Internship Leaders
Internship on Environmental Programs in the Ecuadorian Amazon

Karina Berg - Country Director - Ecuador

Karina has always had a passion for travel and after studying and working in the media, she succumbed to the open road. She worked for 7 years as a tour leader for an adventure travel company basing herself in Latin America. Both her work and personal travels took her as far afield as the Amazon basin, Patagonian Mountains, to coastal Central America and she realised that she wanted to give something back to the people and places which had given her so many amazing experiences over the years. To this aim, she got involved with animal charities in Northern Peru and teaching English in small communities in various locations. On return to the UK in 2008 she discovered a spot in the GVI office, where her goal to use her extensive travel and group leading experience, whilst being involved with an organisation focused on sustainable conservation and community development could be fulfilled. After 6 months in the UK an opportunity to return to South America proved too much for her to resist and she can now be found somewhere in the Amazon rainforest or in Quito, where she is overseeing the Amazon expedition. Karina is a qualified Emergency First Response Instructor and fluent in Spanish and is enjoying life back in Latin America.

Andrew Whitworth - Field Manager

Andrew Whitworth flew into Ecuador from the North-west of England. After completing his first degree in Zoology at The University of Leeds he later studied for his MSc in Conservation Biology at Manchester Metropolitan University. Andrew has many eclectic research interests which include zoological collections and their conservation efforts, herpetology, animal behavioral work (particularly mammals) and whole habitat conservation.

Whilst developing these research interests at Yachana, Andrew hopes that he can expand his ‘pigeon’ Spanish into something more comprehensive and articulate. Other interests that Andrew finds pleasurable to partake in include rugby league, darts, racing pigeons, walking whippets and wearing hats.

Chris Beirne - Field Staff

Living just a stone’s throw from the Pennine Way, Chris spent most of his formative years trying to get out of walks in the hills with his parents. He realised the error of his ways at 16 when he began to disappear off on bigger and bigger “adventures”, armed with only his old film camera and a rain jacket. His fascination with nature and physiology led him to study Biological Sciences at the University of Edinburgh. In his second year, he was accepted on an expedition to study sustainable logging practices in Bolivia. From there, he planned and implemented a research expedition into the population dynamics of chameleons in the South of Madagascar.

Now Chris is bringing his experience and enthusiasm to the Yachana Reserve where he hopes to conduct a long-term study into the effects of habitat change on Amphibian and Reptile populations - and fit in a bit of freestyle birding in his spare time!