Great leaders make great trips. Here’s what we look for—and make sure we find—in a GeoEx leader:

• Expertise about the place. We expect our leaders to share our love for our destinations and communicate their enthusiasm and knowledge with their travel mates.
• Ability to get the trip from Points A to Z, and all stops in between. And the resourcefulness to cope with and solve unexpected glitches.
• Street- (and higher-) level know-how in dealing with different cultural norms and business practices.
• Good fellowship and the ability to relate. Trip leaders should be catalysts for our primary objective: having fun.
  

ASIA

We’ve got him up front in our Asia section, but Vassi Koutsaftis has been leading trips around the planet for us for many years. He is one of GeoEx’s all-time aces, a guy at affable, story-telling ease in a Buenos Aires pub or a tent in the highest Himalaya.

Bob Jones is one of the West’s most astute, experienced, and scholarly Asia hands. Very few people know China and the Silk Road’s byways, history, and magic as well as Bob. An old friend and colleague, and a great guy to travel with, Bob is fluent in Mandarin and holds a master’s degree in anthropology from the National Taiwan University.

Carolyn McIntyre, who headed our Middle Eastern and Southeast Asian program for many fruitful years, has exchanged her desk for the open road as a tour leader. Her lucky mates on a variety of trips will join her as she fulfills a lifelong dream of retracing the epic journeys of the great Arab travelist Ibn Battuta.

Our Mongolian partners, Bodio, Monkhtuya, and Ishee, in addition to managing the myriad details of our tours from the Altai Mountains to the Gobi (and many salubrious spots in between), are also old and dear friends, great interpreters of their up-and-coming country.

Bill Jones, one of our most polymathic leaders, has led more than 100 trips across Asia and Europe. Bill has recently specialized in Southeast Asia and Bhutan, where he was given the honorific name Dorje Wanchuck by the oracle of Minji village.

Siddiq Wahid holds an M.B.A. and a Ph.D. from Harvard in Inner Asian and Altaic history and is a much-in-demand lecturer and expert.

Dr. Robert Thurman, one of the world’s ranking experts on Tibetan Buddhism, is the founder of Tibet House and a professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist studies at Columbia University.

Holder of graduate degrees in tourism and ancient Indian history, Yatish Bahuguna has been leading treks and tours in India, Nepal, and Bhutan for more than 20 years. Fluent in Hindi, Nepali, and English, Yatish is a contributor to Lonely Planet’s Himalayan guidebooks and is one of the region’s most-sought-after leaders.

Ashok Jain has led trips for the past 18 years in all regions of India, Tibet, Nepal, and Bhutan.

Sanjay Basu, managing director of our operations in India, made his first trek in the Kumaon Mountains at the age of nine and hasn’t stopped exploring the Himalaya since.

A Himalayan village lad who earned his master’s degree from the prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru University, Krishan Dev “KD” Sharma has been leading trips in India since 1987, to the delight of his many repeat guests.

Neel Pratap, a graduate of Kanpur University and the Institute of Hotel Management, has traveled widely throughout the world and brings a fine global understanding to his trips to Bhutan, India, Nepal, Tibet, and China.

Alka Sharma has been charming and informing visitors to all corners of India for nearly two decades. Deeply involved in conservation issues, she conducts treks, camel safaris, wildlife tours, and cultural and art tours throughout the subcontinent.

Vishal Mehra, fluent in German, English, and Hindi/Urdu, has worked extensively with European newspapers and radio stations as an expert in Indian history and Hinduism.

Yam Gurung, one of our most experienced and popular trip leaders, has led countless adventures all over the Himalaya, from India to Bhutan, through Tibet, and along the Silk Road.

Ugyen Rinzin is our longtime and cherished partner in Bhutan. Born in eastern Bhutan to noble parents, Ugyen was educated at Delhi University.

Karma Lotey and Karma Choden oversee every detail of GeoEx’s programs in Bhutan. Their inexhaustible energy and attention to detail are legendary.

Bart Jordans, who lived with his family in Bhutan from 1999 to 2004, has led more than 60 treks along the arc of the Himalaya and Karakoram. He is the author of Bhutan: A Trekker’s Guide.

Legendary John Roskelley is one of America’s finest and most accomplished mountaineers. He made the first American ascents of K2, Makalu, Dhaulagiri, Nanda Devi, and Gaurishankar (the first three without oxygen).

