Following a dream...
We learn and grow the most when we allow ourselves to be vulnerable. Sometimes we have to be willing to step into the unknown and bushwhack our way through the jungle to get to where we are meant to be.
Rebecca Dary
Owner and Founder of
Naturally Wild and Free, LLC
The Mission
To create opportunities for communities to experience nature and find a deep connection to the wild; not only for the benefit of our physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health, but for the benefit of our natural world.
Naturally Wild and Free is built upon these principles:
-
Respect and Compassion to all people and things wild
-
Integrity and Authenticity in our methods and actions
-
Inclusiveness and Community as our success is measured by those around us
-
Eco-conscious practices to leave the world better than we found it
-
Presence and Mindfulness for better understanding and interconnectedness
A little personal history...
While in my undergrad I studied tropical biology and conservation in Costa Rica. This was my first opportunity to study primates and I knew it wouldn't be my last.
I grew up near the southern end of the Sierra Nevada mountains of California. This was where I took my first field job tracking carnivore after earning a BS in Ecology, Behavior, and Evolution from UC San Diego.
I quickly followed my passion for primates and behavioral studies to Thailand where I spent all day following monkeys in the jungle. This was my most mentally challenging job as everything from fungus to tigers wanted to eat you in the forest!
I called Alaska home for many years studying bears, geese, moose, etc. once I moved back to the states.
Most of my work was on the Kenai Peninsula with wildlife studies. I worked for the Chugach National Forest, Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, and the Kenai Watershed Forum eventually.
Always a practical person, I made a motorcycle my only vehicle while living in AK. Before going back to school for graduate work I rode it from AK to CA and eventually from CA to NM.
Some fun facts: I am a reiki practitioner, certified wilderness first responder and bear safety instructor. I also love teaching yoga! I have studied with Yandara Institute, Devi Yoga for Women, and YoMama (I highly recommend them all).
The call of primates seized me again and I went off to Tanzania to manage a Chimpanzee study.
It was my experience working in Tanzania that drove me towards this new journey of connecting communities to nature based on my own new mission.