Meet The Team

Founder of Woodland Rebels (previously the WildWise Hunger Games) Robin was halfway through watching the first Hunger Games film back in 2012 when he knew he’d found the answer to his problem. His problem was how to entice teens back into nature when they were faced with so many other demands on their attention from a new technological age. Growing up in the 70s and 80s Robin was one of the last generations to play outside and struggled with seeing the nature deficit disorder so clearly prevalent in the children he worked with. By the end of the film an idea had already formulated in my mind that the Hunger Games would become the Trojan Horse of Nature Connection and the hook he’d been looking for. The books became bestsellers and the films became cult. Kids wanted to follow their heroes of Katniss, Gale and Peeta into the woods and learn the skills they had employed to ‘survive the Arena’. This was a game changer.

 Robin has been teaching various forms of nature connection with kids since 2001 and has worked with every age of kid from every background. Primary and secondary schools, colleges, universities, pupil referral units , youth probation, and within the prison system.When he’s not running these camps, he could tracking cheetahs in Namibia as once a year he runs expeditions to the Kalahari desert in Africa to work with and support the remote San Ju/Hoansi Bushman communities as part of a company he set up called Tracking the Kalahari (www.trackingthekalahari.org). 

As the co-founder of The Old Way (www.theoldway.info) program Robin also offers a deep dive into human rewilding, exploring the hunter- gatherer lifeways in 21st century Devon. He has taught at Schumacher College for many years on various programs with themes around tracking, nature connection and trees as well as on many WildWise programs such as Call of the Wild program. For years he worked with young prisoners as part of the charity Rite to Freedom taking them out onto the wilds of Dartmoor. 

 However you’re as likely though to find him behind a chainsaw or with a pair of binoculars in hand as rewilding and ecological restoration is his other passion. Robin manages The Moor Barton Rewilding project on Dartmoor; a 120 acre site of developing wood pasture, wetlands and mature woodland where the land and people have been rewilding for over a decade.

In his spare time (ha ha ha) he lives in the heart of Dartmoor on a smallholding with his family foraging, fishing and doing the school run!

Sam Kouzarides grew up home-educated in nature and a vibrant learning community. After studying and working in conservation and environmental education he found his vocation in nature-connection mentoring. 
 
Supported by training in nature-connection facilitation and lifestage honouring and rites of passage, Sam leads nature-based courses, events and youth mentoring programs, teaches nature studies and bushcraft and offers one-to-one mentoring. He moved to Devon in 2014 as WildWise’s seasonal assistant where he assisted on one of the first camps Robin ran under the WildWise banner and has been part of the furniture ever since.
 
Sam had been involved with introducing the Way of Council to schools in Devon and holds council circles in nature connection programs and for the land-based community in which he lives.
 
Sam is passionate about exploring our nature as humans, rediscovering a more connective culture and tending our relationship to the natural world. He brings a playful element to awaken the child in all of us and likes nothing more than a good adventure.
Nowadays he is also a key part of Robin’s team who run trips to the Kalahari desert in Namibia to live and learn from the Ju/Hoansi San Bushmen with the company Tracking the Kalahari.

I've been staffing these incredible camps for 5 years and they are an absolute highlight of my year. The culture of raucous fun, creative play, deep connection and kindness is totally unique and touches everyone, staff and kids alike.  When I'm not running around the arena, I'm running nature connection programs elsewhere and restoring ancient woodlands.

My role at the camps is training the tributes in nature awareness and collaborative decision making, cutting the firewood, and stealthing around in the woods to keep the tributes on their toes.... this may sometimes involve a gorilla suit...

I attended my first camp at the age of 13, in 2012, and since then have attended 5 more camps as a tribute, and another 10 as a member of staff. 2024 will be my 3rd year managing the kitchen. When I wasn’t busy running around the woods, in my personal life I was building a career as a professional chef in Sussex.  The busy lifestyle of hospitality comes with many drawbacks, but the main advantage is that I get to share my love of food with the wonderful people who come year after year to the valley.

I take great pride in making sure that everyone is fed and happy and that all of their dietary needs are respected and fulfilled. Just like when I was a tribute I keep returning to camp every year to see a group of my closest friends in the world, make new ones, and to see the attendees make intimate connections to nature, all while having the most fun of our lives.

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My first year working on the staff team was 2021, where I only intended to stay for a day, but instantly realised that this is where I needed to be and I haven’t missed a camp since. The amazing dynamic between all of the kids and how we get to interact with them in the games as adults blew me away! Having worked with young people and adults in the outdoors for many years I can honestly say this is the best all round experience for everyone involved, there are learning opportunities hidden around every aspect of the camps whether you’re participating or volunteering.

Outside of the camps I work alongside Robin and others at a 120 acre rewilding project called Moorbarton as the site manager. I usually spend 2-3 months a year working on the camps; inventing, prepping, packing, transporting, setting up, only to do it all in reverse order once the camps have finished!

My main roles during the camps are as the site manager where I do my best to keep everything working and waterproof but more importantly the lead of the first aid team, coordinating and participating in looking after the physical and medical wellbeing of everyone on site at all times. Luckily these roles still allow me to camo up and get in the woods!

I found these camps through Facebook in 2013, when I was 14, and cannot begin to explain how much influence they have had on my life. Living in towns and cities all my life, those summers were the most time I had to connect with nature growing up. As soon as I turned 18, I began volunteering so I could stay in touch with this project, nature and with all the people i had connected with over the years.

Nowadays, between my work in rewilding and conservation, I help with admin, volunteer coordination, and other behind the scenes work for these camps to help ensure everything runs as smooth as possible!

I went to my first hunger games camp when I was 13, and I've been back every year since- it's always the highlight of my summer! The skills I learnt, and the sense of freedom that the camps gave me, really influenced the way I view nature and my relationship with it. I've been volunteering as a staff member since 2018, and it's so rewarding to enable more young people to experience nature in this way. It's also just as much fun for the staff as it is for the tributes, as well as a chance to spend time with some of my best friends.

During the rest of the year I spend my time teaching music in schools around Yorkshire, and playing in brass bands.

I first came to camp as a tribute in 2017 and absolutely loved my experience. The amazing memories I made in these woods stayed with me and once I left school in 2022, I came to volunteer for the first time and caught the bug again. I’ve come every year since and each time it’s just as, if not more, rewarding than the last. Witnessing all the tributes form connections with nature and express themselves is just as amazing each year.

 
I’ve also learnt so much over my time as a staff member. Each year I come away feeling like I have a new skill that I would never have learnt elsewhere.
The rest of the year I’m currently studying mechanical engineering at Glasgow city collage.