Award-winning, non-profit and ethical wildlife conservation volunteering. Advancing citizen science and conservation since 1999 – for nature, not profit.
Shaha Hashim is a pioneer in the conservation movement in the Maldives. Her passion started at a young age when she “was lucky enough to be selected for the school snorkelling club where I witnessed the vibrant beauty of the corals before the 1998 bleaching event devastated over 90% of them.”
Many corals have grown back since and Shaha never lost her dedication to them. In 2014 Shaha joined Biosphere Expeditions, an international non-profit citizen science organisation, which supercharged her conservation career.
‘I wanted to have an impact on protecting nature,’ says Angelika Krimmel from Germany, reflecting on what drew her to her first expedition with Biosphere Expeditions.
That first experience was in 2016, studying whales and dolphins in the Azores. It wasn’t long before Angelika found herself coming back again and again – to Slovakia in 2017 to monitor lynx, bear and wolf; to Kyrgyzstan in 2019 and 2024 for snow leopard research; and to Kenya in 2023 for African biodiversity conservation.
Whales, paw prints and camera traps
Each project offered something unforgettable. “After a week with the whales, you think nothing can top the first sight of one. But then a curious sperm whale swam alongside our boat, jumped three times and looked straight into our eyes. That look went directly to my heart.”
Angelika (yellow circle) with her 2016 Azores expedition team
Peter Pilbeam from the UK is a long-time supporter of Biosphere Expeditions. He took part in every single expedition to the Altai mountains that Biosphere Expeditions ran from 2003 to 2012. ‘And then it just snowballed’, he remembers. Here’s his story.
‘Initially I was intrigued by the slogan ‘Where on earth is the Altai?’ and my interest in snow leopards’, Peter recalls ,‘and I liked my first expedition so much that I just kept coming back’.
Peter (yellow circle) and his Altai expedition team in 2011.
‘In the years after the Altai expeditions, I went to Kyrgyzstan to continue with snow leopard expeditions, then to Slovakia and Germany to study wolves, Sumatra to work on tigers, and Scotland and the Azores for cetaceans.’ All in all Peter has been on 17 expeditions since Biosphere Expeditions started in 1999, which makes him one of the most experienced expeditioners of the NGO.
‘All these expeditions have taught me how to travel independently, how to camp in the wild, and a good dose of self-reliance’, reflects Peter, ‘and once on the expeditions, I really appreciated all the great and varied experiences, some very hot and humid like Sumatra, some cold and snowy like the Altai and Kyrgyzstan, some wet and with rough seas, such as Scotland and the Azores.’
Altai 2011
Scotland 2013
Slovakia 2017
‘And I always take lots of memories home with me’, says Peter, ‘some of the most abiding ones are trekking over mountains through snow and across scree slopes in the Altai, tracking wolves in snow and mud in Slovakia, and watching and recording whales – those beautiful creatures of the sea – around the Azores archipelago’.
Back home in the UK, Peter has now given lots of talks on snow leopard. He is also active as a mammal surveyor and teaches small mammal ID courses regularly. He has also become a reserve warden in his home-county of Cambridgeshire.
‘I expected to learn something on the expeditions, but I never expected it to have such a profound impact on me!’ says Peter. ‘ To anyone out there thinking about going on an expedition, I would say do it! Choose with care, but just do it!’, he adds with a laugh.
Pascal Tchengang, from Paris, France, loves travelling and being in touch with nature. In fact, this is how he discovered Biosphere Expeditions way back in 2002 and then went on an expedition to study big cats in Namibia in 2003, returning there in 2005 as staff. Today Pascal helps out part-time in Biosphere Expeditions’ French office near Paris.
Pascal’s first engagement with Biosphere Expeditions was in 2002, when he was researching options for holidays with a purpose in nature. ‘My favourite thing -then and now – when I travel is being in touch with nature’, Pascal reminisces, ‘there are certain places you can discover and visit on your own or with your family, but there are others where you really need to be accompanied by specialists’. This is how he came across Biosphere Expeditions all those years ago and has ‘never looked back’, he says with a broad smile.
