mobility needs
On photography
Photography is how I pause the world long enough to truly see it.
My photographic work brings together images I’m most proud of — technically, emotionally, and artistically. They reflect professional photographic training, yes, but also instinct, patience, and an emotional response to light and form.
Please note that these images are protected works and may not be downloaded or shared without permission.
On painting
Long before the lens, there was the brush.
Painting is where I first learned to see — not only with my eyes, but with breath, skin, and instinct. These works are not photorealistic; they are interpretations. Emotional translations of places, faces, and moments that stayed with me long after I left.
Some paintings are layered and bold, others spare and still. All are deeply personal. Each brushstroke says: this is how it felt.
Original works and prints are available on request. Commissions are welcomed by conversation.
Thank you for being here
Thank you for stepping into this curated visual journey.
If something resonates, I’d love to hear from you.
📷 You can follow my current work on Instagram:
@VivieGunning | @VNGwild
Facebook: Vivienne Gunning | Vivie Gunning Explorer
MY CREATIVE SIGNATURE
The moment you stop trying to capture life — and allow life to meet you.
I have never been drawn to places that are perfectly polished or carefully prepared for visitors.
I am interested in spaces that are lived in. Not abandoned. Not staged. Simply real.
I often find myself asking a quiet question: How do humans create home — anywhere?
Children playing in dust. Old buildings still breathing. Languages returning in conversation.
Communities holding identity even as the world changes around them.
My photographs have slowly begun to reflect this — hands, movement, presence, small gestures that carry entire stories.
I feel I am entering a phase where everything in my life finally connects.
Photography. Writing. Travel. Experience.
All merging into one voice.
I am, at once:
an expedition leader, a photographer, a writer, a woman reinventing life after sixty, an African field professional, a quiet observer of the world
For many years these felt like separate paths.Now they feel like one continuous process.
Sometimes something makes me slow down. There is no drama. No excitement.
Just a soft internal pause. An awareness without urgency.
In photography, I have stopped hunting for images. I no longer chase composition.
Instead, I recognise alignment: gesture, light, emotion. truth
I press the shutter almost instinctively. Later I look at the photograph and think,
That frame works… but I don’t quite know why. Perhaps because I photographed recognition — not a subject.
The same happens in my writing. A sentence arrives creatively and easily:
"My heart smiled. Childhood still knows how to fly".
I did not construct it.I simply remembered the feeling of the moment.
Neuroscience may call this integrated attention. Artists call it flow. Field people call it instinct.
I think it is simply presence.
Technique improves photographs. Presence creates meaning.
That is why technically perfect images sometimes feel empty —while one imperfect frame feels alive.
The same is true for writing.
And perhaps for life itself.
My camera is almost always within reach now — not as equipment, but as invitation.
