|
|
|
MEET OUR NATURALIST LEADERS
Aaron Lawton
 |
|
Aaron has guided and instructed sea kayaking, canoeing, hiking, climbing and rafting trips on five of seven continents. He has worked as Assistant Expedition Leader or Expedition Leader on over 70 polar expeditions. Aaron has been working with Quest for the last 5 years.
|
|
Adrienne Mason
 |
|
Adrienne is trained as a marine biologist and has worked as head of interpretation at the Bamfield Biological Research facility on the west coast of Vancouver Island. Since then she has been a prolific natural history writer with some ten books now published.
|
|
Alan Watson
 |
|
Alan is Director of the Arboretum at the University of Guelph, an Assistant Professor of Environmental Biology and a specialist in adult education. His research interests are wide-ranging, from Harbour Porpoises in the Maritimes to trees in Central Canada. He is an expert, as well, in bird ecology. Alan is an experienced Quest leader who had led our trips to Point Pelee, Magdalen Islands & PEI, and Trinidad & Tobago.
|
|
Alison Watt
 |
|
Alison is an experienced nature tour leader whose academic training is in botany. She has worked as a resident naturalist in BC, and in the lowland Amazon rainforest of Peru, explored Mexico and Costa Rica, and led trips on Canada's west coast and the Yukon. She is a writer, an excellent birder and teacher with her main focus as a botanical painter. We are pleased to have Alison continue to lead this Quest tour to Honduras as our participants give her rave reviews.
|
|
Brian Ratcliff
 |
|
Brian is a wildlife biologist who has worked with owls in Ontario, caribou surveys in the Yukon, and Peregrine Falcon rehabilitation and release programs. Brian has led previous Quest trips to Churchill, Cuba and Antarctica. A skilled leader and interpreter, he lives near Lake Superior.
|
|
Chris Earley
 |
|
Chris Earley is a zoologist and interpretive naturalist at the Arboretum of the University of Guelph, Ontario. He has conducted research in Australia, New Zealand and the Carolinian Forest in Southern Ontario. He has written four books on eastern birds (Warblers, Sparrows & Finches, Hawks & Owls, Waterfowl). As well as leading tours to Kenya and Tanzania, he has previously led Quest trips to Greenland, the High Arctic and Southern Ontario.
|
|
David Euler
 |
|
Dave has worked as a wildlife biologist for the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources conducting research into moose and deer habitat. Dave, whose interests lie in forest ecology, birds and mammals, has travelled to the High Arctic and has also led previous Quest Polar Bear tours to Churchill and is leading a Quest trip to the Amazon in 2006.
|
|
David Milsom
 |
|
David is an expert naturalist who has travelled throughout Europe, North and South America. He is a keen nature photographer with an excellent knowledge of birds, mammals and butterflies. David has led Quest trips to Newfoundland, Texas, Colorado, England, Galapagos Islands, Tunisia, Spain and Canada's High Arctic and the Antarctic.
|
|
Don Shanahan
 |
|
Don is formerly a Secondary School Science Department Head who has had extensive experience as a nature tour leader. During his travels to many parts of the world, he has been able to hone his natural history interpretive skills. He has participated in many studies with the Ministry of Natural Resources, Canadian Wildlife Service and Bird Studies Canada and has also written for a number of publications. Don will be using his knowledge, experience, intuition and humour to ensure that everyone on this trip enjoys it to the fullest.
|
|
Gavan Watson
 |
|
Gavan is an enthusiastic, interpretive naturalist who is currently completing his PhD in Environmental Education at York University in Toronto. Passionate about sharing his sense of wonder of the natural world with others, he teaches a popular experiential natural history course for undergraduates at York University. His special interests lie in Entomology and Photography. His love for nature is at once obvious and contagious. Gavan is unique in that he is a second generation Quest Tour leader leader - his father Alan currently leads our tours to Trinidad and Tobago. Gavan led our very successful Yukon and Alaska tour in 2007.
|
|
Geoff Carpentier
 |
|
Geoff is an accomplished field biologist who has travelled the world. He is Past-President of the Ontario Field Ornithologists and the author of The Mammals of Peterborough County. He has worked with our associate company, Peregrine Adventures as the ship's naturalist in Antarctica,Alaska and the Bering Sea and the High Norwegian Arctic. He also co-led one of our Best of Cuba trips in 2006.
