Jaco is one of those people that struggle to answer the question: "So what do you do for a living?". If you catch him around a campfire with a glass of red, he can tell you about his days as a lifeguard instructor in Hermanus, about the time he sailed across the Atlantic, about his back packing journeys through South America and the Caribbean, about his life on an island in the Bahamas or his days as overland guide in Southern Africa.
If he is in a hurry, however, he will tell you that he is an accountant and lives on a farm in Grabouw with his wife Jana. If he is not in the office or out organising the Cape Outback, Jaco is fighting wild fires in the Boland mountains and he still loves to travel to so-called Third World countries.
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Leo du Plessis
Expedition Director (Route and Planning)
Leo is not an office kinda guy. He starts where the road ends. So when the idea was mentioned of an expedition through a quiet and remote area he listened, but when the word "mountain bike" was added to the equation, Leo switched on.
Leo holds an honours degree in sports science and work as an adventure guide for various companies. Leo survived hurricane Noel at sea in the Caribbean while sailing from Cape Town to Fort Lauderdale in 2007. In his free time you will find him on his back underneath his 1956 Landy or somewhere at sea testing the latest version of his inflatable kayaks or he will simply disappear with his 4x4 and mountain bike into the bundu. Leo always has a good travel story to tell.
Con Viljoen
Logistics Manager
If you phone Con during day time he will probably be hanging from a rope somewhere with lots of heavy equipment nearby. His rigging work has taken him across the African continent...bill boards in Senegal, bridges in DRC... if it is not cemented to mother earth, he can hoist it! If the impossible needs to done, Con is your man. Miracles, however, take three days!
Con sometimes returns to terra firma to run adventure camps for school children and students at his adventure camp site on the banks of the Breede River near Bonnievale. He is married to Ilse and during the Cape Outback he has the daunting task of moving the expedition village every day.
Jansie Potgieter
Expedition Village Manager
Calling Jansie the training manager of a Stellenbosch-based overland charter company just doesn't say enough about this girl. Her work as an overland guide has taken her across the African continent and her travels has taken her across the South American continent. This farm girl from Patensie has served, with distinction, as one of the logistical managers of the gruelling Tour d'Afrique mountain bike race from Cairo to Cape Town. Oh, did I mention her days as a stage manager in the performing arts industry?! Jansie will be the not-so-democratically-elected "mayor" of all the expedition villages of the Cape Outback.
