Danny Edmunds
Naturalist

João Fontiela was born in 1975 and is a native of S. Miguel Island. He has a degree on Geology obtained at the Azores University. During his college studies, and after, he worked on several projects on coastal geology, geophysics and volcanology, his true passion. From 2005 to 2006 he worked on the Azorean Volcano and Geothermal Observatory as a researcher and went on 2006 to Hawaii, to study monitoring active volcanoes at the Centre for the Study of Active Volcanoes, at Hawaii University, in cooperation with the United States Geological Survey and Hawaiian Volcano Observatory. He is co-author of several scientific papers and maps.

Brigitte Fugger
Ecologist

Brigitte Fugger studied Biology at the University of Heidelberg and completed a masters degree in ecology. She has participated in studies on the breeding biology of egrets and birds of prey, reared birds of prey and reintroduced them into the wild and carried out bird censuses for environmental evaluations. She also guides and organises wildlife expeditions throughout the world. She has published 11 wildlife guides and has written scientific commentaries for wildlife movies.

Sally Gillies
M.Sc, F.R.G.S, P.Geo

Sally began life as a geologist, sweeping the desert for microscopic gold with her dustpan and brush in the Australian outback. After several years melting under the unrelenting desert sun, a change was needed so she headed to the polar reaches of northern Quebec to do a masters thesis. Upon completion of her thesis, Sally roamed the world, first working in the Rockies of the US before heading down to the tropical jungles of Venezuela. But she found her calling in the altiplano of Chile, realising she preferred high latitute or high altitude environments. From then on, she focused on exploring the arctic countries of Russia, Norway, Sweden, and Canada with a brief stint high up in Tibet. She is currently working in the taiga of Canada, flying south occasionally to cruise around the Antarctic Peninsula. All this travelling and exploring in the disguise of a geologist combined with an avid curiosity in most things scientific means Sally will be able to answer your questions about the dramatic volcanic landscape you will experience on this trip!

Ragnar Hauksson

Ragnar is a native of Iceland. He graduated from the University of Iceland in 1981 with Icelandic studies as his main subject and German as by-subject. He speaks English, German and the Scandinavian languages fluently in addition to his mother tounge of Icelandic.

Since graduating from the Iceland Tourist School 1988, Ragnar has had extensive experience as a guide leading tours of various natures throughout his homeland. He has also taken part in a number of voyages on expedition cruise ships in the North Atlantic in the past ten years. – In addition to his guiding work, Ragnar works as a free lance translator of books and articles into Icelandic.

In his discussions, Ragnar has the ability to intertwine the history and the folk and fairy tales of the North Atlantic nations together with everyday life of modern societies in those countries.

Sonja is a marine biologist and has specialized in the ecology of marine mammals. She holds a Masters in Marine Science from the University of Otago in New Zealand, and a PhD from the University of St Andrews in Scotland where she now coordinates and teaches a new Master’s course in marine mammal science. Originally from Cologne, Germany, she has spent the last 14 years exploring places beyond Europe. In New Zealand she spent months along remote beaches studying the behaviour of New Zealand sea lions or wrestled with these and other feisty seals during tagging and census programmes. For her PhD research Sonja initiated an ongoing study of the conservation ecology of elusive dolphins and porpoises in southern Chile. Her fascination with the furry and blubbery ocean predators has taken her on research assignments all around the globe. Sonja is passionate about the outdoors, loves horse-riding when she is landlocked and enjoys scrambling up mountains or running in coastal forests. She is well versed in English, German and Spanish (the latter is a legacy of studying dolphins in rural fishing communities in southern Chile). Since 1999, Sonja has also been working as lecturer, naturalist and expedition leader aboard expedition vessels in the Arctic and Antarctic. The Great White and surrounding islands, such as South Georgia, are undoubtedly among her favourite niches on the planet. She is looking forward to sharing her knowledge of and enthusiasm for these magical places with you.

