Joselyn Fenstermacher

Part outdoor experiential educator and part field biologist, Joselyn began her global education and travel feats at the age of 13. Since then, she has studied field biology in Tanzania and Ecuador, monitored brown bears in Alaska, worked with endangered birds in the forests of Hawaii, taught rock climbing and backpacking in North Carolina, surveyed rare plants in Texas, been employed as a chef and boat driver in the Adirondacks of New York, worked as a biologist and interpretive ranger at a variety of U.S. National Parks, trained in helicopter operations over Maui and deployed as a wildland firefighter in the western United States.

After earning a master’s degree in Botany, this eclectic background helped her land a job working in support of the US Antarctic Program at McMurdo Station. She went on to spend several seasons on the ice, including two winters at the South Pole where for a time she was the world’s most southerly farmer!  She transitioned in 2013 to expedition guiding and has been thrilled at the chance to earn “continuing education” credits, learning about new ecosystems around the world and in turn sharing her enthusiasm with her fellow travelers. 

When not somewhere far afield on a ship, Joselyn spends most of her time in the Big Bend region of far western Texas where she enjoys guiding, botanizing, and experiencing life in the Chihuahuan Desert from the porch of her off-grid, fancy camping home.  Joselyn is passionate about learning more about the world around her and hopes to inspire this same spark in others-- to ask questions and think big!