Team Member

Volunteer Expedition Advisor

Nick Holme 

My focus is on conservation in Southern Africa at the moment, with a particular slant on local communities living adjacent to National Parks and other Game Management Areas. Human/wildlife conflict is a major issue in these areas and I'm working on ways to mitigate the threats to both humans and wildlife, with a view to encouraging coexistence where possible. I also see the local communities as custodians of the areas they live in, with generations of knowledge about the biodiversity in their areas. This local knowledge is invaluable when it comes to implementing successful conservation measures.
Nick Holme

Why is this important?

To my mind, vultures - as Nature's clean-up crew - are an absolutely essential link in the food chain and with their disappearance we would undoubtedly experience a surge in human and wildlife diseases that would normally have been kept under control by the vultures. Working with local communities to encourage the protection, instead of the persecution, of vultures is a major part in helping their numbers to recover and allow them to do their hugely important job.

What migratory species inspires me?

I have a very soft spot for vultures and the more I learn about them, the more I admire what they do as part of the natural world's inter-connectedness. They play an essential part in so many ecosystems that we can't allow them to disappear. I also think they are pretty cool looking birds!

Why the photo?

It was taken when I was doing my walk around Lake Kariba last year, so I felt they were more appropriate than a bog standard passport photo! The walk was 900km long, around the whole lake and the aim behind it was to raise awareness about conservation, mental health and the link between Nature and mental wellbeing. Most of us instinctively know that being out in Nature is good for us and we always seem to be happiest when outside, whichever part of the world that may be (for me it's the African bush), but we don't always make the effort to actually spend time in Nature and that's something we need to be doing more of - for our mental and physical wellbeing. 

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