Chris Breen, Managing Director

Chris was lucky enough to visit Zambia on a number of occasions in the early 1980's and it was this that entrenched within him a love of wildlife, wilderness, photography and travel. Chris managed two small bush camps in the heart of Zambia's South Luangwa National Park and after prising himself away returned to the UK to work in one of the UK's leading travel agencies tailor-making round-the-world holidays.

The draw of wildlife was too much and after leading numerous trips for another UK tour operator Chris set up Wildlife Worldwide with David Mills in 1992. Chris has travelled through South and Central America, much of North America, Asia, Australasia and the Pacific however his greatest love is for East and Southern Africa which he knows in depth and returns to frequently. His greatest passion now is travelling with his wife Nicky and their three young daughters.

Chris's love of wildlife and approach to wildlife viewing is neatly summed up in an article written by his good friend Simon Barnes of the Times which is reproduced here by their kind permission.

David Mills, Director

David established Wildlife Worldwide in partnership with Chris Breen in 1992. Although trained as a solicitor, David is addicted to travel, mountains and wildlife. He has a wealth of experience in Africa and still more in India and the Himalaya, plus an extensive knowledge of their natural history.

For two years he trekked independently through every region of the Himalaya, studying and photographing their wildlife. Since then he has written articles, contributed to books, and led and organised many treks there and in Africa.

Other travels have taken him throughout south-east Asia, Australia and Europe, as well as to parts of the Middle East. His interests focus on birds and mammals, and the history and culture of the Himalaya.

Isabel Ashworth, Wildlife Consultant

Whilst taking a year out between school and university, Isabel worked on a farm in Kenya, caught the 'Africa Bug' and developed a passion for travel. Following a degree in Zoology she saved up to go back packing around the world for thirteen months where she travelled extensively in Australasia and South East Asia.

Isabel then lived in Africa for two years where she worked as an overland tour guide leading trips all over Southern and Eastern Africa. Her most memorable experiences include trekking the mountain gorillas in Uganda, being petrified by hippos grazing at night within inches of her tent at Lake Baringo, marvelling at the wildebeest migration in the Serengeti and tracking leopard on foot in South Luangwa National Park.

Isabel really hopes to travel to Latin America one day and full fill a life long dream of visiting the Galapagos Islands, revelling in the fantastic Patagonian scenery and trekking the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu.

Clementine Gent, Wildlife Consultant

Having been brought up on a farm in the English countryside, Clem has always had a passion for wildlife and the environment. This led her to complete a degree in Zoology from the University of Edinburgh from where she graduated in 2004.

Clem spent her gap year teaching in a school in Kenya, travelling in Tanzania and Zanzibar as well as working in a safari lodge in Uganda. She has also spent the last three summers in Greece on various conservation projects; working with Sea Turtles, Chameleons and Birds.

Her most memorable experience so far has been seeing Sperm whales in Kaikoura, New Zealand and swimming with dolphins.

Stewart Oak, Website Coordinator

Stewart's fascination for combining his passion for travel with wildlife was planted on a Kenya holiday in his teens. His fondest memory from that safari, was sitting to breakfast at a lodge in the Amboseli National park and watching a seemingly never-ending stream of buffalo arrive to drink at the waterhole just metres away from the balcony.

Stewart has worked in the travel industry for over 7 years now, and has also spent a year travelling and working in Australia. From snorkelling on the Great Barrier Reef , Koala spotting in Noosa National Park, to the ubiquitous goannas, kangaroos and wallabies, the wildlife Down Under did not fail to impress.

For combining culture and spectacular scenery with nature, the Far East is his favourite. Highlights have included the Giant Pandas of the Wolong Nature Reserve in China, Periyar National Park in India, Yala National Park in Sri Lanka and the Himalayas from Tibet and North India. Stewart has most recently visited the Amazon basin seeing Colombia, Brasil and Peru.

Chris Osborn, Wildlife Consultant

Chris caught the travel bug after spending a year in Australia after leaving school. Since then he has travelled extensively throughout the world combining this with his other passion, wildlife.

He has recently visited the Galapagos Islands, Borneo and the mountain gorillas in Uganda. He lists being face to face with a silverback as one of the highlights of his life. He has also been to Japan, Russia and Madagascar.

He hopes in the future to continue visiting unusual new places, which have yet been touched by mass tourism and discover all types of weird and wonderful wildlife.

Chris is currently on a sabbatical break travelling in New Zealand and Central America.

