Born in Addis Ababa, Bemnet (or ‘Bem’) is passionate about travel and being exposed to new environments, cultures, customs and beliefs. It is a passion that was inculcated in him as a youngster when accompanying his father on business trips around Ethiopia. It is the historical circuit of the north of Ethiopia – Amahara, Tigray and beyond – where his expertise is most developed and where for more than a decade he has hosted and guided guests from many different backgrounds and nationalities. Equally adept at answering the needs of the first-time traveller or those of seasoned specialists Bem’s familiarity with the highlands of the Ethiopia mean he is also an excellent birder.

A budding career in law was abandoned early in Pierre’s adulthood in favour of adventure and pioneering sea kayak expeditions in the Great Rift Valley and the east African coast. This led to settling down on Lake Malawi and building two award-winning island eco-lodges in the mid-1990’s. Itchy feet led to Madagascar and the remote Masoala Peninsula in the north-east of the island. The annual Masoala kayak expeditions became legendary and resulted in the creation of the Masoala Forest Lodge, where Pierre and his wife Maria have built a fantastic team of Malagasy staff from the local villages and raised their two young children.

Paula joined the Masoala Forest Lodge team almost 20 years ago in the early 2000s as a purchaser of provisions in Maroantsetra, a frontier town where the Masoala adventures start and end and where she and her husband live. Over this period, through her unfailing positive energy, enthusiasm and diligence, never mind her unflappable island grace, she has worked herself into the position of manager of all lodge operations in Maroantsetra. Amongst her myriad tasks, she is the smiling face of Masoala that meets all of our guests on arrival and facilitates their smooth transfers to and back from the lodge.

Having originally qualified as a Zimbabwean professional guide in 1988, Benson is an institution in southern African guiding circles. Following the initial part of his career in Matusadona National Park, he went on to develop and run a series of camps elsewhere in Zimbabwe and Botswana with his wife Noreen before becoming an independent private guide in 2005. He now guides on request all over the continent and oversees guiding and guide training at Camp Hwange. Based in Victoria Falls, Benson has not limited his activities to guiding or guide training but has also taken on a decade long labour of love in developing Lesedi Primary and Secondary Schools, and the Lesedi Clinic in the Ntabayengwe community outside Victoria Falls.