The staff of Trackers International includes experienced naturalists and guidse. We are a community of people who's diverse range of skills and interests make everyone of our trips an adventure.

Trackers International

Nicole Apelian, Lead Adventurer & Founder

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Nicole Apelian, a biologist, is our international travel expert. She received a BS in Biology from McGill University in Canada and a Masters of Science in Biology from the University of Oregon in 1993. Nicole has worked crab-fishing in the Bering Sea, been an adult educator at the Audubon Society of Portland, and done genetic research locally. After working in Botswana as a game warden for the Dept. of Wildlife and National Parks, Nicole moved onto researching lions with carnivore biologist Dr. Pieter Kat. With her unique experiences in Southern Africa, Nicole is the ideal guide for your African safari experience.

Mike Houck, Lead Naturalist & Adventurer

Mike Houck, Executive Director of the Portland-based Urban Greenspaces Institute, has also served as Urban Naturalist for the Audubon Society of Portland since 1980. He has for more than thirty years led natural history tours throughout the Pacific Northwest and internationally for Audubon, Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, The Nature Conservancy, and the Urban Greenspaces Institute. He has been recognized locally, nationally and internationally for his work on urban nature conservation

Tony Deis , Founder

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Tony Deis (pictured with Molly) has always loved his great Italian family; sitting with the grandpas and grandmas, playing horseshoes and bocce ball with the kids, working in the garden and eating good food together. For the past eleven years Tony has developed and taught outdoor education classes with The Audubon Society of Portland, Metro Regional Parks and Greenspaces and other Portland outdoor education organizations. Tony eventually founded TrackersNW, an outdoor education organization rooted in fostering community and knowledge of place. As practitioner of many martial arts, as a writer, an artist and a maker of fantastic Sicilian pizza, Tony is working to connect more people to the land and their families in a beautiful way.

Molly Strand (pictured with Tony), Program Instructor - Molly has a passion for travel, foreign languages and culture, classical music, outdoors adventuring, and empowering people through self awareness and self defense. A native Oregonian, Molly received her Bachelors degree in German from Davidson College in North Carolina and spent a year in Germany, also traveling throughout much of Western Europe. She trains and teaches the martial art of Poekoelan Tjimindie Tulen and is a certified Tulen Self Defense Instructor, teaching kids and women about safety and strength. She is a self-defense instructor with Artemis Adventures and is a Trackers International safari representive to Botswana and beyond. Molly is also an avid cellist in the Central Oregon Symphony, snowboarder, fluent speaker of German, dabbler in languages such as Italian and Portuguese and lover of cats.