Julian Asher is the founder of triple-bottom-line luxury ecotourism company Timeless Africa – ranked as one of the world’s top 20 Africa travel specialists – and a judge for the Safari Awards (the industry ‘Oscars’). He serves on industry leadership bodies including the World Travel Market Future of Africa Think Tank and on the boards of several Africa-focused NGOs.

Julian's first trip to Africa as a schoolboy was rudely terminated when his mother refused to sign the permission form on the grounds that he was going to catch a heinous disease and die. Despite this less than promising beginning the call of Africa could not be denied – recent visits include Botswana, South Africa, Kenya, and Tanzania. In 2013, he was adopted into the Zu/’hoasi San Bushman community in Xai Xai, Botswana.

Photography is one of Julian's passions and he will go to great lengths in the name of the perfect shot, including being duct-taped into a doorless helicopter over the Okavango Delta in Botswana. The risks have paid off (or so he hopes) and Julian is an award-winning travel and wildlife photographer who has exhibited at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C.

Food, wine, and contemporary African art are Julian's other passions. He is a former food and wine writer and posts about gastronomic experiences from Africa and beyond on Instagram as @pictusepicurious. Julian collects contemporary African art and is a regular at the 1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair.