Meet Instructor Dylan

“I started getting into conservation work around 2015. At the time, I was still in high school and was trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. I had wanted to be a wildlife ranger since I was a kid, but at that point, I was also considering becoming a marine biologist, specializing in sharks. I remember being in class when I heard that Nola, a northern white rhino at the San Diego Safari Park, had died, leaving only three northern white rhinos remaining in Kenya. The Safari Park was holding an event focused on rhinos, including Nola, so I ditched school and spent the day there instead. It was there that I was referred to a Facebook page called Fight with Mike, which would eventually form into GCF, and I’ve stuck with it ever since.

My professional background is in the electric bike industry. I work in production, research and development, and quality control for an E-bike company based in California.

Wildlife conservation is important to me because I want our world to be filled with thriving life. I don’t want to live in a world where most of the species I grew up with are extinct, and I can only see them in museums. My personal philosophy is that we are custodians of this world, and it is our responsibility to care for it.

My experience with GCF has led me to so many fulfilling opportunities. I started with the basics of tracking and have worked my way up to becoming an instructor. The day after I graduated high school, I took a GCF tracking class as my first step outside of volunteering at events. Over time, and with a lot of hard work, I was able to travel to South Africa and help train rangers. It has been extremely fulfilling, along with learning and working on different reserves. It’s the small things that mean the most: seeing a baby elephant being born, waking up to bird calls, encountering all kinds of creatures, and experiencing random moments that regular tourists don’t normally get to see. Watching elephants is always worth it, as is being able to walk in the bush and experience a sense of peace.

As for funny or strange things that happen in the field, there’s no end. I’ve had a camel spider on my face while I was sleeping, and a boomslang was right above me while I was using the toilet. I also got to hold one in a container in the car while Mike (Veale) was driving. I tracked a male elephant that ended up circling around and destroying my camp, knocking down a tree right where I was sleeping. I’ve had a jackal steal my Jetboil and randomly drop it near a road on a reserve, where a game viewer found it. I still have it, and it has the teeth marks to prove it. There are a million stories that could be told about the recruits and all the crazy things that happen in Africa. In the end, it makes every day interesting and certainly not boring.

My advice is to keep trying and not give up if you really want to get into this field. It’s hard and can be incredibly frustrating at times. Often, it can feel like an impossible task to do good, as it seems there is no end to the problems facing both wildlife and people. My thought is that it’s better to try and do something than to complain and do nothing.”