Finding the “ooh and aah” moments from their guests in even the smallest of wildlife encounters is just one of the things that motivates Dan and Rachael to build their business based in Crathie, Royal Deeside, and operate across Scotland. As owner-operators and professional naturalists, their business is built on passion and driven by a desire to make their business, their community and indeed wider society aware and responsive to the biodiversity and climate change crises that are impacting us.
They want to do more than “educate” people but inspire them to understand their connection to the natural world and positively influence their actions towards it.
Theirs is much more than just wildlife watching but immersing people in the landscape as a whole. Seeing first-hand how sustainable land management and food production can be achieved to the benefit of both people and wildlife. Wild Discovery, they see, is part of the well-being economy, which starts local, using local people, local food, and local transport. It means re-modulating societal thinking to focus less on business success only in economic terms, but to be aware that being part of an integrated, holistic circular economy is positive for the health of the business and the communities within which it sits.
