Our Staff
This page has details of all our current members of staff, either scroll down to find the person you are looking for or use the menu on the right of the page.
Andy Tucker
Andy lives in north Hampshire with his wife and young children. He is an aquatic biology graduate (Aberystwyth) and worked in consultancy for a year after graduation before travelling to south-east Peru to work as a guide in the Amazon rainforest. During his year there he balanced guiding with his fisheries research and, after a brief spell back in England, returned to a full-time guiding post at Sacha Lodge in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Andy has travelled widely in Central and South America and his fluent Spanish is a huge advantage during our tours both across the Atlantic and in Spain. Andy has birdwatched for as long as he can remember and counts himself lucky to have seen so many fantastic bird and wildlife spectacles around the globe. He joined the Naturetrek team in 1998 and, whilst now kept increasingly busy as General Manager, is involved in the operations of a wide variety of tours in Latin America, Western Europe and North Africa.
| Back to Top |
Bryony Thompson
| Back to Top |
Byron Palacios
| Back to Top |
Catherine Strong
Catherine studied Zoology and then Behavioural Ecology, which seemed natural choices for someone with a lifelong passion for wildlife – her earliest memories are of being read stories about wolves and wanting to see them for herself, in the wild. She has always loved going pretty much anywhere (once, at least), but her first real travel adventure was backpacking across the world by land and sea from Tunbridge Wells to Tokyo – then back again. Since then she has visited many countries and the destinations she’d most like to return to are the Arctic, Jordan and India. She is most happy at sea watching whales and dolphins, though she always seems to head straight into a force 9! Catherine worked in publishing for several years as an editor then freelance writer on a diverse range of journals from Knit Today to BBC Wildlife magazine. She joined Naturetrek in 2008 and is currently busy with a variety of editing and writing projects, including updating tour itineraries and working on new text for the website pages.
| Back to Top |
David Mills
David, the company’s managing director, began Naturetrek in 1986 with his wife, Maryanne. Although trained as a solicitor, David has always loved travel, mountains and wildlife. He has a wealth of experience in Africa and still more in India and the Himalaya, plus an extensive knowledge of their natural history. For two years he trekked independently through every region of the Himalaya, studying and photographing their wildlife. Since then he has written articles, contributed to books, and led and organised many treks there and in Africa. Other travels have taken him throughout south-east Asia, Australasia, Europe and the Middle East. His interests focus on birds and mammals, and the history and culture of the Himalaya. He is also passionate about cricket; being chairman, player (with his sons), supporter and a Colts coach-manager at the Southern League club, Hambledon CC – the ‘Cradle of Cricket’. David lives nearby in a quiet corner of Hampshire, together with Maryanne, and their two sons, Thomas and Oliver.
| Back to Top |
Debbie Scaife
Debbie joined the Naturetrek Reservations Team in November 2006. She was born and brought up in Bristol and her current home in a quaint Hampshire village seems more like a dream than reality! For many years she followed a career in Social Housing then, prior to joining Naturetrek, she jointly owned her own Wine Company with her husband. European travel has taken her to France, Spain, Corsica and Bulgaria, and maybe some new ventures are on the horizon, potential business of course! Working within the Reservations Department at Naturetrek keeps her on her toes and, after joining at one of the busiest times of the year, Debbie is pleased to say that it was enjoyable and has made it into 2007 still smiling! Living in Cheriton for the past eleven years has provided a wonderful opportunity to walk the beautiful countryside from her doorstep and offers an unrivalled environment in which to bring up two children with her husband.
| Back to Top |
Georgie Evans
Georgie has always lived in Winchester and joined Naturetrek in 2006 after leaving college with A Levels in Biology, Chemistry and Music. Having only planned to stay for six months, Georgie has found it hard to tear herself away from the wonderful surroundings of the Mill and the brilliant group of people she has sparked up friendships with. Despite a deep interest in wildlife, Georgie was astounded at the immense birding knowledge of her new colleagues! Amongst her favoured destinations are New York and Sardinia. Whilst New York isn’t exactly renowned for its wildlife, Sardinia has plenty to offer and she would recommend it to anyone wanting to visit a place where the word “tourist” hasn’t quite taken hold. Although a big fan of the Naturetrek cruises, Georgie has spent her latest holiday cruising aboard the world's newest and largest cruise liner (not found in the Naturetrek brochure!), and can wholeheartedly confirm that bigger is not always better, especially when it comes to wildlife viewing. Besides wildlife, Georgie also has an expensive obsession with cars and her current money-burner can occasionally be seen in the car park at Naturetrek. Georgie is Andy’s Operations Assistant, working hard to ensure the smoothest of travel arrangements for Naturetrek customers. She is also one of the friendly voices on the end of the telephone and looks forward to helping you with any queries you may have.
