I've currently live in Hawaii, working with both children and animals. Very active here, love to do yoga, gym, and hike! Biggest passion is for the animals I work with, been working with chimpanzees, tigers, and other primates since I came here. Earlier this year, I lived in Guinea, Africa where I was doing conservation work helping to rehabilitate and reintroduce orphaned chimpanzees from the pet and bushmeat trade into the wild. I have a passion for animal conservation as well as education

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I've been riding for 4 years now and this year will be last snowboarding trip to Mammoth since I'll be moving out of the country for a while. For the past 4 years, I've been going to Mammoth and staying at motels, but this year I'd love to meet some new people!

Interests

Traveling, yoga hiking, skydiving, working with animals, working with children, reading, and snowboarding

• animals
• pets
• animal welfare
• education
• dining
• yoga
• reading
• traveling
• hiking
• skydiving
• snowboarding
• teaching

Music, Movies, and Books

Morrissey, The Smiths, People Under the Stairs, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Neil Young, Jurassic 5

Movies: Lord of the Rings

Books: Everything. Mostly read non-fiction books, mostly on primates. The Harry Potter series is an all time favorite

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Being a surrogate mother to baby chimpanzees as well as a caregiver to over 40+ chimpanzees in West Africa, and also working with them in HI for 4 years.

Teach, Learn, Share

I can talk endlessly about animal welfare! A research project I recently completed looked at how certain enrichment may encourage positive behaviors in captive animals. Animals in captivity often develop abnormal behaviors, like eating their poop and picking out their hair, which is why we give them enrichment in order to keep them stimulated and occupied. I can share this and other valuable experiences where you will defintiely learn a thing or two about great apes :)

What I Can Share with Hosts

Great conversations, respectful and nice house guest, food and money if like :)

Countries I’ve Visited

Ecuador, Guinea, Spain

Countries I’ve Lived In

Guinea, United States