The butterflies and bugs of Sussex might not seem like a match for the lions and tigers of Africa but Dan Renton thinks otherwise.

Dan is the founder of Safari Britain, a safari camp in a valley just off Firle Beacon in East Sussex, made up of bell tents for sleeping and a 22ft-living room yurt. Visitors can go on tour with a team of local experts from foragers, falconers, ornathologists or botanists, or learn bushcraft skills and how to cook game.

Dan says: “It started four years ago. The idea was to try to replicate the idea of an African safari on the South Downs but instead of having wild beasts, you have wild experts.”

Dan had been working abroad for several years making radio documentaries for the BBC and running a cultural heritage project in Albania. When he moved back to Sussex he wanted to set up some kind of environmental project.

He says: “It occurred to me that if I wanted to go for a walk on the South Downs, I wanted to walk with someone who could tell me what I was seeing. Especially now we have the National Park, there is so much really qualified knowledge about the Downs.

I started wondering how to get hold of people and wanted to set something up with a guide who could give people knowledge but on their own terms.”

Dan shies away from calling the camp education. “It’s a very strong word,” he insists. “But yes, it is. If you go out with a forager, they’re not just there to pick flowers and cook them, they’re seriously good botanists and can show you things you didn’t know about. But the headline is entertainment, not education.”

The site, in a valley in Firle, was found through his sister who lives in the village. “Everyone there has a very progressive attitude,” he says. “It’s very low impact and they liked the idea so they were up for it.” During the summer months, he rents the valley floor and sets up camp. It’s fully equipped with beds, a tree-shower, wood fires, a barbecue and gas burners.

The experts were found through a little bit of research and he says the more he explored, the more he realised just how many different and interesting people there were out there. The team now includes landscape historians, archaeologists and experts on Sussex folk songs.

Despite this, most visitors want to go foraging and try their hand at falconry.

“That’s the most usual thing,” he says. “Although it does vary. Some people go for a walk with our landscape historian and get dropped off in a pub in Berwick. This weekend we’ve got a group doing landscape drawing and last week we had a group doing bushcraft.”

But given this is a very British kind of safari, what happens if it rains all weekend?

“It actually doesn’t rain very much, mainly because it’s right underneath South Beacon. The winds come straight over. It might rain half a mile away but not on the campsite. Anyway, everything’s waterproof, so we grin and bear it.”

Book the camp exclusively for a weekend from £1,800 or £40 for one person during the week at www.safaribritain.com.