About Charlie Drapala
I am a conservation biologist with a degree in Animal and Conservation Biology. I have previously volunteered with the Scottish Wildlife Trust for almost 5 years, where I took part in delivering environmental education workshops, organising and running campaigns, and leading events. I have also volunteered with The Conservation Volunteers where I undertook practical conservation work such as small woodland creation and habitat enhancement. I now work as an ecologist in the south of England. I enjoy hiking, travelling, and learning Spanish :)
If you'd like to connect, I'm on LinkedIn and Instagram.
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Great to see bats highlighted for the amazing work they do in an ecosystem! :)
Hi Robert, welcome to WildHub!
Wow, great interview Alain and Taranee. Sounds like you do amazing work for conservation in Virunga, Alain. Really interesting to read about!
Welcome to WildHub Jess! Theres a lovely growing community here, I'm sure in time you'll make some good connections :)
Welcome Charlie, I see you've been volunteering for a while. Could you share with us what volunteering is like; highs and lows?
Hi Grace. Sure, I'd love to. I've always enjoyed practical conservation like tree planting and weed removal. My role with the Scottish Wildlife Trust was more as an ambassador and organiser - I lead advocacy campaigns ahead of events like elections and COP26, and I helped organise workshops and webinars. The highs of the work are seeing the final outcome, when after months of planning the event finally takes place and you can see people enjoying the work we produced as a team. The lows I suppose are in the months of planning when things go wrong and you simply aren't sure things are going to work out in time! Or the fact that a lot of the work I did took place online, so although I collaborated with my colleagues on the team online, it can feel a bit like you are on your own sometimes. All in all though, I enjoyed the work I did with them. Having been in that volunteer role for 4 and a half years though, I've now moved on to another organisation where I will do more practical fieldwork. Thanks for asking!
Welcome to WildHub, Charlie, and thank you for sharing about this amazing wildlife encounter (brilliant photo!). In which part of Kenya was this?
My photo was taken through binos and with my phone, the really lovely photo was taken by my partner haha, but I did my best. This was in the Mara Triangle. Such a fantastic area for wildlife, apart from the leopard, most animals were very easy to find as they are so abundant!
Welcome to WildHub, Charlie!
Thank you Lara!
You are amazing! It is a very beautiful picture and we want to know more about your trip. I think it will be more interesting if you collaborate with @Muthoni Njuguna our wildhub core community member and curious environmentalist from Kenya, we want to know your conservation journey and why you were interested in visiting Kenya
Hi Ussi, thanks for your comments. This time around I was visiting Kenya on holiday, purely out of interest and to be surrounded by wildlife again and in such a beautiful country. I would love to come back for fieldwork one day maybe haha. I grew up in South Africa so I have always been surrounded by fantastic nature. Now I am finishing my degree in the UK.