#4 The bloke who had a lungfish

06/06/18 • 69 min

This episode of Conservation Uncut was recorded in the middle of a jungle in Malaysian Borneo after a morning spent hunting for dung beetles using traps baited with human crap. Sitting on rotten log in leech-infested rainforest, Gianluca chats with jungle explorer and adventurer Nathan Trowbridge. A few facts about Nathan. He built the largest unofficial structure at the 2010 Burning Man Festival in the Nevada dessert, turned his coffee table into a freshwater fish tank and his garden into a hydroponics testing lab, owned a 2 foot long African lungfish with an anal prolapse for 10 years (along with a whole menagerie of other exotic creatures) and, following a motorbike accident in Vietnam where he shattered his colarbone, owns only three shirts, all of which have been cut to be sleeveless in true jungle fashion. Recently, Nathan quit his corporate job, sold his house and everything he owns (except his shirts of course) and bought a one-way ticket to Southeast Asia to make conservation-themed Youtube videos about insects and other animals.

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#3 The Dark Side of Conservation?

In episode 3 of Conservation Uncut, Gianluca Cerullo chats with Francis Masse about how biodiversity conservation intersects with security, the impacts of different anti-poaching approaches for protecting the rhino, the growing trend of military involvement and techniques in conservation, whether or not the ivory trade funds terrorism and the challenges of a community-based ranger programme in Mozambique. They also discuss the Greater Lembobo Conservancy in Mozambique, a protected area which runs along the border of Kruger national park that has been called the most critical piece of land on the planet for rhino conservation and, but which has also courted controversy for its resettlement of agricultural communities.

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#5 Boots On The Ground (a conversation with a Park Ranger)

In this episode of Conservation Uncut, Gianluca chats with Apollo Kwilabya about the realities of being a park ranger in Selous National Park, Africa's largest reserve. Apollo talks of training to be a ranger, the logistics of anti-poaching, the day-to-day work involved in protecting wildlife and running a park, the difficulties of working in a dangerous environment often under resourced and with long periods of no pay, as well as some stories from the bush.