CURRENT MISSION

Helping to build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature...

ABOUT ME

Hey!

I'm Leonie, a very optimistic, open-minded and creative person. I love getting to know new people & to exchange experiences! I'm also a bit crazy and ALWAYS up for a new adventure!!!

My biggest passion is nature travelling & I decided to turn this passion into my future profession. As part of my undergraduate studies, I lived in a national park, studying Wildlife Conservation Management which was an amazing experience! I am now completing my MSc in Ecotourism, i.e. Environmental Management, Wildlife Biology (identifying animals and plants :)), Aquatic protected area management, etc. So I'm out in the field most of the time, yay!

PHILOSOPHY

There are hundreds of languages in the world... A SMILE speaks them all :)

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Unfortunately I don't have the possibility to host people for the next months as I don't have enough space...
However, I'd love to meet heaps of new people via CS - on events, outings, daytrips, travels or when surfing couches :)

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I enjoy travelling (as probably everyone here ;)) but more so I love living abroad and experiecing other cultures by being integrated into the communities. CS makes it very easy to get in contact with locals which is AWESOME!!!

I started "couchsurfing" in October 2009 with a friend who had been couchsurfing for a long time. We spontaneously decided to go on holidays to the South of Germany which is when she introduced couchsurfing to me. My 1st couchsurfing experience was 1 of my best & I'll never forget it!!!
Then I couchsurfed on my own and made GREAT EXPERIENCES as well and I'm so happy about it because there's NO MORE LIMIT FOR TRAVELING anymore!!!

I've only made very good experiences so far really!!! I met soo many great people and always had a good time with my hosts/surfers! I'm still in contact with most of them :)
It seems as you've already got FRIENDS ALL AROUND THE WORLD! All the people I met through CS were soo friendly, I had great conversations and ALWAYS A GOOD TIME!!! All of them were so hospitably, it's amazing!:)

Everytime I met another CS, I got to know about different lifestyles, travels and I always broadened my horizon. I got to know many things in a short term of time, improved my language skills and the best: I've never been alone even tho I was traveling by myself sometimes...

Interests

NATURE
ANIMAL WELFARE/ CONSERVATION WORK
VEGANISM
TRAVELING [getting to know new people, improving spoken languages, going into the wild]
OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES like kayaking, hiking, rafting, cycling, ...
Meeting new (inspiring) people
Photographing
Latin-American dances

• animals
• wildlife
• culture
• animal welfare
• vegan
• traveling
• outdoor activities
• cycling
• hiking
• kayaking
• camping
• surfing
• skydiving
• biology
• languages
• volunteering
• ecotourism
• parks

Music, Movies, and Books

Music: mix of everything [Reggae, Soul, guitar dominated music, Dubstep, Drum&Base,...]

Favourite books: "The secret elephants" (Garreth Patterson), Das Kartengeheimnis" (Jostein Gaarder), The Final Call: In Search of the True Cost of Our Holidays (Leo Hickmann)

Favourite movies: "Into the wild", "The White Maasai" (I don't really watch TV though...)

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

SEEN:
Milford Sound in New Zealand's Fiordlands, Pulpit Rock&Norwegian Fjords, Drakensberge (South Africa), Soca River (Slovenia), Blyde River Canyon (South Africa), L'Alhambra (Granada), Wild Leopard and all the other wild African animals!! St Abb's Head NNR (Scotland)

DONE:
Naked Bungy Jump, Skydiving, Glacier walk, Black Water Rafting, camping on Pulpit Rock in Norway, getting close to and living in a NP surrounded by wild animals in South Africa's nature/national parks (lions, rhinos, zebras, giraffes, ...), volunteering at a bottlenose dolphin research project!!

FAVOURITE PLACES:
Waitakere (New Zealand), Queenstown (NZ), Lake Tekapo (NZ), Fiordland (NZ), Lake Constance (Germany), Gerona (Spain), Sevilla (Spain), Sydney&surroundings (Australia), Soca Valley & Bled(Slovenia), Plitvice & Paclenica NP (Croatia), Langeland (Denmark), Butterfly Valley (Turkey), Lysefjord (Norway), Hardangerfjord (Norway), Blyde River Canyon (South Africa), Cape Town (South Africa), Drakensberge (South Africa), New Quay (Wales/UK), St Abbs (Scotland)

Teach, Learn, Share

I'd love to learn more about nature (animals, plants, anything really!!!) and all the 1000 different cultures in this world.
...and learning languages :)

What I Can Share with Hosts

I enjoy sharing experiences, particularly about travels and about vegetarianism/veganism. I'd also love to learn more about vegan cooking/ lifestyles. You can never know enough :)

I'd also like to share my knowledge about my own culture and if you're interested in New Zealand, I could also tell you a lot about the country and recommendations where to go, what to see & to do there. I also always like to share my knowledge about South African wildlife that I gained during my intensive Wildlife course!

Countries I’ve Visited

Australia, Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Hungary, Italy, Lesotho, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Slovenia, Spain, Swaziland, Switzerland, Tunisia, Turkey, United Kingdom

Countries I’ve Lived In

Germany, Greece, Netherlands, New Zealand, South Africa, Spain, United Kingdom

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