Rewildology

Latest Episodes:

#25 | The Himalayas: Red Pandas & Black Bears with Sonam Lama & Bhupendra Yadav; Part 4 “Nepal: Coexisting with Giants” May 25, 2021

Show notes

In today’s episode, I’m chatting with two awesome Nepali conservationists that are experts in Himalayan wildlife. First, you’ll hear from Sonam Lama who is the Program Coordinator for the Red Panda Network. We recorded his episode shortly after I returned from Nepal, as we weren’t able to connect in-country. Hopefully, I’ve done a good enough job editing the jet lag out of my voice.

Afterward, you’ll hear from Bhupendra Yadav, a Himalayan black bear expert. Courtney and I met with Bhupendra at our lovely hotel in Kathamandu shortly before departing from Nepal. We discuss how human-bear conflict has increased over the years and his work to start one of the most comprehensive Himalayan black bear research studies.

Don’t forget to follow the show wherever you’re listening. If you’re really liking this travel series format, please let me know by messaging on Instagram or emailing me at hello@rewildology.com

See full show notes at rewildology.com.
Discover more ways to watch, listen, and interact: https://linktr.ee/Rewildology
Follow Rewildology on Instagram: @Rewildology

A special thanks to Katie Adamson Conservation Fund for their support in this series. You can learn more about KACF by checking out Episode 2 with Dave Johnson. Ep. 2 Show Notes | Finding Your Path with Dave Johnson

#24 | The Stories of Chitwan; Part 3 of "Nepal: Coexisting with Giants" May 18, 2021

Show notes

In today’s episode, I’m taking you with me to a very special place: Chitwan National Park in southeast Nepal. This area is world-renowned for its immense Asian Greater-One Horned Rhino population, in addition to a vast diversity of birds, mammals, reptiles, and endangered species like tigers and the gharial crocodile.

As I’m sure you can imagine, living with such charismatic wildlife can both a blessing and a curse. While tourists love to visit the area and spend millions of rupees each year experiencing everything nature has to offer, the local community has to manage all of the issues that arise when animals leave the jungle and enter their village.

Luckily for nature and wildlife, they have conservationists on their side. Many people in the area love Chiwan’s wildlife and have dedicated their lives to saving both the park and their fellow community members. Today, you are going to meet some of these incredible people.

Guests:
Part 1: Basu Bidari
Part 2: Dr. Babu Ram and Dr. Amir Sadaula
Part 3: Jit Tamang and Bishnu Rimal
Part 4: Bishnu Thapa
Part 5: Ritu Waiba and Bishnu Rimal

See full show notes at rewildology.com.
Discover more ways to watch, listen, and interact: https://linktr.ee/Rewildology
Follow Rewildology on Instagram: @Rewildology

#23 | The Power of Perspective, Education, & Attitude with Jack Kinross; Part 2 of “Nepal: Coexisting with Giants” May 11, 2021

Show notes

Welcome, friends, to Part Two of the ‘Nepal: Coexisting with Giants’ series. Today’s guest, Jack Kinross, and I met in Bardia National Park, a land known for its remote locale and infamous tiger population. Located in the terai, this area is characterized by grasslands, sal forests, and marshes. Picture Disney’s Jungle Book and BBC’s Planet Earth II Grasslands Episode, and you’ll have a good idea of what the environment is like.

Hailing from New Zealand, Jack is a conservationist and leopard expert working to combat the illegal wildlife trade. He first came to Nepal 20 years ago to tackle the out-of-control leopard poaching crisis happening throughout Asia and subsequently fell in love with the country.

See full show notes at rewildology.com.
Discover more ways to watch, listen, and interact: https://linktr.ee/Rewildology
Follow Rewildology on Instagram: @Rewildology

#22 | It's Never A Straight Line: Becoming a Tiger Researcher with Sam Helle; Part 1 of "Nepal: Coexisting with Giants" May 04, 2021

Show notes

Welcome, everyone, to the first episode in the Nepal: Coexisting with Giants series.

In this episode, I’m chatting with Sam Helle who is a Ph.D. student and has been studying human-wildlife conflict in Nepal for multiple years.

She sets the foundation for my understanding of conflict in the area and how amazingly dedicated the local communities are to protecting their wildlife, even when it causes mortality and hardship amongst their towns and villages. I’m so grateful Sam and I chatted before my plane took off for Nepal, and I highly recommend listening to the full episode to really set you up for the rest of the series.

Sam is a fun, vibrant person and we had so much recording this for you all. It was a true happy hour chat with lots of fun drinks and honest conversation.

See full show notes at rewildology.com.
Discover more ways to watch, listen, and interact: https://linktr.ee/Rewildology
Follow Rewildology on Instagram: @Rewildology

#21 | Introducing “Nepal: Coexisting with Giants” Series May 04, 2021

Show notes

Nepal.

The land of rugged mountains, rich grasslands, and unparalleled biodiversity.

In March 2021, my fellow globetrotting partner, Courtney Gonzalez, and I traveled to Nepal to experience conservation firsthand in this ecologically abundant country.

What we learned blew our minds.

We met with multiple conservationists working tirelessly to protect both wildlife and people in a country that’s experiencing alarmingly high rates of conflict.

And you’re going to meet them, too.

The stories in this series are raw, unfiltered, and not for the faint of heart. They paint a realistic picture of what it’s like to live with very dangerous animals and how difficult it is to protect people from coming into conflict with wildlife, and vice versa, especially during a pandemic and unstable political situations.

With that being said, you’ll also hear hope and determination from some of the most dedicated people I’ve ever met.

