Hi. I’m Nicole, the writer and photographer behind Wildlandia.
I grew up in a log cabin in the backwoods of North Carolina and spent most of my childhood knee-deep in creek beds and climbing old oak trees. Trey, my longtime boyfriend and partner in crime, moved-in a mile down the road from me in the seventh grade and we’ve been by each other’s side pretty much every since. I studied animal biology during my undergraduate studies, and surfed/swam my way through graduate school at University of California San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography where I got a Masters researching marine mammals.
After traveling and living in tropical and remote places researching dolphins (bottlenose and orcas) and toothed whales (rare frankenstein-looking beaked whales) for nearly a decade, I made the move into working with a very common, very terrestrial species: dogs. I privately train dogs in the Bay Area and love helping families better understand their animal roommates. Trey and I have two dogs of our own that we adopted together – a blue heeler named Jack, and border collie named Keeper. A calico kitty who showed up at my doorstep in college rounds out the rest of our fam.
When I’m not training dogs or writing here, I like to go diving, tend to my greenhouse, and travel. So far we’ve been to Thailand (Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Koh Phi Phi, Phuket), The Philippines (Palawan, Manila), Spain (Barcelona), Mexico (Los Cabos, Playa del Carmen, Isla Mujeres), Costa Rica (San Jose, road tripped from Osa Peninsula to Manuel Antonio), Italy (Naples, road tripped from Amalfi Coast to Rome), France (Paris), British Columbia, Hong Kong, South Korea and more.
These days we call the hills just on the outskirts of San Francisco home and spend most weekends getting out of dodge around the west coast and beyond with the dogs in our old school 1987 Landcruiser, Lola…when she decides to start up.
If you’d like to say hello, advertise, or collaborate – feel free to drop me a line at: nic@wildlandia.com.
Thanks for stopping by!
SELECTED PRESS:
Our dog is really good at balancing things on his head. Name a common household item for him to balance! |
This Dog Can Stack Literally Anything On His Head |
Dog Balances Festive Objects on His Head for the Holidays |
Keeping a level head: Dog’s balancing act goes viral |
Balancing Dog, Jack, Can Hold Almost Any Household Object On His Head (PHOTOS) |
Jack the Balancing Dog |