Natalie Hill
Just about everyone aspires to wanting to be “in the wild”. But someone that has made a career of it, and lives it every day, is Natalie Hill, Wildlife Manager at East Coast Nature World located in Bicheno on Tasmania’s beautiful east coast.
Natalie’s career in the wild began at age 17 at Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary on Queensland’s Gold Coast, where she worked for 10 years. From there, her career took her to the Northern Territory, Western Australia, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. Eventually, she found herself here in Tasmania.
Natalie has always had a passion for wildlife, growing up on a farm in New Zealand, where she was always surrounded by animals. She describes the natural progression to Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary: “I loved working in the space at my first job because I got to communicate with people about animals and nature. I got to work with animals, but also communicate with people, and educate them about the natural world and the environment. That was really important to me. Being a science communicator is about being the bridge between the scientific world and simplifying it to make it more digestible for the general public. It's really an art form to actually communicate about conservation and science”.
Natalie feels privileged to have had such a career starting so early in life. As she relates: “I feel very privileged to be able to experience so much of Australia and also the global level. I wouldn't have been able to do it if I didn't start my career at a young age”.
Natalie’s journey into a career in wildlife tourism specialising in wildlife communication, like many careers, was somewhat accidental. “When I first started working at Currumbin Sanctuary, I thought that I could then go into university in conservation land management, as a researcher or something along those lines. But I actually found and a lot of people said ‘You've got a gift in communicating to people about the natural world instead of the science behind it’.
“Initially I felt that education in tourism wasn't that important. But now, actually seeing that tourism, and especially ecotourism, is the bridge between the science, the scientific community and the general public. Because they're engaged in a natural environment, you've got a captive audience”.
The importance of young people encountering wildlife and the natural world, and being educated on the subject, is not lost on Natalie. She reflects: “I had encounters with animals at a young age. And so when you facilitate encounters with kids and adults – such as with a wombat or a sugar glider – I've actually seen people cry because of that connection with nature. And I think we forget how important it is that people don't get an opportunity to connect with nature on a daily basis. So when they are able to pet and interact with an animal, I think it's super important”.
Natalie describes a usual day in her role at East Coast Nature World: “I usually rock up to work with a greeting party of kangaroos on my quad, and then I get into my rounds feeding, cleaning, doing tours, encounters. I might then jump on the computer and do a few social media things. So it's very diverse as a Wildlife Manager. We call it a ‘nature world day’ because it's not the same every day!”
We asked Natalie what she likes most about working in the wildlife tourism industry. Her reply: “I really love the wildlife, but also communicating with people and working with people. I really enjoy the interactions that you can have because you feel like you're making an impact on conservation through educating those people. By creating those connections with wildlife, (people) are more likely to conserve it”.
“I really love the wildlife, but also communicating with people… you feel like you're making an impact on conservation. By creating those connections with wildlife, [people] are more likely to conserve it.”
Natalie was careful to emphasise that the tourism industry in general has the potential to provide a rewarding career. “Initially when I was a 17 year old, I thought my career would be as an environmental scientist working in some remote area on an endangered species. However, over time, I actually started to enjoy communicating with people and being a scientific educator, and that can only be done in tourism. Like if you're in the middle of nowhere doing research, you don't really get a net impact”.
Natalie’s advice to anyone considering a career in tourism is: “No doubt about it, give it a go. The opportunities are endless and I think tourism is just going to grow and the opportunities are going to be more and more diverse. Have a go and see where it takes you”.