| Back to Top |
Gini Whitlock
Gini came to work for Naturetrek in November 1997 after spending two years in the Falkland Islands where she was employed by the Falkland Islands Tourist Board. Apart from arranging tours of the Islands, including those for Naturetrek, much of her time was spent exploring with her twin daughters who were also fascinated by the abundance of wildlife there. They would spend countless hours watching the penguins’ antics, from the hilarious but cross-looking Rockhoppers to the aloof Kings who tried desperately to keep their chicks from playing with her daughters! Although Gini is now completely office bound, it doesn’t stop her dreaming of all the wonderful places we can send you to! Gini is the manager of our very busy Reservations Department which deals with all the bookings we receive and makes sure everyone is invoiced for their holidays! She also takes care of any of your insurance queries.
| Back to Top |
Gwen Owen
Gwen is the newest member of the Naturetrek team, and currently assists with a wide range of administrative and operational tasks, whilst also trying to absorb some of the wealth of knowledge and experience of her colleagues. Although originally from London, the decision to move from a city job in the big smoke, to her dream job in a rural Hampshire mill, was an easy decision to make! After studying Animal Behaviour at Anglia Ruskin University she embarked on her first travel adventure in 1997, spending 3 months as a conservation volunteer in Uganda's Queen Elizabeth National Park. Hearing wild elephants fighting in the bushes near her camp, hyenas eating her mug, and watching chimpanzees in Chamburu Gorge are memories that will stay with her for a lifetime. During this experience, she was well and truly bitten by the travel bug and has since travelled all over the world. She considers her highlights to have included Kauai (Hawaii), Canada, Borneo, India and, most recently, a 2-year stint in beautiful New Zealand, but, despite such experience she is eager to see so much more! Having had a lifelong love of animals, Gwen has always found a way of incorporating them into her travels - from riding with cowboys to the Mexican border, to whale-watching off the coast of New Zealand. Now living in lovely Winchester she plans to make the most of the surrounding countryside, and hopes to get back into the saddle soon.
| Back to Top |
Jackie Clark
Jackie has had a lifelong love of animals and travelling so naturally fell towards this job as Naturetrek's newest recruit. She has enjoyed travelling extensively around the world and has had many wonderful experiences, from snorkelling with Whale Sharks in Australia and safaris in Africa, to glacier-walking in Alaska. Her passion for many years has been underwater photography and diving, and her most exciting recent holiday was to the Galapagos Islands, off South America, with their unique and stunning underwater world, topography, birdlife and animals. Originally from the north-west of Ireland, Jackie now lives in West Sussex with her husband and two children. Her previous jobs have included work as a beauty therapist and as a photographer; she has also been a volunteer at a wildlife hospital in Surrey for many years and now is part of the sales team at Naturetrek, handling your incoming phone enquiries and database management, amongst many other things.
| Back to Top |
Jane Hodgson
Jane joined Naturetrek in 1999, originally helping the Accounts Department as she came from a book-keeping background, but currently is part of the Reservations Team. She has been involved in many areas of the Naturetrek operation and has a good overview of what goes on. She is an active, ‘outdoors’ person, regularly dog walking, gardening and playing tennis and golf. Travelling was always an enthusiasm but, taking Naturetrek-associated trips to Ethiopia, Iceland, Borneo, Zambia, India and Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands, has been a revelation. On these trips she takes zillions of photographs; a handful of which have been deemed good enough for dossiers’ etc.! Her successful photos tend to be of mammals – and birds so long as they are large, colourful and stationary! Now her children are living and working away, Jane hopes to take a lot more trips and get to know and appreciate new animals, birds, landscapes and cultures.