Pascal on expedition in 2005.
‘You see, I love animals and wildlife in general. Back then I had a burning desire to go to Africa and see wildlife up close. Of course, there are national parks that you can visit on your own or with your family by renting a vehicle, but what I wanted was to get as close as possible to the large mammals. So, while searching the web, I discovered Biosphere Expeditions. Browsing through their website, I was fascinated by the programmes offered on each expedition. So I signed up and took part in my first expedition to Namibia in 2003’, Pascal recalls. ‘It was incredible, a real revelation. It was the first time I had ever come into close contact with large mammals. In Namibia, I had the chance to get up close to cheetahs and leopards, because we were accompanied by a scientist who was studying them there. In fact, during that first expedition, I enjoyed both the opportunity to encounter the animals and being part of a group that was genuinely curious and eager to learn’.
On the expedition Pascal met some senior Biosphere Expeditions staff and asked whether he could help out with the office in France. He could – and started assisting with enquiries and attending events, becoming a spokesperson for Biosphere Expeditions.
Two years later, Pascal was back in Namibia as staff, this time with Peggy, ‘the person I share my life with today’, Pascal says with his eyes lighting up, ‘this trip was her first of its kind, a real revelation’.
Peggy & Pascal
‘So, yes, if you are looking for a trip where you won’t encounter trivialities, and especially if you want to make yourself useful, then I really recommend Biosphere Expeditions’ Pascal says, adding with a laugh ‘and I don’t just say this because I am biased, but because I genuinely believe it’. For advice, over 20 years after his first expedition, Pascal is the representative in France, so please feel free to reach out. ‘I will be happy to provide you with as much information as I can’.
Sven Strohschein from Hamburg, Germany, has made some great memories with Biosphere Expeditions, going with them twice to research whales and dolphins around the Azores archipelago, to study Amazon biodiversity in Peru, African wildlife in Namibia and the Arabian leopard in Oman. After these expeditions, he also joined the ‘Friends of Biosphere.’ ‘It was and is a great experience to be part of Biosphere Expeditions’, he sums up.
Sven on expedition in 2007
For Sven, who has been in the shipping industry since 1981, going on an expedition was something completely new for him: ‘I found Biosphere Expeditions through an article in a magazine. I was curious to get more experience and knowledge about wildlife conservation and looking after our natural environment.’ So Sven took the plunge into what was to become a formative experience.
Sven (circle) and his Azores expedition team
‘I can still remember sitting at the campfire under the stars during the Namibia expedition and hearing the lions roar. I also remember jumping into the Atlantic Ocean, trying to catch a glimpse of the whales after they went under the waves, and watching the sunrise at our research station on the Amazon.’ Perhaps his most abiding memories were ‘being woken up by elephants browsing trees just a metre away from where I was sleeping, witnessing a lion hunt in the middle of the night and talking to local people face-to-face’.
When asked about what he’s learnt, Sven thinks that a lot more needs to be done to help the natural world recover and also that everyone can help, not only scientists.
Sven (left) tracking a lion in Namibia
Looking back, Sven reminisces that “Each time I joined a Biosphere Expeditions team in the field, it was definitely a unique experience. I am happy and proud to also support Biosphere Expeditions through the Friends and by helping with media enquiries in Germany and talking to those who are thinking of coming on an expedition.’
Peter Thoem, a retiree from Canada, has participated in six expeditions so far. ‘I have time in my life, the health and the resources – so why not’ is his go-getter attitude in all this. This is why he started with expeditions and what he experienced on them.
‘Back in the day, when I was thinking about joining my first expedition to the Tien Shan mountains to study snow leopards, it was the opportunity to get into a really wild area. I could see that few westerners would ever get to see or experience the Tien Shan mountains and that the expedition might yield exciting results’, recounts Peter, ‘it was simply too good an opportunity to miss.’