Jurmin Wangdi, Tshering Dorji, Sha Phurba, Ugyen Yoeser, Kinzang Namgay, and Namgay Dorji are just a few of our most senior and respected leaders in Bhutan. They have led many of our challenging treks as well as our touring trips for organizations such as the Harvard Museum of Natural History, the Textile Museum, Tibet House, and the World Wildlife Fund.

A veteran creator of innovative motor tours throughout the Himalaya and Mongolia, Patrick Moffat lived for six years in Nepal before moving to Bhutan.

Sarah Timewell’s passion for travel was nurtured by a family of English adventurers in the classic tradition. She worked for nearly a decade in our San Francisco office, creating one of the industry’s finest programs in Southeast Asia and Arabia.

Fluent in Arabic, which she studied in Cairo and Tunis for a number of years, Sylvie Franquet has written voluminously on the Middle East for Fodor, and the Insight Guides to Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, the Nile, and Cairo.

Anthony Sattin is a widely published critic, broadcaster, and writer.

Patti Seery’s on-the-ground knowledge of Indonesia runs deep. Founder of the National Museum of Jakarta’s travel program, she received a graduate degree in Southeast Asian textiles from India’s Baroda University. Operator of the sublime ship Silolona, Patti has pioneered some of Indonesia’s most innovative sailing, touring, and trekking programs, all in high, exuberant style.

Persia scholar Michael Kozuh was a member of the first Iranian-American archaeological team in Iran since the revolution, and he has written extensively about Islam. He is currently preparing translations of inscribed Elamite bricks found in Khuzistan, Iran.

Alireza Pahlavani has been leading tours in his native Iran and in China, India, Turkey, and Western Europe for a decade or so. Co-author of Iran: A Chronological History, he lectures widely and has worked with Oxford University, the Harvard Museum of Art, and many other top-flight organizations.

We’re honored to count Sona Hishi Sherpa as a great friend and one of our most popular leaders. A superb cross-cultural guide and companion, this warmly elegant man is, quite simply, one of the great Sherpas of his—or any other—generation.

Holder of a degree in economics, our Japan maven Amy (Emiko) Sakaoka has worked with the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the Milwaukee Museum, and the Asia Society in her homeland, and she brings a fine mix of companionship, passion, and expertise to her wide-ranging Japan tours.

Another economics graduate, Tokyo-based Eva (Sakae) Yagino has spent the last two decades guiding with an emphasis on Japan’s traditional and contemporary arts and crafts, as well as its history and literary and performing arts.

A much-published food and travel writer (for the like of Travel & Leisure, Fortune, the Los Angeles Times, and Lonely Planet), Andrew Bender holds a number of advanced degrees, is fluent in Japanese and French,
gets around in German and Mandarin, and is, in short, a multifaceted leader in Japan and points north, east, west, and south.

RUSSIA and TURKEY

Enver Lucas, we think, is the perfect bridge between two cultures. Born in his beloved Turkey of American and Turkish parents, Enver attended the University of California and worked in Yosemite National Park before returning to Turkey to create and lead trips. Enver is a monument to the saying that to call a Turk gracious is needlessly repetitive.

Currently active in a project to protect wildlife in Turkey’s mountainous northeast, Sayat Turabik, an Istanbul native, brings a typically Turkish blend of bonhomie and passion to his homeland tours.

Murat Tiryaki is one of the founders of the Ankara Professional Tour Guides Association and chief editor of the organization’s magazine.

Mahmut Turhanoglu is deeply imbued with his country’s culture and is one of our most requested guides worldwide.

Saffet Emre Tonguç lives in a small waterfront neighborhood by the Bosphorus. A guide since 1989, he holds two master’s degrees, and despite—or perhaps because of— his travels to 56 countries, Saffet is a partisan of Turkey like few others.

A specialist in classical Roman archaeology, Serdar Akerdem has been guiding, lecturing, and researching since his student days in the Department of Archaeology at the University of Ankara.

Masha Nordbye, a TV producer, director, and writer, has more than 50 trips to Russia under her belt. She is the author of the Odyssey Guide to Moscow and St. Petersburg.

Aaltje Von Zolen has been involved in the development of eco- and sustainable tourism projects in eastern Russia for many years. She speaks several languages and has escorted groups and arranged complex logistics for travel to Russia’s Far East for many companies, including a recent GeoEx trip to Siberia’s Yakutia.

