Specialists
Our Portfolio of Specialists consists of a wide range of high calibre, local experts from a variety of disciplines whose depth of knowledge really brings your trip to life.
This is our distinguishing difference.
We connect you to a cross section of specialists, hand picked for their ability to engage, who mix on-site explanations with off-site conversations, and mingle informally, especially over meals.
These guest lecturers escort you around interesting places, sharing nuggets of their knowledge, while tour leaders look after the practicalities.
What makes our tours enriching is that you get to meet a number of these master story-tellers on each tour, hear multiple perspectives and see with ”new eyes”… because we believe that …
A real voyage of discovery consists not only in
seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes
– Marcel Proust
Brief Biographies
Tony Manhire
With wide experience in Stone Age archaeology and hunter-gatherer studies, his first love is rock art. As a founder member ...
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Adam Harrower
Trained as a botanist at the University of Cape Town and a horticulturist at Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew, he has ...
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Prof Michael Godby
Michael's currently preparing a collection of papers for a book on the History of Photography in South Africa as well ...
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Rob Caskie
Being Natal Midlands born and educated, serving with Zulu troops during his SA national service, and voyaging around the globe ...
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Anthony Shapiro
Anthony started making pots at 13 years old and after apprenticing under Kim Sack’s studio in Johannesburg, got a pottery ...
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David Walters
David Walters is a Franschhoek based studio potter whose wheel throwing skills are as legendary as his exquisitely crafted porcelain ...
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Ian Garrett
Ian Garrett has always been fascinated by ancient ceramics, which he merges with his own creativity. Etruscans, Minoans, native Americans, ...
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Andile Dyalvane
Andile Dyalvane creates signature classics by bringing the traditional and modern together. Staying true to his roots by creatively re-interpreting ...
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Magdalene Odundo
Magdalene Odundo is a Kenyan-born, studio potter who is Professor of Ceramics at the University for the Creative Arts, Farnham, Surrey ...
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Phillippa Cheifitz
Highly respected author, expert food editor and for Femina magazine and consultant editor for Taste Magazine. She has published numerous ...
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Dr Elbé Coetsee
Craft art specialist, who established the Mogalakwena Craft Art Development Foundation and initiated a craft centre to support the economic ...
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Dr John Compton
Earth scientist with a doctorate from Harvard University, who taught marine geology at the University of South Florida before moving ...
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Dr Hans Fransen
Art and architecture historian and author of seminal books on South African architecture such as the definitive The Old Buildings ...
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Margie Garratt
Professional textile artist whose name is synonymous with quilting and whose work crosses the boundaries between art and craft. She was ...
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Porky Hefer
Currently helming Animal Farm, his design philosophy is that a pure design idea should be followed by a chorus of ...
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Prof Brian Huntley
Former chief executive of the National Botanical Institute and then the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) based at Kirstenbosch, ...
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Dr Antonia Malan
Independent historical archaeologist and member of the Historical Archaeology Research Group, she has directed a significant transcription project capturing archival ...
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Fiona McDonald
Trained as a hard news journalist, she covered stories as diverse as shipwrecks, murder trials, before being seduced into wine ...
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Allan Mullins
Cape Wine Master – and wine selection manager for the country’s leading retailer, he sits on numerous wine tasting panels ...
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Dr Nigel Penn
Highly recognised authority on Cape history, who has published The Forgotten Frontier – Colonists and Khoisan on the Cape’s Northern ...
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Dr Terence Rapke
For the past decade he has been leading tours with a special emphasis on Cape history and wine. A classicist ...
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Dr André van Graan
Restoration architect who worked on Hampton Court Palace & Windsor Castle, and specialised in Edwardian and Art Deco architecture, focusing ...
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