About YOU (It’s not actually about us)

Sean’s our CVO, or Chief Vision Officer – the reading glasses are purely coincidental. He’s the big picture guy and it’s his passion for travel that fans the flames of what we do at Hidden Africa.

Sean first dipped his toe into the travel industry over thirty years ago, and he never looked back. Sean says; “I’ve been fortunate to travel far and wide and my passion for travel (and lots of luck) took me from sales rep. to CEO.”

Of all the great survival skills, like making fire, fixing things, hanging pictures or dancing at weddings, Sean drew the ‘organising stuff’ straw. (Though it should be noted he once boarded the wrong flight and lived to tell the tale.) It’s why we call him ‘The Ruler’, not because he’s the boss or anything, he finds inner peace in straight lines and order.

From the winding waterways of the Okavango Delta to the summit of Kilimanjaro, and all the bustling cities and deserted beaches in-between, Sean’s seen it all. And few are more qualified than him to share it with you.

In addition to heading up our sales team, Chad’s the artistic genie who makes our aesthetic dreams come true; the go-to guy on all things design-related. Surprisingly, for such a high functioning creative, he’s a real ‘people person’. Then again, nothing about him is average – except maybe his Padel ranking.

Together with an appreciation for a well-rounded chardonnay, travel is encoded in Chad’s DNA. It’s where he always knew he’d end up. As a boy, he was a prolific letter-writer. He wrote to every embassy in the phone book requesting glossy travel brochures for fictitious school projects. Not even the Queen escaped his charms.

His foundation in branding and advertising has stood him in good stead. Over the years, Chad’s brought travel, hospitality, décor and design brands to life with his own stylish brand of creativity (and devastating good looks).

He’s an unapologetic foodie who loves crosswords and the smell of rain in the bush. His affinity for trashy thrillers aside, Chad comes alive at the back of a Landrover binoculars in hand. His game spotting skills are legendary – just one of the many things that make him utterly indispensable around here.

Our resident twitcher! Geraldine is the one who turns your safari dreams into actual plans. She started out in travel — top of her class at travel college (of course) — and then went off track into a serious sales career in the financial industry.

The last place you’d expect to find a passionate birder is the finance world, but that’s exactly where Geraldine started. With 20 years in business development and fintech, she built (and sold) startups before swapping spreadsheets for safari maps.

The heart wants what it wants! And what Geraldine’s heart wants is to keep adding to her list of lifers. 527 bird species already ticked off (and counting).

Sure, she loves animals and long walks on moonlit beaches, but apart from that and birds, she is uncompromising about delivering a great experience (our overachiever). She loves bringing complex itineraries to life (she makes hard simple), doesn’t mind a bit of last-minute pressure, and wow — does she create ridiculously fun safaris!

Geraldine’s idea of balance? One hand on her binoculars, the other holding a camera.

Her mission? Spot the elusive African Pitta and single-handedly save the world from safari mediocrity!

Roxy is our Brand Storyteller — the perfect job for a creative who can’t help but romanticise absolutely everything. Our full-time fantasist with a flair for adjectives and a healthy disregard for reality. She’s living proof that if you dream hard enough, someone will pay you to write about elephants, treehouses, and sundowners in the bush. She spends her days bringing the Hidden Africa story to life, serenading camps into the spotlight, and (hopefully) convincing you to throw your phone out the window and go on safari.

Roxy’s fate as a travel copywriter was as surprising as it was inevitable. Like most good travellers, she took the scenic route to get here. The height of her creative career wasn’t her Fine Art degree or even landing this gig, but her teenage plot to overthrow Anna Wintour at the helm of Vogue. Or, how she managed to turn a ski season into a fashion merchandising career (hi there, Ralph). Some fashion detours, an almost one-way surf trip to Lombok, and some pretty solid travel writing practice later, and she eventually found her way to us. Call it serendipity, or the noble pursuit of work that feels like play.

As a lifelong subscriber to the idea that travel might just solve everything, and a strict believer in dreaming big or not at all, she fits in pretty well around here. When she’s not conjuring up brand magic or writing poetic odes to the bush, she’s most probably in the ocean. Or, at the very least, fantasising about it. Otherwise, you'll find her on a mountain, hitting something with a racket, taking photos of anything in her vicinity, or googling how to free up space on her phone (go figure).