Estelle Somers, Wildlife Consultant

Having been born and brought up in beautiful Kwazulu Natal, South Africa, Estelle's love for nature began at an early age. She and her family made regular visits to Kruger National Park, St Lucia Wetlands and Hluhluwe Game Reserve, which gave her a fascination for all wildlife.

More recently, Estelle has travelled extensively throughout Peninsular Malaysia and Malaysian Borneo where some of her many highlights included viewing Orang-utan in their natural habitat, tracking down the bizarre looking Proboscis Monkey and getting up close to the less publicised inhabitants of the rainforest such as giant ants, the Brookes Birdwing Butterfly and unique flora including carnivorous pitcher plants.

Estelle also spent a year driving over 30,000 kilometres around the coastline of Australia. This was an epic trip, which left her with a vast amount of knowledge and an ongoing passion for the country. She was amazed by the contrasting landscapes of rainforest, reef and bush and by the assortment of unusual creatures they gave home to - Echidna, Possums, Platypus and a wide array of beautiful parrots being among a very long list of favourites.

Last year, Estelle visited Namibia and Costa Rica - two very contrasting countries! Namibia was a short trip but gave her the opportunity to experience the vast amount of space, never ending blue skies and fascinating landscapes it has to offer. She was impressed by the abundance of wildlife at Etosha National Park and is hoping to return to Namibia in the future to explore further. Costa Rica offered a very different scene with lush tropical rainforests and active volcanoes dominating the landscape. Highlights of the trip included watching from the base of Arenal Volcano whilst it erupted and discovering some of the weird and wonderful mammal species the country has to offer - the slow moving Two-toed Sloth, the tree living Mexican Hairy Porcupine and the now endangered Squirrel Monkey.

In the not to distant future Estelle is hoping to visit Papua New Guinea and also return to South Africa.

Mel Kinder, Operations Assistant

Mel's love of travelling was nurtured in her childhood by her father, who travelled extensively through his work and would always return with eagerly anticipated stories and presents from each country.

Mels first independent trip (other than foreign exchanges at school) was to Egypt at the age of 15 to stay with an Egyptian family and experience the bustle and splendour of Cairo. Since then she has enjoyed visiting as many different countries as possible with the highlight so far of a marvellous honeymoon trip to Zambia and Zimbabwe, including white water rafting and canoeing down the Zambezi.

Mel worked as a language school Paris Tour Guide in the summer holidays from college in Brighton, where she studied IT. After nearly 10 years in the IT industry she then gained a first class degree in design from Winchester School of Art.

Since having children, travel plans have been reduced though not abandoned. A trip to Arizona and the Grand Canyon this year provided the whole family with an unforgettable experience. Mel would love to travel to India and see tigers and ultimately, when the children have left home, maybe travel the world by motorbike in the Ewan McGregor/Charlie Boorman Long Way Round style!

Margy Cunningham, Company Accountant

Margy Cunningham is the company accountant who joined the company in January 2001. Margy read a Business Studies degree at Thames Polytechnic with an Honours in Accounting. She has previously worked in large companies, having qualified as a Chartered Management Accountant back in 1988 but faced a different challenge at Wildlife Worldwide where there had been a lack of accounting expertise. She has successfully introduced new systems and continues to research ways in which we can improve our operations.

Margy has been lucky enough to join the company on a couple of trips including Kenya and Canada. She works part-time as she has two young children to keep her busy whilst not at work! In the past Margy has travelled quite extensively including trips to China, Hong Kong, India, Thailand and Australia.

Sarah Williams, Wildlife Consultant

Sarah's thirst for travel was first nurtured on a school trip and despite extensive travelling in the intervening years; the thrill of discovery has not been quenched.

Having fallen in love with Africa and keen to understand and acquire a greater appreciation of the flora and wildlife, Sarah completed a game ranger course and absorbed a huge amount of knowledge. She followed this with a period of work as a volunteer on a conservation project which was primarily concerned with the monitoring of Leopard and Elephant in the newly formed Trans Frontier National Park, encompassing areas of Botswana, South Africa and Zimbabwe.

She found camping on the banks of the Limpopo with no electricity and waking each morning to the sounds of the bush, to be about as good as it gets.

Although Sarah spent many years living in Australia, it was only on a recent trip that she fulfilled a long held ambition to travel along the west coast from Perth to Darwin. She found the area, especially in the remote far north, to have some of the most breathtaking scenery she had ever seen.

Sarah's future travel plans include South America, Gabon, Madagascar and the list continues...