Home  More info About Biosphere
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Biosphere Expeditions is an international non-profit wildlife volunteer organisation, founded in 1999, that runs conservation expeditions aka conservation holidays for environmental volunteers all across the globe.
The term "Biosphere" was coined by Russian scientist Vladimir Vernadsky in 1929 and is defined as "the part of the Earth's surface and atmosphere occupied by living things". This encompassing term, we believe, is a fair reflection of our mission. We hope with our conservation expeditions to make a small but significant difference to our biosphere and at the same time bring enjoyment and fulfillment to our environment volunteer teams. We do not run tours or just wildlife/conservation holidays, but organise real conservation expeditions that have a real biological conservation content and thus come with a "feel-good" factor for our wildlife volunteers, who can be secure in the knowledge that they not only had an exciting conservation holiday with a purpose, but also a productive time in conserving part of our global natural heritage.
Founder & Managing Director
Biosphere Expeditions was founded in 1999 by Dr. Matthias Hammer. Born in Germany, he went to school there, before joining the Army at 18, and serving for several years amongst other units with the German Parachute Regiment. After active service he came to the UK and was educated at St Andrews, Oxford and Cambridge. During his time at university he either organised or was involved in the running of several expeditions, some of which were conservation expeditions (for example to the Brazil Amazon and Madagascar), whilst others were mountaineering/climbing expeditions (for example to the Russian Caucasus, the Alps or the Rocky Mountains). With Biosphere Expeditions he has led teams all over the globe. He is a qualified wilderness medical officer, ski instructor, mountain leader, divemaster and survival skills instructor. Once a rower on the international circuit, he is now an amateur marathon runner and Ironman triathlete.
Director
Kathy Wilden joined Biosphere Expeditions in 2000. She was born and educated in England. Since gaining her BA in Business at Bristol, she has worked in sustainable development and regeneration for a variety of public sector organisations, most recently the Regional Development Agency for the East of England where she was responsible for developing and supporting partnership working to establish sustainable development activities. At the main office Kathy is also one of two Directors and is in charge of the UK organisation. She has travelled extensively, led expeditions and recceed projects all over the world. She is a qualified off-road driver, divemaster, marathon runner, keen walker, sailor, diver and all round nature enthusiast.
Operations Manager Germany
Claudia Krejci took over the running of the German office in 2000. Claudia was born in Germany and educated at Tübingen University in educational sciences, English literature and geography. For her MA she specialised in environmental education and experiential learning. From her early teenage years, she has led youth groups for different organisations. Her main research interests are centred around the human/environment interface. She has been on expedition in Ukraine, Slovakia and Azores and holds Off-Road Vehicle Operations and Expeditions Skills certificates.
Operations Manager North America
Erin McCloskey was born and educated in Canada. She received her BSc with distinction from the University of Alberta in Environmental and Conservation Sciences majoring in Conservation Biology and Management. Erin has been an active campaigner for the protection of endangered species and spaces collaborating with various NGOs and has been working in publishing as a writer and editor for nature and travel books and journals. Since 2000 she has been professionally involved in numerous conservation projects in locations including Croatia, Thailand, Argentina, Mexico, Canada and throughout the Mediterranean. Erin is happiest to be out in nature in a canoe or on her horse. Erin joined Biosphere Expeditions in 2005.
Operations Assistant France
Pascal Tchengang was born in Paris, but his roots go back to Guadeloupe and Cameroon. He is a business school graduate, living and working in Paris, and he has travelled extensively all around the world. He first discovered Biosphere Expeditions on a French TV documentary and went on expedition to Namibia. In the Paris agency Pascal is in charge of communication and administration, but he also joins expeditions in the field whenever his time allows.
President of the "Friends of Biosphere Expeditions"
Martyn Roberts is the President of the "Friends", a society for those who would like to stay in touch with Biosphere Expeditions and involved in our work. Martyn is a seasoned expeditioner (he has been on expedition to the Altai, Namibia, Slovakia, Sri Lanka and the Azores) and a critical friend.