And since then? ‘Tien Shan was just so thrilling’, says Peter, ‘and then the year after – in 2019 – there was the chance to do something equally useful in places as fascinating as the Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve and Kenya’s Masai Mara. It deeply interested me’. So off he went to the Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve first and then a few months later to Africa for back-to-back expeditions in 2019 and 2020, just before the Covid pandemic brought everything to a standstill for a couple of years.
Peter with local rangers on the Kenya Masai Mara expedition
His most recent expedition was to the Azores archipelago, studying whales & dolphins from a catamaran.
When asked about lessons learnt on expedition, Peter’s answers are swift and precise, showing his enthusiasm. He believes that with good planning, an open mind, health and resources, you can do it, because ‘it’s a fascinating world out there’. And further that even if ‘our western comforts make us think that everywhere else is scary, it’s not. Yes, some places can be risky, even dangerous, but not everywhere else.’
When asked to summarise his experiences, Peter takes some time to think, smiling to himself and then says: ‘Sometimes it’s rigorous – we have work to do and protocols to follow, we have to understand what’s expected. We have to coalesce as a team and appreciate each other’s strengths and not-so-strengths. Then we have to find ways to work with the less committed – some are day-dreamers, others are bloggers who don’t always contribute much.’ But it always works out in the end: ‘We come from all corners of the world, some of us have even met before, because we’re committed to the Biosphere Expeditions ethic. And when I return, I always feel richer and profoundly privileged for having been to places and done things that I used to believe only existed in an Attenborough world.’
Peter’s most abiding memories include standing on the slope of a remote valley in Kyrgyzstan with a clear blue sky. ‘It’s just warm enough to unzip my jacket. I’m surrounded by yellow expanses of spring flowers, there’s rushing meltwater cascading off snow-draped mountains around me and I had to pinch myself. Is THIS really me? Am I really here?”
Or there is the time when Peter was on his middle-of-the-night-shift keeping watch over a waterhole in Kenya’s Masai Mara. There are elephants around and hippos lie in the waterhole, but it’s quiet except for the odd grunt, splash or snuffle. Then from across the valley comes a strange upside-down bark, like indrawn breath “EEeeeeYiP”. What’s that, Peter asks the ranger. ‘Hyaena’, the ranger replies and Peter’s spine tingles.
And most recently, in 2024, on the expedition boat off Faial, one of the islands of the Azores archipelago: ‘The sea is lively and we have to hold on white-knuckle tight’, remembers Peter, ‘we’re all doing our tasks as assigned when a blue whale is sighted. We slow down and carefully approach – again everyone does as instructed – gathering data: time, water temperature, sea-state; taking photos, watching, counting and more. And then we’re spell-bound. There in front of us, all but immersed, visible yet almost invisible is the world’s largest mammal. It blows a couple of times, then dives to depths that take it out of the realm of human comprehension.’
A blue whale: a spell-binding animal for Peter
With all those experiences, what impact have the expeditions had on Peter’s daily life, away from expeditions? Again, Peter does not hesitate: ‘I’m seen and known for having just come back from another exotic place. Where are you going next, people ask. I have a greater understanding and appreciation of the value of citizen science’. An appreciation that has contributed to a structured long-term project on bird populations close to Peter’s home (now in its 10th year).
And what about Peter’s connection to nature? Has this changed through the expedition experiences he’s made? ‘My connection with nature has always been strong’, Peter responds, ‘and I feel that I have a reasonable understanding of how the balance of nature all weaves together. The expeditions give me the chance to see some of those interactions and inter-relationships’. And Peter adds an example of this: ‘With Alan, our expedition scientist in Kenya, we watched a small group of impala ingesting mineral-rich soils. Alan was ecstatic, it was, he said, the first known-to-science example of geophagy (animals eating soil, usually for its mineral content) by impalas. My photos made it a publishable observation‘.
