Our team is the key to your incredible adventure
Explore Japan in the company of top experts. Benefit from their knowledge—team specialties include history, wildlife, Asian cultures, and more—and a passion for the places you’ll explore. And enjoy the company of our travel guides; you’ll find them highly engaging and fun to share a drink or dinner with, as well as a walk.
Assistant Expedition Leader
A Midwestern kid with an insatiable curiosity about places far and foreign, Andy has converted a lucky break after college into a career at sea. From swabbing the decks to advocating for artisans and zooming in Zodiacs, he knows the operation from every department on board. What keeps him fresh after nearly two decades working at sea is waking up somewhere new every morning, the day ahead a blank slate with no way of knowing what marvels nature and serendipity may bring his way. Andy looks forward to sharing this sense of wonder and possibility with guests as they venture together into new realms with Lindblad Expeditions-National Geographic.
Naturalist/Certified Photo Instructor
David has worked for Lindblad Expeditions-National Geographic since 1993 on six continents and in over 65 countries. David is interested in many of the natural sciences, particularly ornithology, geology and marine biology; he most enjoys contrasting the broad perspectives provided by world travel with detailed investigations of local ecosystems on land and in the sea.
Expedition Leader
Jeff was raised in upstate New York and completed his B.A. in geography at Middlebury College in Vermont. He attained his master’s degree in water resource science at Oregon State University where his research focused on glacier hydrology in the Pacific Northwest of the U.S. He spent most of his 20's teaching Earth sciences and geography at the secondary and university level, while taking his summers off to lead wilderness and climbing expeditions throughout the continental U.S., Alaska, and Canada.
National Geographic Photographer
For more than a decade, Krista Rossow has worked as a photographer, photo editor, and educator for National Geographic. She began her career as a photo editor at National Geographic Traveler magazine, where she shaped compelling stories from world-class imagery. In her freelance career, she has shot feature stories as a contributing photographer for Traveler in Japan, South Africa, Morocco, Costa Rica, New Zealand, and various U.S. cities. She regularly judges Instagram contests for @NatGeoTravel and photo edits for National Geographic Books.
Naturalist/Certified Photo Instructor
Mike learned early on that the best way to escape Ohio was to become a marine biologist. During college at Wittenberg University he attended a semester at Duke University's Marine Lab — that time only confirmed his love for all things oceanic and maritime. After graduation, Mike promptly moved to Catalina Island in California where he taught marine biology to school kids. Since 1999, Mike has been working and traveling chasing his three loves: marine critters, photography, and birds.
Naturalist
Rich first became enthralled by the wonders of the natural world around the tide pools and forests of his native New York. Since then, he has embarked on a career in conservation biology that has ranged from teaching science and environmental awareness to teenagers from Los Angeles, to traveling the coast and river deltas of Alaska’s North Slope via Zodiac to reach remote wetlands where he monitored loon nests. After such field biology projects as surveys for mammalian carnivores in the mountains of California, bird migration monitoring in Canada, and a study of army-ant-following birds in the Peruvian Amazon, Rich was drawn back to the sea, and for several years, he taught marine science and island ecology on Catalina Island in California. He has also conducted shipboard surveys for marine mammals and seabirds, as well as tagging studies of sea turtles and pelagic sharks.
Historian
Stephen was born in Singapore, but spent his early childhood on British Forces bases in Germany and his teens in the iconic World Heritage Site of Stonehenge. The combination of armored cars behind the school playground and the view of 4,000-year-old burial mounds from his bedroom window created a deep fascination with history, which he has made into his profession.