Expedition Leader
Clare Fothergill graduated from the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, with an MSc in Environmental Impact Assessment. She has led groups into the field to places such as Lesotho, South Africa and Zimbabwe, working for organisations such as Outward Bound. Clare’s experience in co-ordinating logistics in remote locations is drawn from her involvement in organising a major international adventure challenge in the South Pacific. Her interest in the natural environment means she is happiest when being active in the outdoors, be it mountaineering, mountain biking or climbing. She has travelled extensively in Europe, Africa, India and the South Pacific and has led expeditions to Peru and Namibia for Biosphere Expeditions.
Expedition Leader
David Moore was born and educated in England and now lives in the UK and France. He graduated in French and German and studied Japanese while working for two years in Tokyo. His expedition/group leading experience began with Japanese educational trips in Australia and he has since worked in the Caribbean and throughout Europe for companies such as P&O, Explorica and Alyson Adventures. David joined Biosphere Expeditions in 2003 and has led expeditions to the Azores, Namibia, Peru and Brazil. He is also active in the running of Biosphere Expeditions operations in France together with Pascal Tchengang.
Expedition leader
Pere Morera was born in Barcelona and educated in Spain and the United States. He graduated in animal biology and physiology, and then focused his postgraduate studies on marine mammals, specialising in cetaceans. Since leaving his native Catalonia a few years ago, Pere has developed his career as a wildlife biologist and naturalist in several countries including northern Norway, Iceland, Canada and Sweden, combining his passion for the animal world and outdoor activities. As a freelance writer and photographer his work has been published in magazines such as National Geographic. Pere joined Biosphere Expeditions in 2004 as part of the scientists team on the Azores expedition, and since then has been to Peru and the Azores for Biosphere Expeditions.
Expedition leader
Peter Schuette was born in Germany. He studied geography and cartography at the University Bremen (Germany) and Göteborg universitet (Sweden) and geoinformatics in Salzburg (Austria). He has worked in several mapping and remote sensing projects all over the world. In 2004 and 2005 Peter was involved in wildlife conservation projects in Namibia, where he joined Biosphere Expeditions as member of the team of local scientists and was promptly bitten by the wildlife expeditions bug. He has travelled in Scandinavia, Iceland, Southern Africa, North America and Central Asia.Peter holds First Aid and Off-Road driving certificates and has been to Namibia, Altai and Oman for Biosphere Expeditions.
Expedition leader
Jon Shrives was born and educated on Jersey in the Channel Islands, where he developed a love of diving and marine biology from an early age. He graduated from Southampton University with a BSc in Biology, specializing in behavioural ecology, evolutionary ecology and marine tropical ecology. As part of his honours thesis research project, he travelled out to the remote Wakatobi islands of Sulawesi, Indonesia, and was bitten by the ‘expedition bug’ and diving science. Since then he has worked with several NGOs and ecotourism companies, teaching marine ecology and SCUBA diving. He has supervised several undergraduate research projects and led marine ecology programs in Indonesia, Honduras, Egypt and the UK. His experience varies from providing logistic management of a live-aboard research vessel, to completing baseline surveys for international organisations such as Reef Check and acting as head scientist to a team of five scientists and over a hundred volunteers in Honduras.
Expedition leader
Andrew Stronach was born in Scotland, studied Engineering and then flew aircraft for the Royal Air Force before working in wildlife. Surveys of wild plants, birds and marine mammals led him into anti-wildlife crime work that has become his passion and taken him all over Britain and Cyprus. He has taken part in expeditions to Belize, Honduras and Sulawesi, surveying coral reefs and rainforest. Due to a rare allergy to offices, Andrew is almost always found outdoors, whether it is working in the highlands of Scotland, trekking in some remote national park on one of his many foreign travels or dangling from a rope on a rock face.
Trainee Expedition Leader
Ronald Seipold graduated from the University of Berlin with a Masters Degree in Business Administration and then spent several years working in different branches of industries leading organisational and IT related projects. He then decided to go for a total change of career & lifestyle and focus on his passion for travelling, wildlife and the outdoors. After a 100 day intensive training course with COLT (Canadian Outdoor Leader Training) he qualified as an outdoor leader, radio operator, sea kayak and canoeing guide, backcountry first-aider, etc.. Ronald then began leading and instructing groups in the outdoors primarily in Scandinavia and Canada as well as working for outdoor camps and lodges. Ronald joined Biosphere Expeditions in 2007. His favourite activities are mountaineering, canoeing and climbing.