Impala geophagy at the Memusi mineral (salt) lick, photo courtesy of Peter Thoem.
The interview ends with the question of what Peter would tell others who are thinking about joining their first expedition. Peter laughs and just says: ‘If it appeals to you, then set aside your fears and just go do it’.
Find an overview of all upcoming expeditions here.
Also see Peter’s birding blog entries for Kenya and Arabia
Becoming a marine conservation scientist is hard. For women in traditional societies, it’s almost impossible. Yet once she began diving, Jenan Al Asfoor was determined to break free from the confines of gender and her corporate job alike. It wasn’t easy, but now Jenan runs her own marine conservation consultancy, training the next generation to protect the coral reefs of her native Oman. Looking back now, Jenan credits Biosphere Expeditions as the turning point that transformed her passion into a lifelong purpose.
From a young age, Jenan was not deterred from defying social norms for women. She excelled in school, went to university and then took a corporate job in marketing at the Environment Society of Oman, an NGO in her native country. Diving was her hobby. ‘I was just doing it [diving] for fun, until I got the chance of a placement on a Biosphere Expeditions diving project in my country.’
Jenan had had other placement opportunities, ‘but the Biosphere Expeditions one stuck out. I was so happy to be on expedition with them. It truly changed my whole life, what I’m passionate about, and what I’m capable of doing. After my placement in Oman, went to the Maldives to expand my marine knowledge. To find a network of people, from all around the world, from very different fields, but always sharing the passion for doing something for the environment – it makes you change how you see people.’ She became more enthralled with the underwater world and the running of expeditions.
Part of the expedition to the Maldives includes getting certified by Reef Check (a reef conservation NGO that partners with Biosphere Expeditions), meaning citizen scientist divers are then qualified to conduct underwater surveys anywhere in the world. Soon, Jenan found herself re-evaluating her career and her way of living. Working alongside Biosphere Expeditions’ founder and executive Dr. Matthias Hammer and team scientist Dr. Jean-Luc Solandt changed how she saw diving too.. ‘These two opened my eyes that there was more to diving than to have fun. They then helped me to get Reef Check Oman off the ground, I started a science diploma and then went on to start a consultancy in marine conservation.’
Jenan Al Asfoor on the Musandam Peninsula diving expedition, Oman
In 2017 Biosphere Expeditions’ involvement around the Musandam Peninsula of Oman concluded with the declaration of two protected areas in the region. Jenan was the perfect steward to protect these achievements. She quit her corporate job and devoted herself full-time to diving and reef conservation, launching community-based reef conservation efforts, becoming Oman’s first Omani Reef Check Trainer, and to top it all off, starting Reef Check Oman, an offshoot of the NGO that originally qualified here as a survey diver, as well as her own consultancy. All this was not easy either. ‘My friends and family were surprised,’ she recalls. ‘Diving as a woman in Oman is unusual – it’s not seen as a field for females. People don’t see diving as something with a career related to it. People think it’s not a job, that there’s nothing there to learn, so quitting my job was really challenging, as it was not acceptable to my family. Finding encouragement was hard.’
Jenan about her achievements, hopes and aspirations in reef conservation
‘Without the encouragement of the people I met on the expeditions, I wouldn’t have made it,’ says Jenan. ‘When you don’t get support in your regular life, you need it elsewhere – that’s why Biosphere Expeditions had such a big impact.’
Proving almost everyone wrong, she is now an experienced diver and trains others – including delegates from the Omani government, who are learning how to protect the country’s precious corals. ‘I want to share all the beautiful, life-changing experiences I had being part of Biosphere Expeditions. I want to demonstrate the impact of knowledge sharing and community engagement.’ Working with Biosphere Expeditions meant Jenan learned ‘to face challenges on a daily basis. You don’t need to be a scientist to make a difference; even as citizens there’s so much we can do.’
