Who is Fauna?
It’s not about selling travel–it’s about building positive relationships and connecting people with nature.
Hi, I’m Scott Dubois, the founder, travel advisor, and content creator at Fauna. After working in travel editorial for years, I pursued my dream of starting a travel company that is focused on authentic relationships and creating the world’s best outdoor travel experiences. Fauna combines my passion for design, nature, storytelling, and travel into a place where I can create transformative journeys for others. I want to make the planning process as mindful as possible because it enables the creation of itineraries that will resonate with you most.
I’m an avid gardener and hiker with a background in environmental education, geography, and visual design. I’ve worked as both an elementary school teacher and a web designer, but most recently, I was the Creative Director at Andrew Harper’s Hideaway Report, a storied luxury travel publication. While working there, I stayed in dozens of the world’s best hotels and explored the stunning landscapes they were located in. Those days spent in nature changed how I see the world, and I want to share that.
Fortunately, when you are working as a travel writer, many of your best travel experiences are well documented. Each trip is special in its own way, but a few stand out to me.
Our trip to Kenya allowed us to stay in two of my favorite properties in the world, Giraffe Manor and Sasaab. Giraffe Manor is as magical as it looks, and it is the ideal place to dramatically set the stage for any Kenya itinerary. The Safari Collection, operators of Giraffe Manor, also own Sasaab, a luxury safari camp in the Samburu National Reserve in Northern Kenya. The arid landscape, friendly Samburu people, and abundant wildlife appealed to me. We stayed the week before they closed for the “short rains” season, so we were the only guests there to see the first rains arrive to break the drought. I made the following video of Giraffe Manor for the Hideaway Report on that trip.
Our onsen tour of Japan was blissfully relaxing–we visited seven hot springs over two weeks, including the modern Hoshinoya Tokyo and the historic Wanosato. This trip was also the first time I was given a feature in the Hideaway Report, and it tuned me into using storytelling to design my itineraries. You can download the article about that trip here if you’d like to read more.
I would be remiss not to include my wedding and honeymoon. Wynn and I were married at one of the best hotels in the world, San Ysidro Ranch in Montecito, California. The gardens there are stunning and made for a romantic start to our honeymoon, which took us to Sabi Sands in South Africa and Benguerra Island in Mozambique. Safaris are great places to meet people and make new friends, but I remember the elephants most from that trip. This is paraphrased from my journal:
Every day on our game drives we would encounter the same herd of elephants. They were particularly comfortable with us and would bring their two small calves within ten feet of our Land Rover to graze. Spending so much time in their presence was extremely humbling. Early on the morning of our departure we drove to meet our flight that would start us on the next leg of our trip to Mozambique. We were very surprised to find the herd of elephants waiting next to the small prop plane. As we took off over the bush we could see the elephant family standing in a line along the runway swinging their trunks in the dawn light. The sight brought tears to our eyes.
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