Several months ago, at the famed Explorers club in NYC, a 30-year veteran safari guide and naturalist approached Cockpit USA founders Jeff and Jacky Clyman with a challenge. He asked us to put our product into the field to be tested, beaten, battered, and worn, and in return, he would provide the list of people to do the testing. The goal was to use a product field-testing initiative to not only show how our product could handle the real-life rigors of his world, but to use this test to introduce and spotlight the amazing personalities, places, and projects these incredible people of interest would bring. We accepted his challenge, and are happy to launch this campaign along with the true force of nature behind this concept Mr. Don Young. 

Meet Don Young: A unique combination of outdoorsman, scholar, artist, designer, and adventurer. As CEO of the Newland, Tarlton & Co. luxury brands, Don has used his lifetime of safari experience to create an array of safari experiences from tented camps to lodges, from Africa to Indonesia. Having spent most of his career on tented safaris, Don took that experience to the design table. Don designed the tents and furnishings for his own safari camps, and has also created furniture collections for Ol Donyo Lodge, Kenya, Zarafa Camp, Botswana and Lukula Selous Camp, Tanzania. Eventually he launched his own line of safari furniture that is as focused on the ruggedness and functionality needed to be in the bush, as the style and romance needed to be present in quality luxury safari furniture. 

As a naturalist and conservationist, Don has traveled widely in Africa and Asia, promoting education and conservation for endangered species. As a scholar, Don is regarded as one of the world’s authorities on African explorers and has published several academic works including “The Search for the Source of the Nile” published by the Roxburghe Club. Don is a trained forensic osteologist in the field of paleo-anthropology and is the discoverer of an important human pre-historic site in northern Kenya.

As an author, Don is represented by the prestigious Inkwell Literary Agency and is currently writing his first novel: “The Spy, the Lover & the Devil’s Brother,” based on the story of Capt. Sir Richard Burton and his life in India at the time he ‘discovered’ the “Kama Sutra.”

Don serves on the Board of Directors of Lion Guardians / Wildlife Guardians, and the Elephant Trust / Amboseli Trust for Elephants. Don is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, and a Member of the Explorer’s Club of New York.

Don’s safaris, public lectures, and his famous fireside stories, have touched the lives of thousands of people. He has devoted his life to teaching about the natural world, and hopes that by sharing his knowledge and passion, he can help save wildlife and wilderness for the next generation.

Stay tuned for more shots and adventurers to come!