When she stepped foot on Arabian soil back in 2006, Malika Fettak had no idea how influential and life-changing it would become. Starting as a citizen scientist with Biosphere Expeditions, she eventually landed a job with them, initially as part of their marketing team. However, she craved being back in the field and so jumped at the chance of becoming an expedition leader, taking on the responsibility for teams of citizen and professional scientists as well as a handful of staff and helpers; mastering to be empathetic towards people she may otherwise have trouble getting on with and helping people achieve their dreams. Malika Fettak tells her own story.
‘Back in the early 2000s I was looking for a different way to explore the world. As a single woman wanting to travel alone, it can be scary not knowing who to trust. I was searching for a worthwhile holiday to do something more adventurous. And Biosphere Expeditions sounded perfect: you’re in a group, you’re safe, and you get to do unique things out in nature that you can’t do on your own: not as tourists, but as a team on a mission, working together in conservation. You are also pushed beyond your comfort zone: you don’t know what people you’ll be with, what the work will be like and how hard it will be. On my first expedition, my English was not as good as it is now and I was worried that I would not be able to understand my team mates, the expedition leader or the scientists. Luckily, since team members come from all over the world, the English was very accessible and I had no problems. I instantly fell in love with the simplicity of expedition life. Before the expedition, I remember worrying about how I would cope with not having a hot shower for two weeks! But it didn’t take long for those thoughts to dissipate. You learn not to be afraid and to trust your own abilities and resilience.’
Malika Fettak (yellow circle) with her expedition team in Oman
‘It opened my eyes to the possibilities of another way of living. Out in nature, you actually need less to be happy and fulfilled. If you’re warm, dry, fed and have a place to sleep, that’s enough. And it calms your mind. You don’t have to worry about material luxuries, because in nature, on a fundamental level, it’s not important. A lot of people are overwhelmed in their lives. For example, there may be constant streams of information through phones that don’t actually have anything to do with your day-to-day life. Out in nature, especially away from phone coverage, things become simple. Things become easy. It’s not complicated out in the wild.’
‘After my first experience in Oman, I continued following Biosphere Expeditions across the globe all the way to the Altai Mountains in Russia. By this point, I’d been thinking about a career change, but I lacked a sense of direction. Matthias, Biosphere Expeditions founder and an expedition leader himself, and I had become well acquainted on expedition over the years; making me seriously consider a step into the unknown . He just said: ‘Why don’t you work for us?’ This was in 2006, seven years after Biosphere Expeditions was founded. I kind of created my own job by writing an essay about what I could contribute to the organisation. Having a degree in marketing and communications, I could see a lot of opportunities, so I began working full-time in the background.’
Leading in the Altai Mountains
‘Soon, however, I craved the expedition life again. Being out in nature, in the middle of nowhere, with nothing else but the expanse of the environment. So I signed myself for expedition leader training. It was a huge challenge at first, especially in a foreign language, but it was also extremely fun. I learned a lot. Once I started leading expeditions, that was it – I knew I’d found my place. Working in the wild, weathering the elements whilst leading people: everything that’s missing in contemporary city life, Biosphere Expeditions brings to you.’
Malika Fettak in between countries as an expedition leader
Starting as a citizen scientist, I loved the shift in perspective I got as an expedition leader. Not only was I suddenly responsible for all those people on the expedition; I also found myself in unimaginable situations. I learned how to solve problems, figuring it out as I went along. I felt a sense of accomplishment taking people out there, encouraging people to leave their comfort zones and helping to change people’s self-limiting beliefs – not in theory, but in reality. It really was a life-changing journey.’
Expedition leader Malika Fettak
In more recent years, I took a step further in my career again and qualified as a systematic coach and trainer in order to encourage and support personal development of people and empower teams outside expedition life – but I still lead expeditions. This has allowed me to look at the work Biosphere Expeditions does from a different perspective yet again. It has become all too clear for me that people are a lot more comfortable speaking about the things they want to achieve in their lives, rather than actually taking action. Biosphere Expeditions requires action. A lot of people talk about nature conservation, but never do anything about it. They think there’s no way I could do that! Then you find out: I actually can!’
