Leif Ryman

Areas of Expertise

Biography

Leif Ryman, grew up in the mountains of Eastern Oregon, spending his youth interacting with nature, and stumbling into adventures around every corner.  He was raised with the values of respecting nature, and different peoples’ beliefs and cultures.  His family summer vacations could probably be described as Eco/Adventures around the country, visiting natural areas, and National Parks, before Ecotourism was even in regular use as a term to describe that type of travel.  At a young age he was fortunate enough to have visited many of the great National Parks throughout the Western US.  This led to a great appreciation for nature based travel and an early education in the responsibilities of traveling to delicate natural ecosystems.

Educational Background

Later in life Leif spent time on a Rotary Exchange in high school living in Sweden, and studying in Ghana West Africa in college, with these experiences he learned about the importance of respecting local cultures and beliefs and the potentially negative consequences of tourism on them.  He also learned how important it is for people around the world to be able to learn about the ways others live without disturbing their cultures and beliefs with their own.  Taking what he learned in early life with his experiences in later life, then combining them with an active lifestyle it is easy to see how he became and Adventure Eco-Tourist.

Green Bug Adventures was started after Leif had been out of college for a few years and working a desk job.  He constantly longed for more adventure and travel and re-connecting with Africa where he had spent some time in college and had fallen in love with the people, culture, land and adventure.  He ran across an article in Inc. Magazine about an adventure travel company started by someone much like himself which had grown to be pretty successfully in the last 10 years.  After communicating with the owner about the opportunity to be a part of this company and potentially help to expand it into Africa he decided to start his own company when it looked like he would not be able to work with this other business.  Green Bug Adventures is now the outlet of all of Leif’s passion for travel, Africa, and adventures, he wishes to share with the world.