Dr. Witold Lapinski:
I have always been fascinated by wildlife and forests. Since childhood I am obsessed with South American rainforests. Therefore I studied biology at the University of Ulm and during a one-year interchange program with the University of Costa Rica I was fortunate to study biology there, too. I returned to Costa Rica in order to carry out field research in a lowland tropical rainforest at the Tirimbina Biological Reserve for my diploma thesis (3 months) and later I stayed two years at Tirimbina climbing rainforest trees at night to obtain the necessary data for my doctoral thesis. I spent more than three years in Costa Rica, with several short trips to Nicaragua and Panama, and one to the Nouragues Biological Station in French Guyana (one month). In 2017 my obsession culminated in a short solo trip on the Napo river, Ecuador where I learnt important lessons. This trip was the inspirational seed for the present Napoama project.
Dr. Annette Held:
Since I can think I was fascinated by traveling and animals. After school I moved to Tenerife in an old VW bus and was living and working there for five years. Then there was a special moment for me and I started studying veterinary in Munich and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. I finished my studies in Munich and started with my thesis and working in small veterinarian practice. But soon this was not enough. I was traveling again to many countries (Sri Lanka, South Africa, Namibia, Zanzibar and more) and was working there with different species of animals and animal welfare projects. Currently I run a website related to dogs from the perspective of a dog keeper and veterinarian in German language AllesHundOderWas. And now it’s time for a new experience: the Amazonas.
Additional interesting links:
Tirimbina Biological Reserve, Costa Rica
the Amazonas-XPrience 