‘The great thing about Biosphere Expeditions is that a formative personal experience of simply existing ias part of nature is almost built in. You’re there not to save the world all by yourself – for this is impossible – but learn and make experiences for your own sake and for the world around you. Biosphere Expeditions has made me appreciate the importance of every living thing on the planet. Even the smallest animals have successfully found a niche to live in; they all have an impact on each other, starting with a bug or ant, their presence is vital for, say, the top predator to have a healthy ecosystem to live in; that’s what I’ve understood and learned and experienced. The jaguar depends on the ant.’
Eve Hills is a PhD student at the University of Brighton currently working on leopard prey and habitat preferences in the Meru Conservation Area, Kenya. Big cats have always fascinated Eve – ever since coming on expedition with Biosphere Expeditions. So, what was so significant about this first experience?
‘I went to Africa for the first time in as a young child and instantly fell in love with the continent and wanted to come back,’ Eve Hills recounts. ‘I had a passion for big cats from a young age and did everything in my power to include them in any school projects.’ Five years later, she came across Biosphere Expeditions, ‘via one of the first expeditions to Poland to research wolves. In those days, Matthias (Dr. Matthias Hammer, Biosphere Expeditions’ founder and executive director) ran most of the show, so I was able to talk to him about my dreams of wanting to do something with big cats. In the end, I was sick and could not make the wolf project. Then, in 2002, a cheetah project came up in Namibia and I was really excited. I saved all my money and wanted to do the whole thing, which lasted two months.’
Eve Hills (yellow circle) with her expedition team in Namibia in 2002
Eve immediately fell in love with the entire experience. Staying for two months gave her a unique perspective. ‘I think this allowed me to immerse myself completely. It was an incredible place and the landscapes were so different. I just loved sharing my environment with big cats, knowing they were there. I don’t really need to see them. One of the most special things for me was when we tracked leopard prints and it was just incredible following in the animal’s footsteps. I remember collecting all the sand from one of its paw prints. It was really amazing. I loved feeling part of something. ’
After Eve came home, as with so many people, life got busy and she was ‘side-tracked by a job that had nothing to do with conservation.’ She also had to contend with a partner who thought she ‘should get a real job.’ However, she never forgot about those beautiful moments on expedition and did whatever she could at university to include big cats in her projects. She continued pursuing this passion into her master’s degree when she, ‘ linked up with some cheetah conservation organisations based in Kenya and intended to do a cat project.’
So now Eve is a PhD student studying leopards. As for the future of her relationship with Biosphere Expeditions, she says, ‘I’m hoping to get involved with another project and I’m keeping my eye out for any leopard-related projects.
Eve Hills (and others) talking about her expedition experience in Namibia
In his fifties, Neil Goodall felt the familiar urge to get away from it all and out into nature. Yet when he took the leap into expeditions, Neil discovered more than a new world – he found a new path, and a new lease of life.
Neil on expedition in 2018
Neil Goodall never expected to find himself in an acacia bush.
‘We were tracking leopards in Namibia, and had to set traps,’ Neil explains. ‘So I volunteered to crawl into the bush, and put the smelly carcass in the trap – and I thought, I’m an accountant!’
Setting a trap for leopards in Namibia
Since his first expedition in Namibia, Neil never looked back. Thailand, Malawi, Tien Shan: Neil traversed swamps, crossed deserts, and returned with a different perspective on life. ‘The contrast between this and working at my desk all day was just amazing. My colleagues couldn’t believe it. Gradually I became known as the Scat Hunter!’
Yet he wasn’t always an adventurer. Like many people, Neil found himself isolated from the natural world.
‘I always liked nature but never found the time for it,’ he says. ‘I was in my early 50s. Busy life. Two kids, family, and a very busy job – as a finance director for a public organisation.’
