Werner Pfeifer
Werner Pfeifer
I was born 1964 in Namibia and grew up on a bush farm. As a child I often walked in the bush with rifle and dog. Later I travelled a lot through the country. Since then I fell in love for my country, its history and its people. After school and military service I worked as a game warden, chasing poachers through the bush and did game management. During his time as game ranger a colleague pointed out to me long forgotten Stone Age settlements in the desert. Since then I travelled a lot to explore undiscovered sites throughout the country as well in South Africa and Zimbabwe.
I ran my own hunting and photo safari business until 1990 when I left for Germany for my then big love.
In Kiel, in the north of Germany, I studied Biology and Geography to become a teacher. Besides that I did some private studies in Archaeology and History at the University. In my free time I roamed northern Europe (Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Island) as a hobby Viking and Stone Age man, acting in museums and historic markets.
During this time I learned to make stone tools my self. My teacher was the famous Harm Paulsen from the National Museum in Schleswig (Germany) and Ole Nielsen, director of the Holstebro Museum in Denmark. Since then I gave a few flint knapping courses in Germany, England and Namibia.
From Ole Nielsen, who was one of the most famous bow makers (replicas of historic wooden bows) in Denmark, I learned this skill as well. Being a bowyer for the last 18 years, I made most of my own bows my self using them in historical bow competitions in Germany, Denmark and Sweden. I gave a few bow making and bow shooting courses in Germany and England and are specialised in replicas of the north European Stone Age.
After finishing my studies I ran my own business as a free lance Viking teacher, Stone Age teacher and animal park teacher in north Germany.
During all this years in Europe I travelled nearly every winter time back to Southern Africa doing tour guiding and exploring the deserts for historic settlements.
Eventually I returned to Namibia in May 2003 and turned my hobbies into profession. I am running my own company together with my friend and business partner Gianluca Massalini, doing bush craft courses in cooperation with traditional Bushmen (San), archaeological explorations, wilderness trails, adventure canoeing trips on local rivers, selected safaris for small groups, and special photographic tours. See www.bushculture.com
Together with friends I am also busy initiating living museums among the different indigenous tribes in Namibia. See www.lcfn.info
Bushcraft is one of my hobbies I still like the most, specially when it comes to the way of living out of nature in Namibia. Me and my Bushmen friends share this love for walking the wild together doing tracking and hunting with bow and arrow only. I love to live out of nature with a bow, a knife and a bag full of knowledge... the most primitive, the better. And I like to pass this on to people who like this too! That's why we cooperate with companies in Europe, like Extrasurvival.