Johannes Koch
Glaciologist/Geologist

Joe has enjoyed many opportunities to travel before and since completing his PhD in Earth Sciences. Over the past eleven years, his research has taken him to remote areas in British Columbia, the Yukon, Alaska, New Zealand, Sweden, and the southernmost Patagonian Andes in Chile and Argentina. Joe’s research focus is the effects of climate change on alpine environments, specifically glaciers and treelines. He shares his enthusiasm for glaciers as often as possible, with university students, the general public, and while on board the ship. Joe has taught at universities/colleges in Canada and the US, and published his research in numerous international scientific journals. He recently moved to Vancouver Island, Canada, where he spends his time exploring his surroundings on foot, bicycle, in his kayak, and with his 30-year old van.

Gary Kochert
Botany, Geology/Glaciology

Gary has a lifelong interest in natural history and began identifying plants and collecting fossils in primary school. After serving as a Chinese translator in the U.S. Air Force, he received degrees in Geology and Botany from Indiana University. During more than 30 years as a Professor of Botany at the University of Georgia, Gary has taught a wide variety of courses in biology. He has also lectured as a visiting professor in China, Thailand, India, Brazil, Columbia, Uruguay and many other countries, done field geology in the Rocky Mountains, and has led private tours to a variety of African and Asian countries. In addition to natural history, Gary is fascinated by history, languages, and literature.

Hannah Lawson
Expedition Leader/ Mammologist

Hannah Lawson spent her childhood watching wildlife, drawing pictures and looking after a multitude of pets. After a period living in Israel (at school, in the army, painting murals and watching the raptor migration) she returned to Britain to read zoology at Liverpool University. To get close to big mammals, she spent a summer in Kenya looking at the intestinal parasites of black rhinoceros and gorillas. She has also worked as the artist in residence at Chester Zoo, a researcher in Uganda and as an illustrator for various conservation projects. She has also completed a masters in Natural History Illustration at the Royal College of Art in London. Her love for nature has taken her around the globe, watching, drawing, photographing and learning about the creatures she has encountered.

James Lowen
Naturalist

James Lowen is a wildlife writer, editor and photographer who has followed his passion for nature to remote locations all over the globe and now lives in Argentina. He has contributed to a dozen books and—following several tropical forest expeditions—has written more than 20 scientific papers on birds and their conservation.

In a previous incarnation, James was a suit-clad senior civil servant with the UK Government where he developed climate change policy in the United Nations, negotiated European Union environmental law in Brussels, and acted as a mediator for sparring British politicians in London. Nowadays, however, he is rarely seen without binoculars around neck and telephoto lens in hand. The suits hang in the wardrobe, unworn.

Jim Payne
Musician

For over 20 years, Jim has been a professional performing artist focusing on Newfoundland’s traditional music.  Hailing from Notre Dame Bay, he is one of the province’s most prolific songwriters.  Jim plays many instruments including guitar, accordion, mandolin and tin whistle and is a singer, storyteller, actor, step dancer and teacher of traditional Newfoundland set and square dances.

Fernando Da Silva
Azores Culture

After a thirty year career in Air Traffic Control, Fernando is now fully enjoying his lifetime passion, the Azorean nature and wildlife. An experienced diver and underwater photographer born in Santa Maria Island, he has extensive knowledge about the Azores Archipelago in most of its aspects. Fluent in six languages, he has also translated and published a number of books on whaling, an activity once practiced in the Azores islands and which still presents a lot of historical charisma and interest.

John Sparks
Ornithologist

John was born in Colchester, Essex and graduated in Zoology and Marine Biology at London University, and obtained a Ph.D. in bird behaviour.  In 1965, he joined the BBC’s illustrious Natural History Unit in Bristol as a Radio Producer, but then moved into television, eventually being one of the Producers of Sir David Attenborough’s bench mark series, “Life on Earth”.  He has produced many wildlife films including the award winning series Realms of the Russian Bear about the natural history of the former USSR and BBC-2’s flagship series “The Natural World” and has written a dozen books.

