Peter Derichs was born in Germany in 1947. At age 8 his family emigrated to South Africa. At an early age he developed an interest in animals and the outdoors.

After matriculating in Cape Town he eventually ended up in South West Africa (Namibia) working for the Hydrology section of the Department of Water Affairs.

For 6 years he spent 3 weeks per month travelling the length and breadth of that beautiful country.

His travels took him to the Skeleton Coast, Bushmanland, Kaokoland, Ovambo, Caprivi, the Diamond Sperrgebiet and Southern Angola.

During this time he developed a passion for photography and some of his photos are still available as postcards in Windhoek today.

After graduating from University of South Africa, he and his wife moved to Richards Bay in Kwa-zulu Natal and eventually to Johannesburg.

Like millions of South Africans, he took every opportunity he could get to travel to the various National Parks.

On one of his numerous trips to the then Gemsbok National Park (Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park) it struck him that although he had been there on many occasions he did not know what he was looking at.

What did the place name mean?
What tree is that?
How deep is the water?
What is the quality of the water?
What happened here historically?

He realized that if he did not know the answers, there must be many people who did not know them either. The idea of a totally different guidebook was born.

It must be simple; it must have all the information on one page; there must be a visual reference for the visitor, in short, a 12 year old must be able to understand it.

The Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park was printed in 2001. The feedback was positive and he decided to tackle the Kruger National Park. This book was printed in 2008.

In 2008 he approached “pdasolutions” to explore whether these books could be transformed into an electronic guide. The idea was accepted enthusiastically and the first e-guides are now available.

The unique features are that a GPS enabled device such as a PDA or a mobile phone will function as a normal map. However, when the vehicle comes within 10 metres of a waypoint, the photo of that place comes up on the screen and the voice over explains all the features of that point of interest.  For the first time ever, visitors have a fully electronic visual and auditory guide to the Parks.