Meet the Team

Jim is an avid traveller with personal experience of some of the world’s most challenging – and interesting – countries under his belt. With almost two decades of experience in the travel industry, Jim started his career as a tour leader in the Middle East, North Africa and the Indian subcontinent before settling down to a slightly more settled life on the Essex / Suffolk border.

With a deep connection with Africa, Jim’s recent travels include pioneering trips to meet the Toposa people of South Sudan, travelling through Nigeria, a good contender for Africa’s most difficult country, and being one of only a handful of travellers to have visited Somaliland, the breakaway country that no-one recognises.

Chelsea’s passions include trekking, wildlife, traditional cultures and the great outdoors. From hiking in the Peruvian Andes and the northern uplands of Turkey, to meeting hill tribes in Vietnam and exploring the rainforest of the Ecuadorian Amazon, her travel experience includes South America, South East Asia, the Indian Ocean, Europe and the Middle East.

From homestays to jungle lodges, from caves to camping and from sleeper trains to boats, she has stayed in the most remote, authentic and odd locations in each and every country she has travelled to and is always interested in getting to know the locals. Chelsea’s most recent trips have been accompanying our groups in Angola and Mozambique.

Michaela’s interest in travel led her to study Travel and Tourism at college, followed by a degree in International Tourism Management. She then went on to spend a year travelling throughout South East Asia, visiting ethnic minority groups in Northern Thailand and exploring Vietnam’s Central Highlands, before continuing on to Australia where she helped with regeneration projects deep within the rainforest. Back in the UK, she lived in the Lake District for a while before relocating to the Essex countryside where she is now settled with her young family.

We can’t introduce the team without including Leia…. An ever present fixture in the office, Leia has no official duties as such but has taken it upon herself to guard against the postman and other intruders and when no-one’s looking, jump up on Chelsea’s desk and eat her lunch…. Her other hobbies are lunchtime walks in the neighbouring fields and eagerly trying to play with any dog that comes to the nearby dog grooming business.