| Back to Top |
Janice Stratton
Having qualified in the City with a big accountancy firm, Janice moved to the rural Hampshire countryside, where she has been the Naturetrek accountant for eight years. Before starting a family she and her husband travelled in Africa, the Himalaya and Australia. Climbing Kilimanjaro was an exhausting but exhilarating highlight, and watching the stars from the Serengeti plains was unforgettable. Now her daughters also enjoy travelling, and in recent years have been to Australia, New Zealand and Fiji. The most amazing whale watching trip was in eastern Australia where the family stayed on Fraser Island – watching the Humpback Whales swim alongside the boat as they stop in Hervey Bay on their annual migration. All the family loved the open spaces of New Zealand, and on a fantastic trip to Doubtful Sound spotted dolphins, penguins and seals. Now she is looking forward to more exciting trips – possibly Africa next!
| Back to Top |
Jo Philips
Jo started working at Naturetrek back in 2004. She is originally from Northern Ireland but currently lives in the lovely village of Cheriton just a few minutes away from the Mill, and is able to cycle to work. Before joining Naturetrek, Jo had always worked for much larger companies and is now very much enjoying working for a small, friendly company. As well as working part-time at Naturetrek in the Accounts department, Jo runs her own holistic therapy business as this has always been a great hobby of hers. She has also always loved travelling. She has been to America and Canada and has travelled extensively around Europe, but her favourite and most desired holiday destination has always been Italy, because of the beautiful landscapes and scenery, delicious food and passionate people.
| Back to Top |
Julie Lacey
Julie was born in West Sussex and brought up in a farming family. Her childhood was very much spent close to nature and wildlife. Since then most of her working life has been spent in the travel industry, with a break to raise her family. Julie loves the outdoors and is especially fond of gardening and walking. However, music and singing are her particular passions. She has visited several European countries, most recently joining one of Naturetrek’s holidays to Finland, and very much enjoys the floral and cultural aspects. After many years spent living in the north of England, Julie moved back south to Hampshire and joined the Naturetrek team in 2005 as an Operations Assistant. She is involved in the operation of a very wide range of tours, including all those to northern and eastern Europe, Africa, Mexico and Costa Rica. She additionally assists with our cruise departures, as well as managing our large programme of ‘Just Brown Bears’ tours to Finland.
| Back to Top |
Kiera Griffin
Kiera is originally from north-west Ireland but a desire to work in animal welfare made her move to the UK to take up a job at an RSPCA rescue centre. Following this she worked at a wildlife sanctuary in Suffolk and then at a gibbon rehabilitation centre in Thailand. Her degree in sociology and psychology (U.C.D) led her to visit Africa, Asia, Australia and both North and Central America in search of adventure, culture and primates! She also spent a short time volunteering at an orphanage in Romania. Since 1995 she has lived in Surrey with her husband and dogs. Kiera joined the sales and marketing team at Naturetrek in early 2006 and is mainly involved in database management – ensuring brochures, dossiers and tour reports reach you! Her favourite job is proofing tour reports and imagining herself to be a participant on one of our wonderful tours! The camaraderie amongst the staff makes every day fun and being able to combine a love of travel and wildlife is definitely a dream come true!
| Back to Top |
Linda Sladen
Linda has worked in the travel industry since 1996, joining Naturetrek in February 2008 after working for Travelbag, Ebookers and Lastminute.com. She feels it is a great job not only because of the fantastic people she works with but because she loves the variety of wildlife trips that Naturetrek offers. Cheriton Mill is a beautiful place to work and there is never a dull day in the office. She always enjoys hearing about people’s previous trips and enjoys sharing her own travel experiences. She has travelled to Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Antigua, Barbados, Bahamas, St Lucia, Tobago, Switzerland, Germany and other parts of Europe. Her favourite country has to be Australia for its pure beauty and wildlife. She has travelled across the tablelands of Queensland and snorkelled on the Great Barrier Reef and seen some amazing sealife and wildlife there. As Ticketing Manager for Naturetrek, Linda maintains direct correspondence with such major airlines as British Airways, Air France, Emirates etc., booking and ticketing flights for Naturetrek clients. Linda lives in Alton with her husband, Richard, and has two grown-up sons and two beautiful baby grandsons.
