I’m sure many of us that tune into this show regularly watch wildlife and nature documentaries from across the globe in our spare time. I personally rarely watch television, but when I do, Netflix knows that I’m going to choose the latest nature documentary over most mainstream anything. On many occasions, while watching these stunning films, I wonder how in the world did the producers and writers come up with the story. We’ve been telling conservation stories for decades, and yet somehow, films are still being released that blow my socks off. I’d regularly contemplate what it’d be like to sit down with one of these visionaries and ask them how their work came to be, especially when they’re flying in a paramotor several meters off the ground to record flight from a bird’s eye view, all in an effort to conserve the species they’re filming. Now, that sounds like a good adventure and conservation story, doesn’t it? But, who is the person behind an expedition like this? Well, friends, today we are meeting one of those exceptional visionaries that are using film to protect birds.
In this episode, we are sitting down with Sacha Dench, Co-founder of Conservation Without Borders and Ambassador for the UN’s Convention on Migratory Species. Sacha grew up in the wild Australian outback and knew from an early age that she wanted to spend her career in nature. Sacha also realized that she had a natural gift to compete in unconventional sports and became a world champion free diver for the British Dive Team. While diving, she saw the horrible impact shark nets were having on wildlife, and began using her platform to spread awareness for positive conservation change. She was approached by a group working to protect Bewick swans and the Flight of the Swans expedition was born – a “7000km migration across the arctic tundra to connect wildlife, wetlands, and people.” She is now in the middle of her next 10,000 km expedition to bring to us the story of Europe’s endangered osprey, and narratives from the people that live with and are working to protect the species.
Sacha and I chat about her childhood growing up in remote Australia, her journey through sports that gave her a platform bigger than her biologist voice to bring positive change to our seas, why Europe’s birds are having such a hard time, the story behind Flight of the Swans, and where they are currently at for the Flight of the Osprey expedition.
Get ready for a super inspirational story that I promise will make you want to lace up your boots, get out there, and make change in your special, unique way.
Alright friends, here is my conversation with Sacha.