Sophie Mazowita
Sophie's childhood was split between the capital cities of Canada and Australia, but she felt most at home exploring the lakes and woods near her grandmother's home in the Ottawa Valley of Ontario. After two uncles invited her on a first canoe camping trip when she was 12—which offered her first moose sighting and hearing wolves howl for the first time—Sophie was captivated by the wonders of the wild, and she set her sights on a future career working in wilderness. She hasn't looked back since! Sophie studied Environmental Science at McGill University in Montreal, then landed a dream job working in the same park where she first camped: the 3,000-square-mile wilderness of Ontario's Algonquin Provincial Park. She spent four years there as a park naturalist, leading bat talks, lichen walks, and sharing the experience of howling wolves with groups ranging in size from 8 to 800 (imagine a mile-long line of cars parked along the side of the road, and a line of 800 listeners so quiet you could hear a pin drop!).
Graduate studies in the University of Vermont Field Naturalist Program eventually lured Sophie away from Algonquin, and she stayed in Vermont to consult on urban forest management, lead naturalist education programs, start a wildlife corridor mapping initiative, and direct a forest school for elementary-age kids, aimed at helping connect people to wild places on a more local, urban scale. She also took a deep dive into the world of wildlife tracking, training with experts across North America and traveling to South Africa to trail lions and leopards. Sophie recently moved to Seattle, where she balances her national park guiding work with local nature connection initiatives—while also learning how to track some new western wildlife.
Praise from Nat Hab travelers:
A. Wunderman
"Sophie and Court were knowledgeable, flexible, great Expedition Leaders that made guests feel empowered in the decisions being made. They handled changes with grace and humor. They imparted vast knowledge in a consumable manner and on-boarded us to new ideas on this Zero Waste Adventure very smoothly. Overall, this was a tremendous experience due in large part to the competence of our guides."
M. Corbett
"Sophie was extremely knowledgeable, courteous, considerate and well organized. It was a pleasure to travel with her."
D. Pare-Muirhead
"Sophie was very friendly, passionate about the environment and conservation-focused, which we all appreciated."
B. Muirhead
"Sophie was inquisitive, detailed and caring!"
L. Caldecutt
"Sophie and Corbin were both extremely knowledgeable about the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. When we managed to stump them, they found an answer and told us the next day. From the large mammals to the smallest lichen, they were on point."
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