Craig Sholley

WORK HISTORY

SKILLS

ABOUT CRAIG SHOLLEY

Craig\'s experiences with wildlife and conservation began in 1973 as a Peace Corps volunteer in Zaire, Africa. He has worked and traveled extensively since that time providing conservation expertise in a variety of world arenas. As an L.S.B. Leakey grant researcher in the late 1970\'s, Craig studied mountain gorillas with Dian Fossey. Returning to the US, he redirected his interests developing natural history programming for the Baltimore Zoological Society. Concurrently, Craig pursued his travel interests leading tours and photographing throughout Africa, South America, and Asia. In late 1987, Craig returned to Africa full time to direct Rwanda\'s internationally-known Mountain Gorilla Project. Turning the Project over to the Rwandan government in early 1990, Craig continued in Rwanda acting as Scientific Advisor for the award winning IMAX film, Mountain Gorilla. Craig has served as a Senior Associate of AWF and on AWF’s Board of Trustees. He has also served on the Board of the Ecotourism Society, Throughout much of the ‘90’s, Craig was Director of Conservation and Education for International Expeditions, an organization widely recognized for its ecotourism initiatives. Craig returned to Rwanda in 1995 on assignment with the National Geographic Society surveying the conservation status of mountain gorillas in Rwanda, Zaire, and Uganda in the aftermath of Rwanda\'s civil war. The findings of that trip are the basis of a 1995 article in NG Magazine on mountain gorilla conservation. Craig has worked full-time for AWF since 2001. Specialties: African wildlife, Naturalist, Ecotourism, Photography, Fundraising