Paul Winder

Paul Winder is an inveterate traveller and explorer, happier scaling volcanoes than lounging on beaches. In 2000 he was backpacking through Central America, working freelance in the City of London between trips, when chance brought him together with Tom Hart Dyke in northern Mexico — a meeting that would change both their lives.

The two formed an instant bond and set off into the Darien Gap together, Tom in search of orchids and Paul in search of adventure. Six days in, they were ambushed by FARC guerrillas and held hostage for the next nine months. Back in England, Paul's family mounted their own search: his brother Bill traced his last known contacts and emails, and his parents' efforts — told in his father Brian's book A Search for a Son — ran in parallel to the ordeal itself until Paul and Tom's release.

Paul co-wrote The Cloud Garden with Tom afterwards, alternating first-person chapters that give the book its distinctive, dual-voiced telling. He has continued travelling and climbing since, and now works as a mountain guide and leader.

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Paul's biography at The Soho Agency →