Projects Abroad Staff in South Africa

Dr Helena Fitchat - Conservation Director Helena has spent over 30 years on and off in the wilderness. She is an expert tracker, has crossed the Kalahari Desert on her own and lived with Bushmen for a year. She is also a pilot, a biologist specialising in animal behaviour (for which she obtained her PhD), and she single-handedly navigated her way through the vast Okavango Delta in a leaking boat and survived! For 10 years she was the Operations Director of The Centre for Rehabilitation of Wildlife (CROW) in Durban, South Africa.

Kieran Harkin - Conservation Manager Originally from Derry in Northern Ireland, Kieran has a BSc Honours in Environmental Management and is currently working on his MSc Environmental Assessment & Management, specialising in ecology. He worked for a year in South East Asia, tackling animal trafficking. He also taught science in Thailand for 3 years. Besides travelling, Kieran's interests lie in photography, art and bird watching.

Gisela Madden - Desk Officer & Camp Manager Gisela's first experience with the Botswana bush came when she was just 6 months old, and she's loved it ever since. Most recently she worked in Cape Town as the Assistant Director of Projects Abroad South Africa. She acquired her BSocSci Honours in Social Anthropology from the University of Cape Town, and taught English in South Korea for a year and a half, before travelling for half a year. Her hobbies include Geocaching, star-gazing and bird watching, and she speaks German and Afrikaans fluently.