My name is Jason Miller, I am very happy to stumble across this forum.
A little about me, I have had a serious passion for Africa and Adventure in general since 1992. As many it was a gift from my Uncle, a book by our friend Peter Capstick that gave me the fever. I was 22 at the time and Africa and especially hunting in Africa seemed an impossible feat.
So, I read, and read and read, my girlfriend at the time (my wife now) bought me more books and I found myself stopping at every bookstore in every town buying books on Africa exploration, hunting and South American Adventure as well. Over the years I have collected more than 2000 books some dated back to 1710 and have read them all.
My passion was to get to Africa however an opportunity in 1994 took me to the Amazon for three months working in remote regions with a mechanic fixing generators. Once I returned Africa still beckoned.
I applied for any and every job I could find in Africa, however being young and desperate of course nothing opened up. Even the Peace Corps came to screeching halt when my request for west Africa turned into an opportunity in Central America. I decided I had to get over there so purchased a ticket and visited Kenya and Tanzania. I backpacked all around both countries and had many adventures including some sad experienced along the border as the refuges poured over from the genocide in Rwanda and Burundi. (1996)
I worked in IT and finally decided the only way I would get over to Africa was to sell everything and go. So, my new wife and I quit our jobs sold most of our meager belongings and packed my .460 and 30-06 and we moved to Johannesburg in 1997. I partnered with a friend to build one of the first Internet Service Providers in South Africa. We eventually sold the business and spent two years traveling in our old Land Rover across all the southern African countries. My quest was to hunt and managed to hunt as locals in South Africa and Namibia. My plans were to stay in Africa and began flying with a pilot cargo from Namibia to Jo Burg and back. But my wife was getting home sick. She eventually insisted on coming home back to Texas and it broke my heart, but I conceded. I went back to work in IT just in time to find out I had cancer and fought a battle thankfully with insurance. Thanks to my wife insisting on coming home I lived. I was 29 years old.
I made multiple trips back and forth to Africa, climbing Kilimanjaro, and even spending time in Ghana and Burkina Faso translating Mamprule language to English. I finished my Pilot training including a Sea Plane rating and schemed to get back to my beloved Africa.
But alas, it wasn’t to be.
We had a son in 2003, I started building custom homes, and being in business for myself never had any time to travel. We had three more children over a decade and Africa moved farther back due to kiddos and a busy schedule. I fell into the Oil and Gas business and we moved around the country winding up in beautiful Colorado. Passions change and sailing, aviation and Italian cars and motorcycles became my hobbies. My books lined up in the basement waiting to be read again. In 2017 I was fortunate enough to retire from Oil and Gas and the same year I met a great man named Charles Mulli, a Kenyan businessman who sold everything 30 years ago to rescue orphaned children in East Africa. He asked for my help as a Development Director in the USA where I am fortunate enough to be able to travel the US working for Mully Children’s Family. At least four or five times a year I take a group over to East Africa and show them our facilities and then finish off their trip with a Safari or hunting trip if requested. Maybe I will see some of you in Reno and Dallas
I am finally back in Africa.
