Grant Nel

Grant Nel is an enthusiastic disciple for biodiversity conservation, continually travelling the globe to experience and study our planet’s myriad wildlife. After qualifying as a Zoologist Grant opted for a career as a field naturalist. He received his ranger training at the world-renowned Mala Mala Game Reserve and has been working in the African wild for the past thirty years. Living a few hundred meters from the confluence of the Chobe and Zambezi Rivers, makes the Victoria Falls and Chobe National Park virtually his back yard. A highly respected conservation advocate, he sits on the board of two local environmental organizations and frequently consults on national ecotourism and conservation policies.

Tiiu Lukk

Tiiu Lukk 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 South 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. She poled makoros through 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, most recently covering territory from Namibia to East Africa.  Her experience has taken Tiiu to 115 countries around the world, to habitats ranging from the mountains of the Drakensberg range, to the grasslands of Masai Mara, from the coral seas of Zanzibar, to the fjords of Alaska.  Her interests range from the behavior of animals in the wild, to the dynamics of the interactions between humans, creatures, and the environment they have to share, to the art, architecture and culture of the destinations she visits. 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 the appreciation of a world traveler to all of her encounters, which she happily shares with her Smithsonian Journeys fellow travelers.

Kate Evans

Dr. Kate Evans is an award-winning behavioral ecologist and conservation biologist. Upon completing her BSc (Hons) in Zoology, during which she studied the meerkats of the Kalahari, she gathered field experience that saw her researching the ecology of the insects of the Namib to the social interactions of the Samango monkey of South Africa. She then returned to academia to complete her Master’s degree in the parasitology of lion, before undertaking her Ph.D. on adolescent male African elephant in the Okavango Delta, Botswana.

With over 20 years of experience as a field biologist throughout Southern Africa on a variety of species, as well as a childhood living in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and the Nordics, she has a solid understanding of the challenges of conservation, the complexities of resource competition, the implications of policies and the importance of stakeholder relationships.

Kate heads up an international team researching male elephants, is on the board of an environmental organization and a member of groups involved in human-wildlife competition, conservation and biodiversity. Her passion for the natural world is infectious and she loves spending time in the wilderness and experiencing different cultures.

Patricia Hostiuck

Patty Hostiuck has roamed the globe as a naturalist for three decades, seeking out wildlife-rich niches, investigating breathtaking landscapes, and sharing her insights with thoughtful travelers. Her academic background in biology and geography shape a perspective that spotlights the importance of place, the abiding interdependence of living things, and the critical influence of nature on human cultures.  She has served as a National Forest Ranger and National Park Ranger, worked extensively leading eco-travel and expedition trips from the tropics to both polar regions, and has led—on all 7 continents and on all 7 major oceans—over 100 Smithsonian Journeys from A to Z (literally, Antarctica to Zimbabwe). A highly praised leader with impressive field expertise, an astonishing breadth of knowledge, and an avid following, Patty’s passion to untangle nature’s secrets comes across in her engaging presentations, informal commentary, and one-on-one chats. Travelers will benefit from her encyclopedic knowledge, irresistible enthusiasm, spirit of adventure, and sense of fun.  

Robyn Keene-Young

Zimbabwean-born Robyn Keene-Young is an Emmy-nominated film producer and a widely-published travel and nature writer. For more than 25 years, she’s explored southern and east Africa, producing magazine features, books, and television documentaries. Her films appear regularly on PBS, National Geographic and BBC. Her work allows her to spend her waking hours in the close company of some of the earth’s wildest and most fascinating creatures.

Robyn attended the University of the Witwatersrand during South Africa’s turbulent transition to democracy, where she graduated with Bachelor of Arts and Law degrees. She worked as a human rights attorney among farmworkers in the Cape winelands, before leaving the profession to live in a tent and document the African wild with her photographer husband. When she’s not filming in remote wilderness, Robyn lives on a farm near South Africa’s Kruger National Park. To read a story written by Robyn for Smithsonian magazine click here.