Grahame was born with a deep passion and love for Africa, growing up in the northern suburbs of Johannesburg. After a year of compulsory military service and an attempt at the corporate world his passion for the wilds called. He had participated in a Wilderness Leadeship School Trail in iMfolozi Game Reserve at the age of 15 and his passion was fuelled. He applied to the then Natal Parks Board for work and, to his delight, he was offered a position as a cadet ranger in iMfolozi Game Reserve. His mentors were Ian Player, then Senior Conservator for Zululand, and also Zulu game scouts Mtshali and Qotowane, who taught him the beautiful Zulu language, the skills of tracking and the value of being silent when out in the wilderness.
His last posting with the Natal Parks Board was as a section ranger for the vast region of Maputoland in northern Zululand. One of his favourite haunts was the remote and virtually unexplored Tembe/ Sihungwane area, which was the last refuge for a small and nomadic herd of elephant. It was here that Grahame spent almost two years, tracking and finally locating them. Through these efforts and others to follow, the Tembe Elephant Reserve was proclaimed in 1983.
After Zululand, Grahame moved further afield, guiding wilderness trails in the Hwange and Matusadona National Parks in Zimbabwe and also in the north east Tuli enclave in Botswana. In 1988 he joined Sun International as marketing manager for their world renowned safari lodge in northern Botswana, Chobe Game Lodge, playing host to numerous celebrities out on safari.
In the summer of 1994, Grahame co-founded an environmental/tourism development and ecological consultancy which, over the following twenty years, undertook numerous high profile projects in Tanzania, Namibia, Zambia, Botswana, Lesotho and South Africa, including appointments by the World Bank, WWF and SANParks.
Grahame has been a founder trustee of several conservation non profit organizations, including the Chobe Wildlife Trust, the Mashatu Wildlife Foundation and Operation Survival. He has also co-produced a number of wildlife documentaries, including Cry for Africa, Trail of the Giants with Derek Joubert, Born to be Free with Rick Lomba and Kaokoveld – How can I tell you with Garth and Annie Lucas. He is co-author of the Garden Route Guide which was published by Jacana Media in 2017 and is currently completing an auto-biography.
Grahame presently lives on a small holding which overlooks the beautiful Bitou estuary in Plettenberg Bay. He still takes daily walks along its shoreline with his friend Tembe, a four year old Stafford Bull Terrier