Associate Partner at Simmons Gainsford, Nick Weller, recently returned from a 3-month sabbatical, travelling and volunteering across South America and Africa. We caught up with him to find out more about his favourite places as well as his plans for the future…

Welcome back, Nick! Firstly we’d love to hear about your favourite places that you visited.

The Galapagos Islands are an example of how the world should be. Humans living sustainably and peacefully alongside animals and not ruining the environment they live in. The animals there haven’t been harmed by humans so are happy to live side by side with us. For example, sea lions will try and play with you in the water and giant tortoises will come sit by you,

The island also carries out amazing conservation projects such as giant tortoise breeding programs and the protection of wild flowers and insects.

The Atacama Desert was made up of landscapes I didn’t know existed on earth. It felt like we were on the moon! It’s also one of the most important places in the world for astronomical work and we got to witness various projects in action.

The Peruvian Andes were amazing as I just love mountains!

The northern part of Botswana is one of the wildest parts of Africa. We were lucky enough to help with rhino and wild dog conservation projects. It was also amazing to wild camp. Elephants were roaming around our camp during the day and we got to listen to lions roar and hippos grunt whilst lying in bed.

What would you say was your best moment of the trip?

It would have to be drifting down the Chobe river surrounded by elephants, lions, hippos and buffalo all interacting with each other. Also, swimming through loss tunnels in the Galapagos with hundreds of sharks, turtles and sea lions circling us. And helping with the protection efforts of wild dogs and rhino was a great experience too.

And the worst moment?

Being woken up by an earthquake in Chile!

What you are looking forward to or have enjoyed most since you’ve been back?

At home we have just picked up our puppy so that is taking up most of our free time. Work-wise I am very much looking forward to working with clients on some big projects.

And finally, what are your key takeaways from the whole trip?

Being able to travel is a massive privilege, so I would like to thank the partners at Simmons Gainsford for allowing me this wonderful opportunity. Aside from that, it is even more clear to me now that we all must do more to protect the planet.