Be sure to hit that follow button because you won’t want to miss any moment of this series.
See full show notes at rewildology.com.
Discover more ways to watch, listen, and interact: https://linktr.ee/Rewildology
Follow Rewildology on Instagram: @Rewildology
A special thanks to Katie Adamson Conservation Fund for their support in this series. You can learn more about KACF by checking out Episode 2 with Dave Johnson. Ep. 2 Show Notes | Finding Your Path with Dave Johnson

#20 | Whatever It Takes for as Long as It Takes: Park Ranger to Entrepreneur with Jesse Weiland Apr 27, 2021

Show notes

This week’s guest, Jesse Weiland, takes me through his rather unique path into becoming a park ranger in the Rocky Mountains, losing three ranger jobs in a row to COVID, and launching an outdoor education company called Rugged Research along with other Rocky Mountain National Park Rangers (@RuggedResearchTV).

If any of you are considering entering the national park service or are currently looking for a role in the conservation field, you will not want to miss this conversation. Jesse’s story is full of hope, determination, and finding a way to monetize his environmental science master’s degree when all other options were lost.

If you’re liking the show, please hit the follow button and share with someone you think would enjoy this episode. Sharing is the best way to help the show grow!

See full show notes at rewi l dology.com.
Discover more ways to watch, listen, and interact: https://linktr.ee/Rewildology
Follow Rewildology on Instagram: @Rewildology

#19 | Conservation Is A People Problem with Kathayoon Khalil, PhD Apr 20, 2021

Show notes

Hello and welcome back to Rewildology! In this episode, I’m chatting with Kathayoon Khalil, PhD. We explore her experiences growing up in an all-white community, how she discovered her love for wildlife conservation through her many summers at the Oregon Zoo and how she gained her parent’s approval for pursuing a path in conservation.

Kathayoon’s PhD research and career are as fascinating as they are important for furthering the conservation education field, and I’ve provided links to her work in the show notes at rewildology.com. She also gives great advice throughout the entire conversation for anyone considering a PhD and those of you that might be struggling with depression.

Don’t forget to subscribe and review wherever you’re listening. Sharing is the best way to help the show grow and I know I couldn’t do it without every single one of you.

See full show notes at rewildology.com
Discover more ways to watch, listen, and interact: https://linktr.ee/Rewildology
Follow Rewildology on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rewildology/

#18 | Birds, Beers & Travel with Sheridan Samano Apr 13, 2021

Show notes

No matter how the past year turned out for you, you’re going to relate to this week’s guest, Sheridan Samano. Sheridan is the co-founder and owner of Reefs to Rockies, a boutique travel company that specializes in creating the best nature and wildlife itineraries. Her goal is to give her clients the greatest nature experiences of their life while having as little impact on the environment as possible. I know that you all are well aware that COVID completely crashed the tourism industry, and we explore what it was like for her to almost lose her business.

Sheridan is the perfect example of “embracing the suck” as Brene Brown would say and created something beautiful out of her new situation. Sheridan is an avid birder and in her newfound downtime, she wrote a book called “Best Birding Hikes – Colorado Front Range“ and continued to grow her popular MeetUp group, “Birding and Beers”. Sheridan drops life bombs throughout the whole conversation and I’m sure she’ll impact you just as much as she impacted me.

We met at her favorite birding spot outside of Boulder, Colorado to record this episode. So you’ll hear some lively birds chirping in the background and a few airplanes flying over head.

If you’re liking the show, please be sure to subscribe so that you can be notified when a new episode drops. I’d really love to hear what you think by leaving a review on wherever you’re listening or commenting on Rewildology’s YouTube channel. I’m also very active on the socials, and you can DM me on Instagram or LinkedIn @rewildology or email at hello@rewildology.com.

See full show notes at rewildology.com
Discover more ways to watch, listen, and interact: https://linktr.ee/Rewildology
Follow Rewildology on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rewildology/

#17 | Rwanda: Dark Past, Bright Future with Anneliese Schenk Apr 06, 2021

Show notes

Today, Anne and I chat in-depth about the 1994 Rwanda genocide. She discovered her passion for the topic when she joined a study abroad trip in undergrad to learn more about the event. She was hooked. It combined her curiosity in human psychology, her love of history, and how to help communities avoid similar atrocities in the future. Don’t worry, there’s a strong conservation undertone throughout the episode. We talk about how human violence affects local wildlife, especially during genocides, and how Rwanda has become a leader in conservation, famous for its local superstar, mountain gorillas.

See full show notes at rewildology.com
Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Y6Q9nof-wsU
Discover more ways to watch, listen, and interact: https://linktr.ee/Rewildology
Follow Rewildology on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rewildology/

#16 | 21st Century Conservation: Protecting Wildlife with Technology with Eric Schmidt Mar 30, 2021

Show notes

In this episode, I’m chatting with Eric Schmidt, who is the Executive Director of Wildlife Protection Solutions. WPS’s mission is to use technology to conserve endangered species and ecosystems, and boy are they good at it. Eric and I chat about how WPS came to be, the technology they’ve deployed around the world, and he even shares a few stories about catching poachers in the act. We also talk in-depth about the poaching industry and why it’s not a straightforward issue. And as in most episodes, we discuss the personal struggles he’s had to overcome and how he’s continuing to move forward in this emotional field.

See full show notes at rewildology.com
Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/5NI6GNVXZKo
Discover more ways to watch, listen, and interact: https://linktr.ee/Rewildology
Follow Rewildology on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rewildology/

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected