1st MRes Ocean and Coastal Policy
(Research title - mariculte and tourism)
1st BSc Environmental Science
Languages spoken
English
Bahasa Malaysia
Bahasa Indonesia
Professional Interests
Jobs/Opportunities sought:
to make friends with more people in ecotourism.
Work Experience
My path in conservation and travel was laid as I grew up on weekly episodes of David Attenborough and the Really Wild Show with sprinkles of long walks on Dartmoor and surfing and snorkeling along the Cornwall coast.
After studying for my degree in Environmental Science I decided to head into Ecotourism and wrote away eagerly to ten's of ecolodges offering my services to them for free. I was over the moon when Albert Teo of Borneo Eco Tours personally wrote back to me and off i went on an adventure that little did I know would change my life. I helped Albert run the first Borneo Ecotourism Conference alongside Carol Patterson and Prof Ross Dowling. After my first experience of running an international 3 day conference I headed to the more relaxed jungles of Sabah. I acted as a tour guide for 5 months going on daily river cruises showing tourists wild orangutans and pygmy Elephants. I had such an amazing time I decided there and then to start Ecoteer. The purpose of Ecoteer is to give students and people looking for a career change with the chance to be able to gain work experience and internships at Ecolodges. Ecoteer has since expanded into conservation, humanitarian aid and community development. We have over 200 registered projects and have helped over 5000 people find suitable work placements.
I had fallen in love in Malaysia and in 2008 found myself protecting sea turtles on the islands of Perhentian. I have since turned this project into an official Malaysian registered society protecting two nesting beaches and collecting turtle track data from 300km of coastline.
My latest adventure is Ecoteer Responsible Travel which is providing tourists with the chance to mix regular responsible tourism with 'doing' something ie farming silk worms.
