Meet the Odyssey Family

  • Chris & Lou Horsfall

    CHRIS HORSFALL - MANAGING DIRECTOR

    Owner, and co-founder of Odyssey Tanzania and Lake Shore Lodge. Chris has lived in Tanzania for over 25 years and has a wide range of knowledge and skills branching over all of the fundamentals. He serves as a role model to the Odyssey participants as he imparts his knowledge and skills through lectures, practical sessions, and hands-on involvement with the participants.

    LOU HORSFALL - DIRECTOR MANAGING THE MANAGING DIRECTOR & LOGISTICS & FINANCE

    Louise Horsfall - Every operation needs a Louise! Her attention to detail coupled with  18 years of running Lake Shore Lodge, from the management, logistics and down to the financials, ensures that the staff and all the participants are in safe hands and that the operation will be wrinkle free and exceedingly well organised. They say that dynamite comes in small packages, but they didn’t warn us about kryptonite!!

  • Oliver Richardson

    COURSE ARCHITECT & STAKEHOLDER

    Odyssey Participant Number 001/01. Oli, after his first year at Nottingham University, studying physics, had the yearning to return to the Lake. He had been here 10 years earlier on a family holiday.  Taking stock of his future, with consent from his parents, (old family friends), he arrived here for a 6-week “GAP PERIOD” On his last night, Oli expressed his desire to return for a longer period, with no definite departure date! With the help of his father, the idea for Odyssey was conceptualised and born. Oli is now a co-developer and stakeholder of the Odyssey program, proof that the programme works.  Oli’s youth, eagerness to learn and very positive attitude have made him a pillar of development and vigor to all things Odyssey. 

  • Jemma Clowes

    HEAD CHEF & NUTRITION

    Dedicated to improving the health and nutrition of the occupants of Odyssey Tanzania. 

    Trained in Barcelona in nutrition, health and haute cuisine, Jemma has experience and the will to help the occupants become their best self. Having worked in a two Michelin star restaurant, and other fine dining restaurants in Spain, she has work experience and the will power to create delicious and healthy meals for the men. Not only will she be creating meal plans that optimise muscle growth, fat loss and general heath, she will also teach the participants about general nutrition and how to implement it themselves after completing Odyssey Tanzania.

Why did we build Odyssey?

We built Odyssey because of the perceived and obvious gap in the different developmental emphases of students from abroad. Africa is an awesome place to grow up, it is outdoors, packed with adventure, very hands-on, exceedingly friendly and most of all SAFE. We want to help to close this experience gap and to allow foreign students the opportunity to experience the freedom and exhilaration of growing up like this!

Lake Shore Lodge, the associate company of Odyssey, has been in operation for 18 years. We have built Odyssey on an extension of the same property. The accumulated knowledge and experience from owning and running Lake Shore Lodge, guided us naturally into the Odyssey Academy Concept. These two aspects of tourism and service go hand in glove. The motto of Lake Shore Lodge is “Come as guests, leave as friends”, this credo will overflow in abundance into our Odyssey Academy.

 

The Odyssey Tanzania, Lake Tanganyika facility is positioned adjacent to Lake Shore Lodge in the village of Kipili, Rukwa, Tanzania. Our facility is on a 105-acre forested plot of land 20km from the Luwafi game reserve extending down to the shore of Lake Tanganyika. The Lake plays a significant role in the program and is incorporated in most of the Odyssey Fundamentals. The Lake Tanganyika facility was designed and custom-built as an all-encompassing and fully comprehensive facility, to maximise productivity, whilst in natural surroundings. Apart from the incredibly beautiful views, Lake Tanganyika offers Odyssey epic kayak adventures, recreational snorkelling, dive certification & unique diving, boat trips, and camping on one of 7 close by islands.