Dr. Sandra Elvin is the president and owner of SafeTrek Services LLC. She brings over 15 years of experience in conservation, science, safety, security, operations, and expedition leadership and management.
Sandra guided her first wildlife trip in Churchill, Manitoba, Canada bringing clients to see beluga whales. She quickly realized that guiding wildlife trips was much more about the people than it is the wild animals. The people, ranging from clients to community members, are what makes a wildlife trip incredibly special. Over the next several years, she continued to guide polar bear trips in Churchill, panda and Asiatic black bear trips in China, and snow leopard trips in Mongolia. As a biologist, she also worked in the Philippines with Project Seahorse using SCUBA to examine seahorse, fish, and coral abundance. In Kenya, she worked with the anti-poaching unit at Lewa Wildlife Conservancy to examine rhinoceros population health.
After completing her doctoral studies examining the adverse effects of industrial development in Labrador on black bears, Sandra moved to the Washington, DC area where she worked for several organizations on conservation projects. She joined the National Geographic Society as Director, Expeditions where she embarked on the most comprehensive scientific expedition to Mt Everest, Nepal. She then worked on an all-female expedition traversing the Ganges River from the Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh to the Himalayas, India. On both major expeditions, she directed logistics, budgets, and safety to ensure scientific plans were implemented as designed. She was responsible for all personnel safety, health and wellness, equipment, and monies.
Hear what it was like for Sandra on the National Geographic Everest expedition:
Explorer Classroom | Directing an Expedition with Sandra Elvin
Safety and security were always prevalent in Sandra’s work since she assessed risks, developed threat assessments, designed risk mitigation strategies, developed standard operating protocols for working in the field, and trained her teammates in various skills such as first aid and self-defense. During the covid-19 pandemic years when expeditions ceased, Sandra joined the US Institute of Peace and managed the overseas safety and security division. She provided the same services to peacebuilders heading overseas to high-risk locations as she did for scientists working in risky areas.
Sandra is a certified and lead instructor for many courses and works to reduce risk for all types of individuals traveling solo, with teams, or just walking down their street in their own neighborhood. Sandra is also an adjunct faculty member of Goucher College, teaching Environmental Policy.
When Sandra is not working, she is spending time with her husband and daughter, partaking in martial arts, or writing children’s books for Unite for Literacy.
Listen to Sandra on Goucher’s Environmental Dialogues podcast: Conservation Beyond Borders.
Goucher Environmental Dialogues | Conservation Beyond Borders with Dr. Sandra Elvin
Partners
Sandra works closely with many partners to provide comprehensive consulting and training services. Contact her directly to discuss all the ways SafeTrek Services LLC can provide holistic safety services from beginning to end of your project.