|
|
Glenn Barrett
 |
|
Glenn has worked for the Canadian Wildlife Service since 1994. He has also conducted field studies in Alaska and also the Galapagos Islands where he spent six months. He is a keen naturalilst, wildlife photographer and is past president of the Hamilton Field Naturalist' Club.
|
|
Jean Iron
 |
|
Jean is a very well travelled person who follows her natural history interests to many parts of the world. Jean is a Past President of the Ontario Field Ornithologists. She has led Quest land tours to Honduras, Cuba, and Point Pelee and Quest expedition cruises to Georgian Bay, Costa Rica and Panama, and the High Arctic of Canada and Norway.
|
|
John Fletcher
 |
|
John is the owner of a Jamaican coffee plantation who also has a very keen interest in birds. He is treasurer of BirdLife Jamaica and is an advocate for wildlife conservation on the island. John will be our Jamaican naturalist and birdwatching guide for the first half of the tour.
|
|
John Haselmayer
 |
|
John is a field biologist who has been very active in research projects in Canada, Mexico, Peru, New Zealand and Puerto Rico. He spends the month of May at Point Pelee NP, during the peak bird migration, leading bird hikes and giving bird identification workshops. John is fluently trilingual in English, Spanish and French.
|
|
John Marriott
 |
|
John is a professional wildlife and nature photographer who has worked extensively with grizzly bears in Knight Inlet on Canada's West Coast. A former park naturalist for Parks Canada in Banff National Park, with a BSc in Forestry, John has guided throughout Western Canada for the past decade.
|
|
Jorge Barraza
 |
|
Jorge is a Honduran who was born in Copan and who had been leading special interest tours including archaeology and natural history in Honduras. Jorge is a graduate of the Universidad Pedagogica de Honduras. He has been the Quest co-leader for this tour for six years.
|
|
Kirilee Ramsey
 |
|
Kirilee is a full time naturalist guide for our travel partner in New Zealand, Nature Quest. She has her degree in Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management and was a naturalist interpreter for a wilderness lodge on the South Island's West Coast. She has also taught field studies, outdoor recreation and environmental education to children in England and Scotland. Kirilee has traveled very extensively throughout New Zealand and has a wide, in-depth natural history knowledge. She led our New Zealand tour in 2005.
|
|
Michael Malone
 |
|
Mike is an avid naturalist who has had professional connections with nature over the years including working as a "Keeper" at the Metro Toronto Zoo, and as a seabird colony researcher for the Canadian Wildlife Service in the Maritimes and Arctic. From spring to fall, Michael operates a nature store at Point Pelee, Ontario. Each winter he migrates to Oaxaca, Mexico. Here for 24 years, he has interpreted nature and culture of Oaxaca State to visitors.
|
|
Mike Street
 |
|
Mike Street is a widely travelled naturalist with many and varied interests. Mike's careful trip planning and attention to detail are appreciated by his tour participants. He has led successful Quest trips to Cuba, Newfoundland and Turkey.
|
|
Page Burt
 |
|
Page is the staff naturalist and program director at Bathurst Inlet Lodge. She has worked with the Inuit of Bathurst Inlet since 1972. She has also lived in Rankin Inlet and Yellowknife where she worked as an environmental scientist. She is the author of Barrenland Beauties, a colour field guide to the showy plants of the Canadian Arctic. Past participants have given her rave reviews of her knowledge and enthusiasm.
|
|
Pete Read
 |
|
Pete is an educator and expert interpretative naturalist who has travelled extensively in North America and the Caribbean. He has led previous Quest tours to Cuba and Iceland. Pete has worked on the Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas in the boreal forest for the past several seasons and was ship's naturalist on board the R/V Akademic Ioffe in Antarctica during the 2005 / 2006 season.
|
|
Peter Middleton
 |
|
Peter is an expert naturalist and a first class teacher. He has traveled extensively as a Quest leader and has recently led many highly successful Quest tours to South Africa, Trinidad and Tobago, Magdalen Islands, Amazon, Antarctica, the Canadian Arctic, India and Scotland.
|
|
Robert Taylor
 |
|
Robert R. Taylor is a naturalist-photographer, and writer with over 40 years of experience. Since the late 1950's Robert has been sharing his knowledge and expertise by conducting workshops, lecturing, and leading photographic and nature tours.