Our dear friend Angela Halonen-Webb brims with enthusiasm and on-site knowledge of the places she pioneered trips to when she was based in our SF office as a Regional Director.

AFRICA

Our chief climbing guide on Kilimanjaro, Victor Kinyonga started out as a secondary school teacher before becoming a mountain and safari guide in 1991. Very few of our worldwide roster of guides are more liked, trusted, and admired than Victor, who has the knack of making his hundredth climb of the great peak as fresh as his first.

Allan Phillimon has been exploring Kilimanjaro since he was a lad. Well versed in Western ways (he lived in the USA for a few years), he began guiding in 1990 and formed African Outdoor Expeditions, with whom we work in taking people to and up the magical peak via less trod routes.

Justine Kisota, who bears a striking resemblance to the young Muhammad Ali, is another of our sterling Kilimanjaro guides. A strong, wonderfully friendly, and ultra-competent guy, Justine holds a special place in the hearts of those of us privileged to have climbed to the peak in his company.

Jackson (Sigilu Ole) Looseyia, one of our hosts at Rekero Tented Camp in Kenya, has been described by a writer from the Irish Times as a fellow “who can name every bird, animal, insect, and plant in Swahili, Maa, English, and Latin. He’s a good example of where ecotourism is going.” Indeed. What’s more, Jackson mixes erudition with grand affability.

Luca Belpietro has been intimately involved with Africa since his first trips as a boy in the late 1960s. Following his bliss as few are able to do, Luca and his wife, Antonella Bonomi, have partnered with the Maasai to create exquisite Campi Ya Kanzi, a small, unpretentiously luxurious lodge that many, including the writer of this catalog, consider Africa’s finest, friendliest, and most interesting lodge.

Riccardo Orizio, like his friend Luca Belpietro, has long been enraptured with Africa. Retiring from a far-ranging career as a journalist (his Lost White Tribes—Journeys Among the Forgotten and Talk of the Devil are tremendous reads), he fulfilled his dream with the creation of Saruni Lodge, a beautifully designed and situated utopia in the Masai Mara.

One of the Association of Professional Safari Guides’ most popular guides, Joe Charleson was born in Kenya and recently returned home after a stint in Botswana. A young man renowned for his charm and verve, Joe has few peers when it comes to knowledge of the bush.

Also a Kenya native, Andy Campbell has been involved with safariing since he tagged along with his parents in his earliest days. He specializes in walking safaris and can tell a good tale in English, Swahili, French, and Spanish.

Judi Helmholz lives on the banks of the Zambezi in Zambia with her husband, Arthur, a rottweiler named Zulu, a host of crocodiles, and the country’s largest chicken population. A Renaissance woman, Judi is an international business consultant, location scout, and environmentalist and in her spare time serves on the boards of a host of Zambian civic organizations.

Khalid Mouzaki, born and raised in Casablanca, received his degree in English and American literature from the University of Bordeaux and a graduate degree from the International School of Tourism in Tangier. He has been guiding, expertly and enthusiastically, for GeoEx in Morocco since 1999.

AMERICAS

During the past 16 years Janko Gorse has established himself as Patagonia’s premier guide. We’re a company of Patagoniaphiles ourselves, and we’re lucky to have a guy like him down there, leading trips and passing along his stupendous enthusiasm and knowledge.

Juan de Dios Castillo, a longtime student and great interpreter of Andean cultures, has specialized in the scenically and historically rich highlands around Cusco, including the sublime Auzangate, the Inca Trail, and Machu Picchu.

Wilber Aparicio, a very hale, very tuned-in Andean fellow, has lived in Australia and the USA and brings a deep love of his homeland to his treks in Peru, as this catalog’s grateful writer well and affectionately remembers.

Leylys Gutierrez of Cusco is a famously warm and culturally adept leader of many of our treks and tours to Machu Picchu and the Urubamba Valley.

Zach Rabinor has led expeditions throughout Mesoamerica for more than a dozen years and is fluent in Mexico’s many cultures and idioms. He illuminates the cultural mecca of Oaxaca and the wilds of Copper Canyon with equal brilliance.

Captain Dean Rand lives year-round aboard the Discovery, based in the little Prince William Sound town of Whittier. A veteran of more than 20 years in Alaska’s coastal waterways, Dean heads a crew renowned for its good humor and intimate knowledge of the Sound’s natural and human histories.