Andy is funny (at least 10% funnier than other developers). And the calmest person we know. The bigger the disaster, the calmer the response. One of his bosses once pulled him aside: "Andy, you're going to have to pretend to be more bothered when a manager gives serious feedback."

Yup, he is unflappable, never discombobulated and always patient. But is it nature or nurture? He did jump out of aeroplanes while serving in the British military. And then became a transport dispatcher, which involved dropping expensive things out of the back of a low flying plane — everything from Land Rovers to artillery — all for the military.

At some point he decided he needed a skill that would be vaguely more marketable when he finally left the army. And so began his 21-year love of coding, developing security software for the army. You could say he's Licensed to Code. (sorry.)

Today he sits at his desk (his cocker spaniel of debatable intelligence at his side) in a shed in his back garden, writing code. His only regret? "I just wish my daughter had known me when I was cool."

Andy built our website from the ground up. Our kingdom, our domain. He has brought us global fame. Mister Can-Do and How-To. The Quantum Oracle is working on it.

Rather tragically for someone who works with a safari company — he has never actually been on safari. But is deeply committed to birdwatching in his hood.

He cycles, he travels, he skis, and the safari bit — we're working on that.

You might think the world of finance isn't as wild as a safari — after all, the only thing charging Ralph is the South African Revenue Service. But it's fun to charter an accountant! To sail the wide accountancy! To find, explore, the funds offshore (apologies to Monty Python) — and maintain the order!

Ralph is our tax-deductible, fairly incorruptible accountant. His general vibe? Go with the (cash) flow.

But away from the ledger, Ralph is our Springbok — annoyingly good at every sport. Table tennis? Ralphie Supreme. Soccer? Selected for a UK youth talent camp. Lucky for Beckham (and us), the Premier League failed to spot him. At school he held the Victor Ludorum title — which raises serious questions about how he ever became an accountant.

Forest is his slightly psycho rescue dog — best friend aside, he's good for scaring visitors away faster than a bad tax return.

Its golf, though. That's Ralph's real love (don't tell his wife). With a handicap of… somewhere between one and ten. There's no one better to offer our travellers golf advice (like don't overthink your mid-swing). Stereotype? Perhaps. Ordinary accountant? Absolutely not — he comes to work in shorts.

And when it comes to the numbers, he never misses.

Prince walks with an assured waddle that makes you think he thinks quite highly of himself. Pure low-key cool. Not that he's overly fond of walking.

His actual job description is a bit vague. Most days, he's snoring at our feet while we work, or pretending to be on security duty at the door — more of a lover than a fighter. He does have a special talent for being exactly where he's needed.

Something of a foodie, he (like us) takes food breaks and treats very seriously.

Prince Jamal (his full name) is a typical boy dog, fond of relieving himself on car tyres, actively hostile toward cats, and, in the park, always in hot pursuit of rapidly fleeing hadada ibises, whose outraged shrieks thrill him.

Epiphany is his soulmate — a love story for the ages, growing up together, sharing sun patches (never food) and adventures to the beach or the mountain. They were hardly ever apart.

Independent. Stubborn. Outdoorsy on his terms (like… vibes-based). He loves the beach but not the water. An accomplished couch surfer and cuddler, in winter he can usually be found under a blanket by the fire. Or, if any human sits still for long enough, on their lap.

We said goodbye to Prince in December 2025. The title of Co-hound retires with him — there will only ever be one.

Epiphany is an "ideas girl", highly vocal. And not shy. On a scale of Lassie to Cujo, let's just say she's a giant among dogs (well, in her eyes). She punches way above her weight — a fact we mostly admire.

She barks for doors to be opened, smacks her bowl for food on demand, and sometimes has a look — head tilted, eyes wide — like she's trying to understand.

A highly social girl, she prefers dogs to most humans — yikes, a bit like us! She's obsessed with the Cricket Club, where she holds a special dog-walking membership. It's also where she pursues her true passion: rolling in hadeda and goose droppings. (Which gets her banned from the bed.)

She's a farm dog at heart that loves nothing more than a road trip, wind in her ears — chasing stuff, disappearing into the woodland, then chilling on the sofa. And yet, she loves structure. It's not for nothing she's nicknamed Routina Turner.

Left alone for 10 minutes equals complete and utter abandonment. Our Piffy has a heart as big as her self-perceived size, and once you're in the inner circle, you'll only ever be greeted with loud yelps and airborne jumps.