Expedition Leaders
Conservation Expedition in Kenya

Graham Corti - Country Director - Kenya

Graham Corti was born in Switzerland but grew up in the UK and obtained his degree in Zoology at the University of Southampton. Pursuing his interests in mammalian ecology and behaviour, Graham undertook his undergraduate thesis in Fuerteventura, Canary Islands, supporting a small charity and local stakeholders by conducting research on the behavioural ecology of a feral cat population over a two month period. Following university, he sought to gain field research experience in East Africa, volunteering on a conservation research expedition in South-central Tanzania for 10 weeks, after which he was offered employment and stayed for a further three and a half years. In addition to learning Kiswahili, his time in Tanzania provided him with a broad and varied range of research experience in forest, savanna woodland, grassland and wetland habitats. Graham was able to pursue his principal interests by initiating the first long term research project on Africa’s largest and most conservation critical population of the little known puku antelope. In addition, Graham was involved in research projects as diverse as butterfly, amphibian and small mammal biodiversity, bat netting and wetland bird surveys, large mammal tracking and boat based crocodile surveys, vegetation surveys and freshwater fisheries monitoring. With nearly four years of expedition experience in East Africa, during which time he delivered training and assessment for qualifications in Tropical Habitat Conservation, as well as two years management experience from the business sector prior to his return to East Africa, Graham joined GVI at the start of the Kenya expedition as Expedition Manager. He is a qualified Emergency First Response Instructor and holds the RYA level 2 power boat handling certification. He also holds the PADI open water certification, has completed basic freefall parachute training and trekked to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro. ‘I am excited to be back in East Africa and involved in a research programme that is providing direct benefit to both local communities and national stakeholders. I am overawed by the enthusiasm with which we have been received in Kenya and have every confidence in the value of our expedition programme and in what we have achieved already.’

Shafii Vuyaa - Boat Captain and Assistant Marine Officer

Shafii was born and raised in Mkwiro village, Wasini island, where GVI Kenya has its expedition base. Not surprisingly his wealth of knowledge and experience regarding the local marine environment and the community we serve have proven invaluable. Shafii first earned his livelihood from the Indian Ocean as a fisherman. He went on to attain his boat driving qualification with his coxswain’s licence, and moved in to tourism captaining dolphin watching safaris in and around the Kisite Mpunguti Marine Protected Area. He joined GVI on its arrival in Kenya as boat captain in January 2006, and has since embarked on training in cetaceans and research protocol, becoming an ever more valuable member of the staff team with each expedition, now assisting in the training of expedition members. Shafii lives in Mkwiro with his wife and two young daughters.

Alex Mayers - Base Manager & Community Education Officer

Alex joined GVI in 2007 as Community Officer. He is a qualified TEFL teacher with over 4 years of experience working with all ages from kindergarten and primary school to university students, adult classes and pensioner lessons. He has worked in countries and cultures as diverse as Japan, USA, Mexico, New Zealand and Turkey. More recently, after teaching secondary education in the UK, he joined a GVI project in South Africa, working as an environmental educator for South African National Parks for 12 months. Alex helped manage a residential environmental education centre, taking students on interpretive bush walks, as well outdoor activities such as canoeing and abseiling. He also working with neighbouring communities and schools to help build local capacity and improve environmental education. Alex holds a Sociology degree from Bristol University, is an advanced open water diver, a qualified EFR instructor and speaks conversational Japanese and Turkish.

Amdeep Sanghera - Community Development Officer

Amdeep comes from England and joined the GVI Kenya team in April as Community Development Officer with responsibility for overseeing our Satellite Camp programme, developing alternative livelihoods with communities of former poachers on the edge of Tsavo West National Park. He completed his research master’s course in Environment and Development from Lancaster University (UK), with a distinction pass. This course involved a 3-month overseas placement, which he spent in Ghana where he carried out research to determine the livelihood impacts of a turtle conservation project on rural residents. Prior to this Amdeep was involved as an assistant researcher at Monkey Mia in Western Australia, looking at the behavior of food-provisioned bottlenose dolphins. He also spent 4 months as a field assistant on Project Eden, radio-tagging and trapping native West Australian species for research abundance purposes. Alongside his extensive experience he also has a BSc in Mathematics, is TEFL certified, and has his RYA Powerboat Level 2 qualification.

