Ella Mutch

Ella grew up in England spending much of her time playing outside, exploring and probably getting into trouble. Sport has always been a love of hers. Having tried pretty much everything, she landed on rowing, achieving success at a national level.

Her first trip to Africa in 2005 was the beginning of a fascination with African wildlife. She has spent time volunteering on research and conservation projects working with black rhino, African elephants, and loggerhead sea turtles. In 2019 whilst volunteering in KwaZulu-Natal, her interest in African leopards began to grow. Using camera trap images, she developed a leopard ID kit. This was an extremely enjoyable and rewarding process which further consolidated her desire to forge a career in wildlife research and conservation. Whilst Ella finds it hard to choose a “favourite”, leopards will always have a very special place in her heart.

She completed her BSc in Conservation Biology at the University of Plymouth in 2020. Since graduating she worked as a Plant Health Surveyor, conducting field work to monitor the spread of oak processionary moth in the greater London area. Ella is thrilled to be back in South Africa and looks forward to exploring all Cape Town has to offer.

Thesis: Investigating interspecific competition between Klipspringer and Himalayan Tahr in Table Mountain National Park (Supervisors: Justin O'Riain, Greg Distiller).