Smithsonian Journeys Experts

Tiiu Lukk is a naturalist who first fell in love with Africa when she was on assignment there as a foreign correspondent for ABC News.  During her years there, Tiiu became intimately acquainted with the culture, people, politics, geography and wildlife of Africa.  Tiiu’s assignments took her from filming wildlife in Kruger National Park, to covering the pursuit of rhino poachers in the Aberdares National Park of Kenya, and reporting on South Africa during the age of apartheid. She poled makoros in the Okavango Delta, and followed elephant trails, on foot, across the savannah. Since then, Tiiu has served as a naturalist and enrichment lecturer on board cruise ships, as well as on land, covering territory from East Africa and South Africa, to West Africa and beyond.  Her experience has taken Tiiu to 128 countries around the world, to ecosystems ranging from the expanse of the Ngorongoro Crater, the grasslands of Masai Mara, the deserts of Namibia, and the coral seas of Zanzibar, to the wildlife sanctuaries of West Africa.  

Tiiu helps her guests tune into the sounds of the wild, from the roars of lions, the honks of hippos, the trumpeting of elephants, the squeals of warthogs, to the calls of birds and the cries of African fish eagles, all while tracking their movements in the bush. She informs travelers about the culture of the people who share their land with wildlife, focusing on conservation efforts that promote their peaceful coexistence.

Tiiu received her B.A. degree in Art from St. Olaf College, and her M.S. degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.  Her work on the PBS anthropological film, “Trobriand Cricket,” earned her an Emmy Award. Tiiu brings the sensibility of a naturalist, the eye of a documentary filmmaker and art historian, the insatiable curiosity of a journalist and travel writer, and the appreciation of a world traveler to all of her encounters, which she happily shares with her Smithsonian Journeys fellow travelers.