Emma Hankinson - Terrestrial Officer

Emma first joined GVI in Kenya as an Expedition Member in January 2007, becoming an intern the following expedition and assuming the role of Marine Officer, before taking over the coastal forest research programme. Coming from England, Emma obtained her degree in Zoology from Liverpool John Moore’s University before taking her masters at Manchester Metropolitan University in Animal Behaviour. Her master’s research project first brought her to Kenya in 2004 undertaking research on grooming behaviour in chimpanzees at Sweetwaters Game Reserve. Since graduating, Emma has worked as an Ecologist with a UK based consultancy working towards her Crested Newt and Bat licenses as well as becoming a qualified tree climber. Emma has also spent a year travelling and working around Australia, is a PADI qualified scuba diver, holds the RYA level 2 boat handling qualification as well being an associate member of the Institute of Ecological and Environmental Management and a member of the Primate Society of Great Britain.

Anna Sweeney - Marine Officer

Anna Sweeney – Marine Officer Coming from the UK, Anna joined the GVI Kenya expedition as Marine Officer in September 2007. She has previously studied for her degree in marine biology and coastal ecology at the University of Plymouth. During this time she had the opportunity to work with the resident population of bottlenose dolphins in Tenerife, which formed the basis for her final year project focussing on the population dynamics. During her time in Tenerife she was an assistant co-ordinator for the project taking part in the training of volunteers and gaining skills in photo-identification and analysis. Anna subsequently gained her masters of research in Environmental Biology from the University of St Andrews which mainly focused on the application of statistics in biology. Her interest in marine mammals led her to work with a project in southern Spain applying habitat preference modelling to cetacean species in the Alborán Sea, experience which will contribute to our marine research programme here in Kenya. Anna holds a current RYA level 2 powerboat licence and will be acting as a boat captain. She is also TEFL trained, providing additional support for the community education aspects of the project.

Lucy Buckingham - Marine Officer

Lucy Buckingham joined the GVI Kenya team as Marine Officer in September 2007. Before moving to Kenya, she worked as a volunteer coordinator and research assistant for the Sea Watch Foundation Cetacean Monitoring Group in the UK. Within this role, she gained two years research experience assisting in the completion of photo-identification and distant sampling studies in the Cardigan Bay Special Area of Conservation. Whilst these studies focused primarily on bottlenose dolphin and harbour porpoise populations, Lucy was fortunate enough to be given the opportunity to participate in a series of common dolphin surveys in the Celtic deep where she encountered a number of other species including the harbour porpoise, minke whale and fin whale. In addition to the experience she gained from these boat based surveys, she became actively involved in the provision of environmental education to tourists visiting the area and gained responsibility for the coordination of the Ceredigion County Council community landwatch site in New Quay, Wales. In 2004, Lucy travelled to the Seychelles to complete an in-water turtle study exploring habitat utilisation of juvenile turtles inhabiting the shallow coral reefs of Mahé. This study involved a series of snorkel surveys incorporating photo-identification and mark recapture methodologies and formed the basis of her MSc Tropical Coastal Management thesis. Lucy is also a qualified Emergency First Response Instructor and holds the RYA Level 2 powerboat handling qualification so will be one of the expedition’s boat captains and delivering primary and secondary first aid tuition to expedition members.

Rachel Crouthers - Expedition Manager

Coming from the UK, Rachel first developed a passion for the marine environment as a tour guide working for an eco-tourism cruise company in the Bay of Islands, New Zealand. As well as teaching watersports, Rachel also developed and delivered environmental awareness programmes. After gaining experience as a team leader within the NHS, Rachel joined GVI as an expedition member in January 2004, in Mexico, becoming an intern on the following expedition. Rachel moved on to Guatemala for 4 months, becoming proficient in Spanish as well as teaching English and Environmental Awareness to both children and adults. Rachel returned to GVI Mexico as expedition staff, taking on the roles of both Base Manager and Expedition Leader for the Pez Maya base during 2005. She is fully qualified as an Emergency First Response Instructor, RYA Level 2 power boat driver and PADI Dive Instructor. Rachel has a wealth of experience in Coral Reef Ecology and Fish Diversity, and has further developed her credentials attending a range of conferences and courses on marine conservation in Mexico and Kenya. She participated with local partners in Mexico developing projects on Marine Turtle conservation. Joining the Kenya expedition at its start in January 2006, Rachel has been involved in the development of the marine programme adding cetacean and photo identification experience to her considerable knowledge of marine research, as well as utilising her skills in the classroom. Rachel’s understanding of and passion for expedition life, the marine environment and conservation is a valuable asset to the team here in Kenya.