Dr. Byron du Preez is Zimbabwean born and raised. He has dedicated his professional career to large-scale holistic conservation. He did his doctoral research on the impact of lions on leopard behavioural ecology, developing a solid bio-statistical foundation on which he built whilst providing domain expertise to various conservation initiatives throughout the region before joining Akashinga as the Chief Scientist in 2020.

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Byron is obsessed with snakes, especially with regard to public education focused on reducing the level and severity of envenomation incidents, which collectively represents one of the greatest causes of preventable death and disability throughout Africa.