|
|
Robin Tapley
 |
|
Robin is a wonderful naturalist, and an expert tour leader, who always garners great accolades form the participants on his tours. He is the Senior Naturalist at the Delta Grandview Resort in Muskoka, Ontario and is well known for running its very successful natur and astronomy programs. He has led many Quest tours to the Galapagos Islands, Antarctica, Muskoka and New Brunswick.
|
|
Roy John
 |
|
Roy has travelled extensively around the world and has led previous Quest trips to Western Canada. He is an experienced and accomplished interpretive naturalist and a keen nature photographer.
|
|
Ryan Love
 |
|
Ryan is the park ranger for the Blue and John Crow Mountains National Park. He is an excellent naturalist with a keen interest in birds. He visited Canada in Fall 2002 to participate in a Bird Studies Canada bird-banding program at long point, Ontario. If anyone can find his country's endemic birds, Ryan can!
|
|
Sharon MacKinnon
 |
|
Award winning artist Sharon MacKinnon paints in acrylic, encaustic and watercolour. Sharon has over twenty-five years teaching experience and is and elected member of the Society of Canadian Artists. Sharon ran a very successful series of watercolour workshops for interested passengers on our recent 2005 High Arctic voyage.
|
|
Sherry Kirkvold
 |
|
Sherry is a naturalist who has worked in the provincial, national and regional park systems in British Columbia, in museums and has run her own business in the field of interpretation. The west coast has been her home for 25 years and she has explored many areas of it. She is the principal author of the art book that helped raise awareness and led, eventually, to the protection of the Carmanah Valley. She has previously been a Quest leader in the Queen Charlotte Islands and on Quest's Vancouver Island trip.
|
|
Tony Beck
 |
|
Tony is a professional naturalist, wildlife photographer and teacher who has travelled extensively in North and Central America. He is a caring tour leader who shares his contagious enthusiasm and well-honed skills with his tours participants. Tony has lead previous Quest tours to Hawaii, Costa Rica and Eastern and Western Canada.
|
|
Yasemin Konuralp
 |
|
Yasmin was a high school music teacher, has climbed many of Turkey's major mountains, is an accomplished photographer, and is an excellent botanist. She is currently completing a book on the wildflowers of Turkey.
|
|
Jim Coey
 |
|
Jim has been an avid naturalist since the age of 10 and studied botany and zoology at university. His birding and natural history interests have taken him to many parts of North and South America, Africa, Europe and Asia. Jim is an experienced leader and has led trips to Cuba, Galapagos Islands, Madagascar, Ireland, Western Canada, Antarctica and the High Arctic.
|
|
Barry Griffiths , President, Quest Nature Tours
 |
|
Barry has been organizing and leading nature and photo tours around the world for over thirty years, and during that time has travelled to all seven continents. He is an accomplished wildlife photographer, whose photos have appeared in many publications, an author and a keen, all-round naturalist.
|
|
Geoff Henderson
 |
|
Geoff was raised on a farm and has always been a keen studentof nature. After graduating with a biological degree majoring in botany, Geoff took up a career in teaching, where he taught in New Zealand and England. During these years he taught outdoor education and natural science.
|
|
Elizabeth Knowles
 |
|
Liz has researched and accompanied numerous wildflower tours around the world including Crete and Patagonia, Sichuan, Yunnan and Western Australia. She is an enthusiastic gardener and photographer.
|
|
Luis Godoy
 |
|
Luis has been a certified naturalist guide in Belize, for over 15 years, with special credentials in wild orchids and Mayan archaeology and culture. He is very well-known throughout the country for his wide-ranging expertise in natural history and now operates his own nature tour company. We are pleased to have him return as one of our Quest leaders.
|
|
Martin Hrouzek
 |
|
Martin grew up in the
southeast corner of the
Czech Republic, speaks
fluent English, and has
been leading European
nature and cultural tours
for the past 10 years. He
has a keen eye and
knowledge of the wildlife and flora of the
region, and immerses his tour participants in
the local culture and history of the heart of
Europe.
|
|
Lalaina Mamisoa Rakotomavo
 |
|
Lalaina was born and raised in Madagascar, and is the local guide for our Quest Madagascar tours. He is an extremely sociable person, and well respected throughout the country, and is familiar with the natural history of all the major regions of Madagascar. In addition to Lalaina, we'll also be using the services of expert local naturalists throughout the tour.
|
|
|