Honduras: Italo Bonilla (left) recently appeared with Cameron Diaz on MTV, so he is now a well-known movie star  . He is also a biologist, PADI dive instructor and Emergency First Response instructor. He has worked for the United States Geological Survey and within several reef survey methodologies, amongst them Reef Check and on many expeditions in Belize and Honduras.
Slovakia: Dr. Slavomir Find’o, is an associate of the Forestry Research Institute in Zvolen, Slovakia. His Master’s degree in Forestry is from the Forestry University of Zvolen and his PhD from the Slovak Academy of Sciences. He has been researching large ungulate impact upon forest vegetation since 1976 and lately large carnivores, particularly wolves, in the Slovak Carpathian mountains. He has introduced modern research methods into the study of wildlife in Slovakia (e.g. radio-tracking) and has made a considerable contribution to wolf conservation. Over the last few years he has also been involved in resolving the problem of large predators’ depredation on livestock. He is the director of the Carpathian Wildlife Society, which he established in 1995.
Spain: Oscar Díez is the president and a founding member of the Foundation for the Conservation of the Bearded Vulture (Fundación para la Conservación del Quebrantahuesos or FCQ in Spanish). Oscar was born in 1970 in the Spanish Pyrenees. An ornithologist by training, he has been researching Alpine birds (capercaillie and snow partridge) and birds of prey, primarily vultures. He has introduced modern research methods into the study of wildlife in Spain (e.g. radio-tracking) and has made a considerable contribution to lammergeyer conservation in the Pyrenees. At the moment the focus of his work is in environmental education within an awareness-raising programme of the FCQ using different means, informing people and raising their awareness about the need to conserve biodiversity in order to achieve changes in attitude, understand environmental problems and analyse possible solutions. A tireless traveller, Oscar has traversed the mountains of Asia, Africa and Europe to research the status and distribution of lammergeyers around the world.
Brazil: Dr. Marcelo Mazzolli was born in Brazil and graduated in Biology in 1992, with a master’s degree from the University of Durham, UK. His Ph.D. in ecology, obtained in Brazil, was on the effects of human occupation on the extinction of large mammals. He has devoted his career to the study of large mammals, particularly the puma and jaguar, but has had many other outdoors experiences. He was a professional jungle guide in the Amazon forest in 1986 at age 21. He has attended many national and international workshops, and published relevant articles. His studies have made his work well known, and early in his career he was invited to be a member of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Cat Specialist Group with one of his projects listed as a priority in the World Wide Cat Action Plan. He has travelled extensively, living in the United States and Peru, and has surveyed lions in Botswana.
Oman: Dr. Andrew Spalton came to Oman in 1987 to work on the reintroduction of the Arabian oryx. After six years at the project field headquarters in central Oman he left for Aberdeen (Scotland) to complete his PhD on the ecology of the oryx. Returning to Oman in 1995, Andrew took up a new post in Muscat. While continuing to help oversee the oryx project, he undertook new work with the Arabian leopard and Arabian tahr. He set up the Arabian Leopard Survey which collected the first information on the ecology of the highly endangered Arabian leopards.
Azores: Lisa Steiner graduated in Marine Science in 1988 at University of Miami and joined the IFAW (International Fund for Animal Welfare) cetacean research vessel “Song of the Whale” two weeks later, which at the time was based in the Azores. Since then Lisa has spent all her summers working on cetaceans around the Azores and at other times has also studied them in Alabama, Hawaii, Cape Verdes, Bermuda, Scotland and Madeira. She has published numerous research papers on cetaceans. Chris Beer, Lisa’s husband, is a marine engineer and qualified yachtmaster. He has worked on square rig ships with Operation Raleigh (now Raleigh International) and on the “Song of the Whale”, where he met Lisa. Chris has also worked for Encounter Overland, leading expeditions from London to Kathmandu and back, around India, Tibet and the Middle East. He has also published research papers together with Lisa.
Altai: Volodya Tytar was born in 1951 and his Master’s Degree in Biology is from Kiev State University. At that time he first experienced the Altai mountains and wrote a paper on the ecology of the brown bear in the Altai. He then pursued a career as an invertebrate zoologist before shifting towards large mammals and management planning for nature conservation. Apart from the Altai, he has worked with Biosphere Expeditions on wolves, vipers and jerboas on the Ukraine Black Sea coast and has been involved in surveying and conservation measures all his professional life.
