Hey There! I'm Marcel, a Dutchie living in South Africa. I'd say I'm a pretty laidback person with a wide range of interests. I could never bring myself to specialize into anything, so I just keep learning new things, but a lot of it revolves around nature and biology. I need my time in the wild, in nature, and that is one of the main reasons I came to South Africa. That and freedom.

I do work full-time, but in my spare time I'd love to go to the Kruger Park, or go camping/hiking/climbing etc. If you are up for any of these activities, let me know! I'm also happy to go out for drinks and have a chat about the area or share stories.

Right now, I live in Kampersrus, part of the Hoedspruit area. Where Hoedspruit looks out on the Mountains, Kampersrus is right at the bottom of the mountains. From my house I can walk right up to the top of the Maripskop, the highest mountain in the area. It's also really close to the Blyde Canyon and only 40m drive to the Kruger National Park. Hoedspruit itself is a small but bustling town; to me this is a perfect hotspot of things to do. National parks and private reserves close-by, lots of good mountains and forests for epic hikes and 'close' to other countries in southern Africa.

So yah, if you're up for some adventuring in the area, let me know.

I don't want to plug my Instagram necessarily, but you can check out @marcelspanphoto for some inspiration for adventures. It is mostly animal photos though, but still :P

And seriously, if you are in the area and something is wrong/emergency/whatever, contact me!

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I like travelling, meeting interesting people, learning about different cultures, new recipes and just generally having a good time. CS seems to be a good medium for all of this.

South Africa has conquered my heart, especially the wilderness and nature over here, and I love to share my passion and knowledge about... well everthing.

Interests

• animals
• photography
• cooking
• beer
• coffee
• movies
• traveling
• music
• live music
• hiking
• camping
• food
• whisky
• roadtrips
• firebreathing

Music, Movies, and Books

Music: trying to get a bit of everything, but I mainly go for rock-related stuff. Old, new, as long as it's good. Led Zep, Creedence, Editors, Solstafir, And so I Watch You From Afar, Graveyard, Kyuss, Pink Floyd, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Avenged Sevenfold, Foo Fighters, Rob Dougan, Queens of the Stone Age.

Movies: so many of them. Blade Runner, The Matrix, The Fountain, Inception, Payback, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, the Fifth Element, Children of Men, Pulp Fiction, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Moon, the Prestige.

Books: I read a lot of biology-related stuff from the likes of Richard Dawkins and Desmond Morris, sci-fi classics from the greats like Philip K. Dick and Asimov. I usually fly through funny books like Hitchhikers Guide, Catch 22 and Bill Bryson's books and a bit of fantasy, A song of Ice and Fire mostly. Also, even though I never liked English literature during school, I'm catching up on a lot of the classics, Orwell, Huxley, Shakespeare, Vonnegut, Hemmingway etc.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Does catching a black mamba with a butterfly net count?

What I Can Share with Hosts

I can cook stuff, dishes from all over the world, or just a regular ol' Dutch stampot.
I can bore you to death with stupid facts about movies or animals.
I could teach you how to breathe fire.

Countries I’ve Visited

Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Romania, South Africa, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey

Countries I’ve Lived In

Netherlands, South Africa