Forrest Galante is not your average Santa Barbaran. California-born, Galante was raised with his younger sister in Harare, Zimbabwe, where his family ran a safari business. When he wasn’t fishing or heading up the junior herpetology society, he spent most of his free time in the middle of the African bush. The outdoor skills he learned in his youth would come in handy during his stint as a contestant on the Discovery Channel’s Naked and Afraid last year.
“I grew up there having an incredible childhood and then went to an English boarding school very much like Harry Potter with prefects, corporal and physical punishment,” Galante said. In 2001, however, political uprising forced his family to return to the States; their farm was invaded and burned down, and they were held at gunpoint and forced to pack up and leave within 24 hours. Settling in Cayucos, California, Galante finished high school and went on to study Biology at UCSB.
Now, 25 years old and a freelance biologist, he travels the world exploring unique environments and exotic species. “I’m a wildlife biologist and passionate conservationist. I’m very different in that regard, more like your Steve Irwin, very hands on in the field, catching things and studying them,” Galante said.