Matteo

Travel information

I am currently

Description

Hey there!

I am Matteo, nice to meet you :)

I'm 25, I'm from Italy and I grew up close to Venice!

I'm really active and curious with a wide range of passions.

I really love almost any kind of sport, I played football for 10 years but I love almost any sport with a ball. In recent years I have also started climbing and slacklining.

I feel a strong connection with nature. I really appreciate hiking, excursions and camping in nature especially if there’s the possibility of spotting wildlife.

Music is another big part of my life!
I love percussion and singing, indeed I really love spending time playing with other people, it really puts me in a good mood.

Last but not least, I'm a really sociable person and good people are the last essential piece needed for my wellbeing and happiness: quality time and conversations with authentic people are probably the most important and valuable things to me :)

In 2023 volunteered and worked respectively Colombia and Ecuador. In Ecuador in particular I worked as a wildlife biologist and volunteer coordination in beautiful project where i had the chance of taking care of 3 jaguars, 1 puma, 2 monkeys a lot parrots and much more.

In this moment I feel like I want to get involved in the permaculture world so I am seeking to learn as much as possible about sustainability, synergistic agricolture and living off-grid.

Ps: i am going to bring with me my loyal drone that joined and helped me collecting amazing videos in my past big adventure in south america, so I woul be more than happy to offer also some good quality video if you'd like to use them on social media or just to see things from a different perspective.

Thanks for reading me, see you soon :)

Interests

Vegetarian or vegan

Photography

Plant care

Languages

Hitchhiking

Gardening

Sustainability

Videography

Team sports

Outdoor activities

Nature

Music

Hiking

Events & social

Culture

Cooking & food

Camping

Blogging

Animals

Adventure sports

Languages

Languages spoken
English: Fluent
Italian: Fluent
Spanish: Intermediate

More details about my language interests
This workawayer has indicated that they would be interested in sharing their language(s) or learning a new language. You can contact them directly to discuss this.

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Skills and knowledge I'd like to share or learn

I'm interested in:  

DIY and building projects

Art Projects

Charity Work

Gardening

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Some knowledge of:  

Eco Projects

Creating/ Cooking family meals

Hospitality/Tourism

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Able to teach about:  

Languages

Animal Care

Teaching

More details about your skills

I define myself as an atypical wildlife biologist.

In December 2021 I graduated from the University of Padova with a Bachelor’s degree in Animal Sciences and Welfare with a specialization in wild animals.

As part of my university career, I had to complete a traineeship in facilities that deal with conservation of wild animals in different projects.

I took this as an opportunity to get my hands dirty and to fulfill my passion for big felines and I went to Ecuador in a rescue centre at the edge of the Amazon rainforest.
There's no doubt that this experience completely changed my life and perspectives. I met wonderful people and I’ve seen amazing places that I couldn't even imagine existed.

For more than two months I took care of a lot of wildlife with a special attention to pumas and jaguars.
I carried out many different tasks but the main ones included:
- preparing the feed for the animals
- implementing new strategies of feed provision that would help animals cope with stress
- organization of short and long term tasks coordinating other volunteers activities
- carrying out a scientific study on jaguar behaviour
- preparation of videos and multimedia content for social media
- giving tours to visitors at the center

After my graduation, I worked for the University of Padova as part of a research group, CERT (Cetacean Strandings Emergency Response Team), a team focused on the conservation of sea turtles and dolphins. I was part of a team composed of vets and marine biologists.

This job as a researcher gave me the chance to understand in particular the main threats these species face by performing necropsies, to participate in dolphin watching campaigns, educational projects with children and drone flying for scientific observation and research.

While I was working, I figured out that even though it was a good environment with interesting career opportunities, it was not my future pathway. I realized that I need to be in closer contact with live animals in their environment, studying different aspects of their life such as their behaviour. In addition I would love to collaborate with people to promote a conscious coexistence with nature.

This is why I decided to join the Workaway community!

Thanks to my background I can give my contribution to all sorts of conservation programs, environmental education initiatives and projects that deal with animals especially if they can contribute to preserving biodiversity (e.g. working with bees or other keystone species).

Nevertheless I would really like to give tours to visitors in wild places such as reserves or national parks using my knowledge and experience, meeting indigenous communities and learning more about permaculture.

I am also quite passionate about communication, that’s why I’m going to use Instagram (and possibly TikTok) to share my experience. Furthermore I have a drone that I'll use to make videos that can help promote the places where I’ll spend my time ;)

Age

25

Some more information

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  Smoker

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  Driver's licence

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  Allergies
  no

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  Special dietary requirements
  Vegetarian