To get closer to wildlife, Neil followed what seemed to be the only option – safari, spending five days in the Serengeti.
‘Afterwards, I thought, I loved that, but a couple of things nagged me: you’re a tourist, you’re stuck in a vehicle, you can’t interact, and when you do see wildlife, they’re surrounded by tourist vehicles…it all felt a bit contrived.’
Signing up to be a citizen scientist with Biosphere Expeditions gave Neil the immersion in the natural world that he couldn’t reach in his everyday life – and then some.
‘It was everything that I’d hoped for: structured, but with a sense of liberation. We could go out into the wild, and as long as we did our tasks, we were free to do as we pleased. Wildebeest, giraffe, springbok – all close enough to smell them.’
Yet there was a crucial distinction. Neil wasn’t just close to the wildlife; his participation in the expedition enabled him to contribute to their conservation, shoulder to shoulder with dedicated scientists out in remote wilderness. On his first expedition, in Namibia, part of the project’s purpose was to change the narrative.
‘The farmers blamed the leopards for killing their livestock. Our work was helping to protect the cats. Collecting data, but properly in the wild – it’s such a purposeful interaction with wildlife.’
Part of what makes the expeditions so meaningful is because they’re not a holiday – they’re challenging, as Neil attests.
Neil (right) entering data with a fellow expeditioner in Malawi
‘It’s hard work,’ he agrees. ‘You’re up early, active from the off, but when you look back at the end of the day, shattered, you think – but what have I done? All day in nature, encounters with wildlife, collecting data with a team of people who were strangers a few days before. It’s hard, but it’s also one of the best things to experience because it connects with a lot of deep drivers that are rare to find in everyday life. But Biosphere Expeditions gives you confidence: you’re well briefed, well fed, and you know what you’re doing: solid foundations to go out of your comfort zone!’
And, like many expeditioners, Neil found himself not just out of his comfort zone, but far beyond it. His experiences across the world have been so out of the ordinary that they’ve changed how people see Neil as a person.
‘On my third expedition, I went to Peru – the first person in my family ever to go to South America. I found myself taking the boat from Iquitos down the Amazon, and I remember pinching myself – literally pinching myself – going, I’m on the Amazon. How!?’ Neil says, laughing. ‘People at work see me as the accountant. But it changes people’s perspective of you. They react ‘Wow, you did What!?’’
Neil (middle) with fellow expeditioners in Amazonia
Judging by his stories, this amazement is justified.
‘One night, in a remote region of Malawi,’ Neil begins, eyes lighting up in recollection, ‘We were observing a goat carcass to see if it attracted predators in the dark. We set a camera trap 10 miles from camp, but on the way back, we got stuck in the rutted road. Imagine: three of us, in the pitch black dark, somewhere in the middle of Malawi…and we had no choice but to get out of the car and push it out of the ruts. And you feel the danger,’ Neil admits. “We could radio for help, we knew we were safe, but it’s so far beyond everyday life. You come back and think: Wow!’
Ultimately, though, Neil’s experiences on expedition have given him more than just memories. They’ve given him new skills, opened new opportunities, and have made him an active protester for change. Inspired to put his new skills to use, he attend his first protest march – Restore Nature Now – in London in the summer, alongside 60,000 other nature lovers. Neil says, “I thank Biosphere Expeditions for giving me the confidence and the compulsion to protest for what I believe is a just cause, something I had not done before in my 68 years. And I will do the same again if the march is repeated.”
‘It changed my idea of what’s possible,’ Neil reflects. ‘I’ve always had it latent within me – but when are you going to get the chance, sitting in the office?’
Sixteen expeditions later, Neil the office accountant, has been transformed – and it hasn’t gone unnoticed. So who has Neil’s new sense of purpose influenced most? Neil bursts out laughing.
‘My sons – who see me as a boring old dad – they can’t believe what I’ve done!’
Biosphere Expeditions: blogs from the frontline of wildlife conservation and the fight for a more sustainable planet 