| Back to Top |
Maryanne Mills
Maryanne is a zoologist from Perth, Western Australia, who co-founded Naturetrek in 1986 with her English husband, David. Prior to her overseas travels she worked as an ecological consultant surveying the wildlife in some of the remote parts of Australia, including the Great Sandy Desert, Barrier Reef and central Australia. A keen walker, she has undertaken several extended backpacking expeditions through the wilderness regions of Tasmania and northern Australia, and was a member of the 1988 Royal Geographical Society's expedition to the remote Kimberley in north-western Australia where she studied the mammals. A keen photographer and writer, she has published articles in a number of walking and natural history magazines. Today, Maryanne, a director of Naturetrek, looks after the operation of all our tours to Australia and New Zealand as well as acting as the company’s Responsible Tourism Officer.
| Back to Top |
Paul Dukes
Paul can be seen annually at the Rutland Water Bird Fair, occasionally at Cheriton Mill but more usually in deepest Cornwall where he looks after the Naturetrek west Cornwall office. Originally from south London, he followed a Civil Service career after leaving school but found this an intrusion into his birdwatching activities and left for a spell of globe-trotting in a series of back-packing adventures. In 1981 he combined travel and birding experience to help run Cygnus Wildlife Holidays in Devon, a six month experiment which eventually lasted 18 years! It then seemed a logical progression to join Naturetrek and thanks to the wonders of technology, Paul now takes care of the arrangements for a number tour destinations from his home near Penzance. A life-long avid birder, he is also fascinated by all aspects of the natural world and enjoys a wide range of interests ranging from cinema and music to Formula One, and eating!
| Back to Top |
Paul Marshall
Paul began watching birds at a very early age. His love of birds and natural history has developed over the past 20 years and has taken him to many exciting destinations. Paul has visited every corner of the UK, many parts of Europe, North America, Africa and Asia in search of birds and other wildlife. His particular passion lies with the world’s wildfowl, seabirds, cetaceans and those species which inhabit the world’s colder climates! After graduating with a degree in geography and environmental management he joined the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust at Slimbridge. He has worked in conservation since as a reserve warden, researcher and latterly as a wetland ecologist for WWT. Paul now works full time for Naturetrek and divides his time between tour leading and managing the website. His passion for wildlife photography also makes him the right man for advice about the latest digital gadgets!
| Back to Top |
Paul Stanbury
Paul Stanbury was one of the first members of staff to join the Naturetrek team. He graduated in environmental biology from Plymouth University in the summer of 1995 and, after travelling south-east Asia for the rest of that year, joined Naturetrek in January 1996. He now works as Operations Manager and lives in the small town of Petersfield in the heart of the Hampshire South Downs. Paul spends much of the year based in our Cheriton office and looks after an ever-growing portfolio of over 100 Naturetrek holidays, ranging from a long weekend in the New Forest to three weeks in Madagascar. He is still let out occasionally, however, and leads three or four tours a year. Paul's interest in birds developed at an early age and has since broadened into a love of all wildlife. He has travelled widely, having visited all 7 continents; but still looks for any excuse to return to Western Canada, his favourite destination.
| Back to Top |
Rajan Jolly
It would be hard to find someone with a more knowledgeable understanding of India, Nepal and Bhutan than Rajan. Born and raised in India as a member of one of Kashmir’s prominent families, he has excellent connections and uses them extensively to experience the full gamut of what the country has to offer. Rajan has travelled throughout India and the world and has worked in the travel industry for the past fifteen years, nine of which were based in India. His passion is logistics and complex itineraries which, through his intimate knowledge and in-depth comprehension of the idiosyncrasies of the Indian subcontinent, he can ensure flow effortlessly. His vivacious and bubbly personality, as well as his profound understanding of the traveller’s requirements, are a major asset to the company. Rajan graduated in Business Studies and also has a diploma in Travel & Tourism from Delhi University. He has led many of Naturetrek groups to India and always been lucky in seeing Tigers!
| Back to Top |
Thomas Mills
| Back to Top |
