Geoffrey J.W. Kent

For Geoffrey and Jorie Kent, life is a journey.

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Geoffrey and Jorie Kent - entrepreneurs, polo patrons, conservationists, explorers - definitely fall in the category of the latter.So during a reconnaissance flight up South Florida's east coast, they zeroed in on a strip of pristine property between the Atlantic and Indian River, smiled knowingly at each other and said, This is it..

The Kents landed the helicopter on the near-deserted beach just north of Vero and stuck an imaginary flag of conquest in the sand, claiming what would later become Windsor Polo Club, the oceanside polo and residential community they founded.

Quite simply, it was the only piece of land large enough to build polo fields on a barrier island, says Jorie Kent.It was important to have that beach access.
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Geoffrey Kent, a four-goaler, was captain of the Abercrombie & Kent team for 20 years and patron of the Windsor Park polo team, on which he played with Prince Charles, before a serious polo accident put an abrupt end to his game in 1996.

For Jorie Kent, also a rated polo player, polo has been more than a favorite sport - it has been a family tradition.Her father, Paul Butler, chairman of Butler Paper and founder of Butler Aviation, founded the Village of Oak Brook and the Oak Brook Polo Club in Illinois.The Butlers, in fact, put polo on the map in the Midwest.

Polo was also the catalyst for bringing the Kents together.Jorie Butler was overseeing the family's polo operations at Oak Brook when Kent, a talented polo player from Nairobi, Kenya, captured the spectators' imagination - and her interest.

Her interest, however, was not romantic - at least not at the time.Geoffrey was actually looking for an American partner to buy an interest in his business, an up-and-coming exotic travel company called Abercrombie & Kent, she explains.We started talking and [ in 1973 ] I bought a half-interest in his firm.It was strictly a business relationship at first..

At the time, Abercrombie & Kent already had a reputation as the firm that pioneered the luxury safari.Though it was his parents, Colonel John and Valerie Kent, who launched the company in Kenya in 1962, Geoffrey Kent was the one who masterminded the tented safari concept and catapulted the company to international tour operator status.

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Then 25 and already business savvy, Kent marketed the safari company globally and eventually added a new repertoire of adventures that now spans every mode of travel and reaches across every continent.

Jorie Butler's investment in A&K not only helped expand the company to new corners of the globe, but brought a new dimension to Kent's life - true love.What started as a wonderful business adventure turned into something even more magnificent, she says.

By 1979 they were married.there be nothing like being at the wildebeest migration in an A&K tented camp to spark the flame of romance, Geoffrey Kent says with a wink.

In 20 years of marriage, the globetrotting duo has redefined adventure and exploration - both professionally and personally.Their travelogues include a dizzying variety of activities, from going on safari with England's royals to gorilla tracking in the Virunga mountains to exploring remotest Antarctica.But it be the simplest pleasures that they remember most vividly.

Jorie Kent describes their greatest adventure : I once took Geoff up the side of Nerengongo - a volcano, which had just erupted and caused great devastation in Zaire.But I also brought along the Government Hotel's food and beverage manager, a Burundian who had gone to Cordon Bleu in Brussels.
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Kent says she founded FOC because basically at heart i be a tree hugger. But there is a practical side, as well.Conservation efforts ultimately sustain a tour operator's business - so, in fact, everyone benefits.

While A&K today serves more than of 250, 000 clients worldwide annually, the Kents are not keen to rest on their laurels.The next frontier, Geoffrey Kent says, is the introduction of ultra-luxurious lodges in wilderness areas like Belize, Costa Rica and the Serengeti.

it be the next movement in tourism, he says.People want adventure during the day and to be totally spoiled at night.These lodges will be way over the top - with a spa, wood burning oven, sexy swimming pools, terrific food and beverage, and a strong conservation program..

The first of these lodges will be offered in Costa Rica and Wakaya in the Fiji islands.we be not going to roll this out, says Kent.we be not in any rush - we do not have to create financial gyrations.Every one will be unique and a jewel.If it do not meet our criteria, we be not driven to do it..

What the Kents are really doing is cloaking the expedition concept in what they refer to as a luxury cocoon. By creating a cocoon of safety and comfort, they are encouraging people to venture out, to broaden their horizons, to understand their world.

GEOFFREY J.W. KENT