Office of the Adviser for Conservation
Diwan of Royal Court
Oman
Fundación Cayos Cochinos
Honduras Coral Reef Fund
Whale Watch Azores
Department of Oceanography and Fisheries
(Departamento de Oceanografia e Pescas)
University of the Azores
Foundation for Sustainable Altai
WWF Russia
Fundación para la Conservación del Quebrantahuesos
Lammergeyer Conservation Foundation
Spain
Carpathian Wildlife Society
Slovakia
Projeto Puma
Brazil
Reef Check
USA
Wildlife Community &
Development Fund
Namibia
Our corporate partners are crucial in reducing our running and expedition costs (for example by providing Land Rovers, Motorola two-way radios and cellular phones, and expedition equipment from Cotswold Outdoor, Globetrotter Ausrüstung and REI) so that we can spend the lion's share of two-thirds or more of your expedition contribution directly on the project in hand.
Land Rover, makers of the original outdoor vehicle, provide essential offroad expedition vehicles, sponsorship and other back-up. [more]
Motorola, makers of radio and other communications equipment, provide all important rugged and reliable communication tools such as handheld and vehicle radios, mobile and satellite phones, as well as sponsorship and other communications and logistical in-country back-up.
Official equipment supplier Germany & Eurozone: Globetrotter Ausrüstung is Germany's largest and most reputable outdoor retailer - their "Handbücher" (catalogues) are legendary. They supply Biosphere Expeditions with essential expedition equipment and also assist our expedition team members from Germany and the Eurozone in kitting themselves out for the expeditions.
Official equipment supplier UK: Cotswold Outdoor, the UK's premier retailer of specialist outdoor clothing and equipment, is Biosphere Expeditions' official equipment supplier for the UK. They also assist our UK-based expedition team members with purchasing their expedition gear.
Official equipment supplier North America: REI, the biggest co-operative in the USA and specialist outdoor clothing and equipment retailer, is Biosphere Expeditions' official equipment supplier for North America. They also assist our North America-based expedition team members with purchasing their expedition gear.
Buff® is the original brand of an innovative family of multifunctional headwear that offers technical performance, protection from the elements and a stylish appearance for a wide range of outdoor activities. The beauty of Buff® Headwear is simplicity – one garment serves many functions. Among its many uses, Buff® serves as a beanie, headband, neck gaiter, balaclava, pirate-style cap, hairband, helmet liner, scarf, sun, wind or dust screen, bandana or wristband. As well as being an ultra-cool sponsor, Buff naturally also supplies Biosphere Expeditions with Buffs
Biosphere Expeditions started in 1999 as one of those famous "in the shower" ideas. Our founder, Matthias Hammer, with an Army background behind him, some student expeditions under his belt and disillusioned with the ivory tower mentality of academia, was looking for a way to combine his training as a biologist with some real-life, hands-on conservation work. When someone suggested "why don't you take people on expedition with you", the idea for Biosphere Expeditions was born in the shower one day soon after.
It took a year to set up Biosphere Expeditions as a non-profit orgnisation in the UK and another year to recruit the first expedition team. The first expedition ran in 2001 to Poland, studied wolves of the Carpathian mountains and was instrumental in establishing a wolf hunting ban there. Demand was high and many expeditioners, once bitten by the bug, came back for more, so the expedition portfolio quickly increased to include Peru and Namibia, two expeditions still running today.
More expeditions were added, the Friends of Biosphere Expeditions came into being, corporate partners were found, awards won, and the media took a great interest in Biosphere Expeditions. The German office opened in 2002, followed by France in 2004 and North America in 2006.
In 2007 this revamped website was launched and Biosphere Expeditions diversified to offer 2-week expeditions and 1-week projects across the globe, as well as taster weekends in the UK and Germany.
And recently all this was rewarded in style by winning the "Best Volunteering Orangisation" award at the internationally acclaimed "First Choice Responsible Tourism Awards" in London and coming in "Highly Commended" in the "Best for Protection of Endangered Species". To date Biosphere Expeditions has sent thousands of people into the field and continues to grow. We are proud to send people from all over the world on expeditions across the globe, making a small but significant contribution to conserving our biosphere.
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