08 · AARON ‘BERTIE’ GEKOSKI · THE DARK SIDE OF WILDLIFE TOURISM AND WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT

Aaron ‘Bertie’ Gekoski is an environmental photojournalist, presenter, and film-maker. Over the last 10 years, Bertie has been at the coal face of animal conservation around the world including exposing Namibia’s annual seal cull, pursuing the ‘tortoise mafia’ through Madagascar’s sacred forests, training as an anti-poaching ranger in Zimbabwe, living on-board a commercial tuna fishing vessel and reporting on Borneo’s ‘Sea Gypsies’. His articles and images have appeared in more than 40 international publications, winning multiple awards including the 2017 Wildlife Photographer of the Year, photojournalist category. Bertie is a currently a TV presenter for the wildlife and conservation specialists, ScubaZoo TV (SZTV) and has a number of epic projects in the works including, the focus of our discussion, a project on the dark side of the on Wildlife Tourism industry. This is a long-term project for Bertie, kicked off by a trip he made to Thailand where he visited a number of popular animal tourist attractions. This interview is a little different from our usual in that our topic is not a happy one. It covers Bertie's latest project which exposes the horrific cruelty behind the Wildlife Tourism Industry. The major objective of this episode is to raise awareness and educate ourselves and others on these issues and to ideally slow down demand and support for these types of cruel attractions.  ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ Find the show notes here  (including the ink to Bertie's crowdfunding campaign)   ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ *** SOCIALIZE WITH US *** Website  Instagram  Facebook   Twitter  YouTube