Ep. 1128: Africa! Backpacking and Conservation with Jeff de Graffenried
Adventure Sports Podcast
Curt Linville
4.6 • 579 Ratings
🗓️ 13 October 2025
⏱️ 71 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Join in as, Curt interviews Jeff de Graffenried who shares his experiences living and working in Africa for over a decade. Jeff discusses the challenges and rewards of conservation efforts, the importance of community relations, and the unique adventures of backpacking in African national parks. He highlights the risks of malaria, the significance of education and economic opportunities, and the need for habitat preservation. The conversation emphasizes the interconnectedness of human well-being and environmental health, urging listeners to appreciate and protect the natural world.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | We've seen some monsters too. |
| 0:07.0 | I mean, I remember one at Kufui we saw and it heard us come. |
| 0:12.0 | It was probably 25 or 30 meters from the actual river in a little estuary, |
| 0:19.0 | little swampy area they call a dombo, so it's in this dombo. And man, |
| 0:23.3 | it just started going through the vegetation like wild, just thrashing and making all kinds of |
| 0:28.4 | noise. And you couldn't really see it. You just saw where it went. And then it came out. It |
| 0:33.4 | looked like literally probably four meters or five meters long. |
| 0:37.6 | It's the biggest thing I think I've seen. |
| 0:40.3 | Then it just gets into the river and disappears. |
| 0:42.7 | And you're like, you know, that thing's in there. |
| 0:46.8 | Jeff DeGraffin-Reed, backpacking and conservation in Africa. |
| 0:52.9 | You're listening to the Adventure Sports podcast. |
| 0:55.5 | We talk with adventurers from around the globe |
| 0:57.5 | to bring you the inspiration and motivation you need |
| 1:00.0 | to get started in the outdoors |
| 1:01.4 | or to keep you moving if you're already there. |
| 1:03.9 | Now here's your host, Kurt Lindville. |
| 1:06.9 | Hey, if Africa has ever called to you |
| 1:09.4 | the way that it has always called to me, then you're going to love this episode. |
| 1:13.7 | One thing I want to point out, though, is we had this conversation, Jeff and I, oh, six or eight weeks ago. |
| 1:20.8 | So if you think about the timing of that, turns out that Jeff was working for USAID in Africa, and he was packing up to come home because USAID had been dissolved. |
| 1:33.0 | And we try not to be political on this at all. |
... |
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