Jane Sproull Thomson
Art History and Culture

Jane Sproull Thomson teaches at the University of Calgary and the Glenbow Museum, and is Curator of Art at Red Deer College. She is a Research Associate and Life Member with the Arctic Institute of North America, is a past Curator of Ethnology with the Glenbow Museum, Calgary, and served as both Archaeology Curator and Chief Curator of the Newfoundland and Labrador Museums system. Jane writes and lectures in cultural history, archaeology and art history to school, college, university and vocational groups, and has lectured on cruises around the North Atlantic, Arctic and Britain for the past fifteen years. With over twenty years of museum and consulting experience she is a recognized expert in the field of heritage interpretation and planning and has had a key role in planning new heritage and tourism facilities throughout Canada.

Ian Tamblyn
Historian / Entertainer

Ian Tamblyn is a musician , playwright , producer and wilderness guide.  He has recorded several albums and countless soundtracks for theatre and film. Though he sees himself primarily as a songwriter , good fortune and serendipity have lead him to other fields of creative endeavour  and, to far- flung places on the planet . Firmly convinced that everything ties in with everything, Tamblyns’ songs reflect the places he has seen, and people he has met on this journey.   Creative diversity and interdisciplinary connections have been central to his work.

Callum Thomson
Historian/Archaeologist

Callum Thomson spent his early years on a small farm in the Western Isles of Scotland before emigrating to Canada to manage a dairy farm.  He later completed degrees in archaeology and anthropology, and has spent the last 30 years as a museum curator, government archaeologist and consulting archaeologist specializing in the circumpolar and North Atlantic region. Callum was recently appointed as a Research Associate at the Arctic Institute of North America. Since 1995, he has combined his love of the north, its peoples, archaeology and the sea as a lecturer and zodiac driver on small ship voyages in the Azores, the British Isles and Norway, across the Atlantic to the Faroe Islands, Iceland and Greenland, throughout the Canadian Arctic and eastern seaboard and into the Russian Far East. For the past four years he has extended his experience into Antarctic and Subantarctic waters and the history of exploration of this region. Between voyages, he can be found doing archaeological field work in the Canadian arctic or renovating the cottage he and his spouse/fellow lecturer Jane built on the Northumberland Strait, Nova Scotia.

Megan Tierney
Marine Biology

Megan’s background in Marine Biology and Zoology has provided her with the amazing opportunity to spend five summers and one winter working with Southern Elephant Seals, Royal Penguins and Adélie Penguins at both sub-Antarctic Macquarie Island and on the Antarctic continent itself. Megan grew up in northern New South Wales in Australia, with a keen interest in the marine world and originally studied in north Queensland. She currently resides in Tasmania where she is completing her PhD on the diet of Adélie penguins, work which she hopes will assist with the management of the krill fishery and the Southern Ocean ecosystem. When not down south, she enjoys rock-climbing, sea-kayaking, bushwalking and skiing.

Ursula Tscherter
Marine Biology

Josef is Swiss and well familiar with nature, be it skiing, rock climbing, trekking or alpine mountain and glacier tours. Diving in lakes, rivers, the sea and his interest in boating have been the basis for a long-standing passion for wildlife watching under and above water all year round. During his professional career as electronics engineer and managing director of his own company he widely travelled and developed a strong interest in the interrelation of natural phenomena and urban influences. Being an enthusiastic diving instructor and licensed scientific diver his activities took him to many destinations. Collaboration in research projects on sharks and their behaviour showed the complex correlation between economic interests, exploiting natural resources and sustainable environmental protection. Other projects include underwater archaeology and hydrographical measurements. In recent years, he has focussed his activities on video and photo projects on wildlife in Polar Regions, such as Greenland, Iceland and Svalbard, including diving und trekking. Combining technology, wildlife watching and active co-operation in research projects have become his new challenge.