THE EXPLORERS SQUAD

Jo Sinfield and Tom Priday

As the London arm, Tom has excercised his right to freedom in no uncertain terms. Late in his years (as he is getting rather ancient), he has finally committed to building a family existence, with the lovely Rachel and Hal, but exploration remains at the heart of his psyche. Whether it be Heli-skiing off a boat in British Columbia, trekking the Simien Massif or paddling like hell to get out of the way of hippos on the Zambezi, he relishes the chance to get away from the city. Tom has some African ancestry and Franschhoek, and latterly Prince Albert, draw him back more regularly to the continent to sample their gems.
	Jo has been in Franschhoek since 2002 and was raised a few kilometres away over the mountains. The years in between were spent in the UK, Australia, France, Croatia and New York fuelling his desires for adventure, finishing off with a solo sailing trip down the Irrawaddy River, in Burma, and on through the Andaman Sea.
	Franschhoek has become his base and when there is a reasonable gap he takes off in his trusty ‘Dogcatcher’ to escape to some of the remote parts of the Southern African bush along the path less travelled. He is ‘the eyes on the ground’ and  is always searching for new enchanting destinations which will enthrall travellers with an adventurous spirit (apart from a few hidden secrets he keeps to himself).
Tom joined up with Jo on board a 1931 Herreshoff ketch to explore the nooks and crannies of the Croatian coast, in the late 1990’s, led astray by the skipper, a roguish Croat concientious objector sea-dog called Pila. The years passed by and Jo moved down to Franschhoek, settling in arguably the most scenically beautiful wine valley in the world. It was over dozens of bottles of wine that they eventually started their first project together resulting in the collection of properties under the ‘Explorers Club’ umbrella.

Julia and The Woolley Bugger
Julia, Jo’s mum, looks after the Cactus Blue limb in Prince Albert. Originally an art teacher/designer, she started designing flowery lingerie in the 1970’s in Cape Town before running a number of Liberty of London branches across the United Kingdom. She has settled into the laidback artistic community of Prince Albert although she hardly ever rests and doesn’t design any lingerie....more is the pity!
	Then there is Themba who is a constant source of bright new ideas for new business development and keeps the guests at The Map Room well licked. And lastly Dooley, an infantile African Grey, who is beginning to pick up annoyingly bad habits from the guests at The Map Room; calls Themba in from the garden; speaks a lot of garbage; destroys anything interesting he can get his beak into (with irritatingly expensive consequences), but does possess the power of amusement through his, or her, sometimes incomprehensible vocabulary.