Many young south coasties leave their home to study, pursue a career or travel. One thing this pandemic has done is bring people home, and Chris has appreciated it.

Chris was working as a trekking guide in Patagonia when COVID-19 broke out.

He was sad to leave, but grateful to return to his Tuross Head family home.

Chris sent some of his photographs to Australian Community Media and I was impressed.

His images of local wildlife were stunning, but it was the photographs of big cats that caught my eye - I had to meet this guy.

As I roll down the hill towards Coila Beach, I see a man with his binoculars staring into the Norfolk Pines.

It had to be Chris.

I parked, and Chris enthusiastically waved me over to check out the action: hooded plover chicks under attack.

"You just missed it!" Chris said.

"The butcher bird picked up one of the plover's chicks and dropped it right over there."

I discover he is monitoring plover predators for the National Parks and Wildlife Service.

After 15 years overseas, the 36 year-old was upset to leave his Patagonian life behind, but there hasn't been a dull moment since his return.

"Coming back to the South Coast, I have really found a love for the place and the animals," Chris said as we walked the boulevard.

He tells me that, at the age of 21, he was a talented skateboarder aiming to turn pro, but an injury on the Central Coast crushed his dreams.

He wasn't as connected to the environment back then, but decided to go wild and found himself hanging out with pumas in Patagonia and gorillas in Africa.

We sat in the Memorial Gardens at Tuross Head. Chris passes me some hot Yerba Mate - a traditional South American tea and shares his first touring experiences in Turkey; guiding a hop-on hop-off bus.

"I got the job because of my passion for culture and language and the history I knew with the ANZACs," he said.

He headed to South America to lead six-month overland truck tours.

"We started in Columbia then went to Argentina and up to Rio in Brazil - visiting all the countries in between," Chris said.

"I visited all the most beautiful places in South America, but the most beautiful for me was Patagonia."

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Chris quit his tour job and headed for Patagonia to find work.

He was soon on his last $20.

"I am Australian, so what was I going to do? ... spend it on beer," he laughed.

"I then met a guy at the pub who was opening a luxury hotel."

He began working in one of the world's most famous national parks: the Torres Del Paine.

He led wildlife tours for the Awasi Hotel.

Chris said people would come just to photograph the world's biggest mountain lion species - the puma.

Now, I thought I was a little cat crazy, but Chris takes the title.

"Most pumas are around 80kg, but I hung out with one that's 100kg," Chris said.

"Everywhere else in the world, they're around 50kg.

"We were always careful not to impede on their natural behaviour."

Chris led billionaire American Howard Buffet on a tour five years ago.

"We got along well. I wasn't there to sugarcoat things," Chris said.

"For him to get the best experience but to keep it safe, I told him how it is, and he appreciated that."

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Chris said they found seven pumas in four days - a good result as puma tourism was only just kicking off.

Mr Buffet asked Chris what he wanted to do when the puma season ended.

"I told Howard I really wanted to guide in Africa," Chris said.

"He said, 'I will send you there'."

Two months later, Chris and his girlfriend would be guides in one of the most biodiverse yet dangerous national parks, Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

"More than 170 rangers had been killed fighting a war against rebels inside the national park," Chris said.

"All of a sudden I was flying into this camp that features in a documentary.

"I meet the guy who features in the film, Emmanuel de Merode, who is director of the national park.

"Emmanuel, who was also a pilot, flew us in to manage a camp in the centre of the park.

"I had never seen an elephant in the wild; we were flying over herds of elephants and seeing monkeys in the trees.

"We arrive at this beautiful camp on the Ishasha River, which bordered Uganda. It's in the savannah plains, but in the forest."

Chris said he was dropped off at a half-built camp, with eight tents and no plumbing or electricity.

"It was super remote," he said.

Builders and staff were sent, including waiters and a chef.

"We were told there are spitting cobras that can kill you, hippos that can kill you, a rebel camp half an hour away that can kill you and lions that can kill you," Chris said.

Chris had to organise rangers for protection.

The pair was depending on their experience to scout out where they could walk and what was safe ... all before guests arrived in one week.

"We were like Tarzan and Jane in the jungle," Chris said. "The first guests were paying $160 a night, and when I left six months later it was about $600 a night."

They took pride in building the business up.

The park is famous for its mountain gorillas. Of about a thousand remaining on earth, about half live in the Virunga mountains.

Read Chris' account of his hike of Mount Nyiragongo, An Aussie, a volcano and 12 gorillas, HERE.

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Chris said just 10 percent of the 8000 sq km park was used for tourism.

"It costs a lot of money to run the park and tourism was important; they needed that new camp opened up," he said.

Chris left Africa inspired to help the poor and set up the Sepca Foundation.

"I have always loved animals and conservation but fell in love with the people - the staff, who became my friends."

"After witnessing their reaction to a pair of thongs I gave them from Australia - I felt we needed to help these guys out," Chris said.

This passionate but humble traveller hopes to write a book called Pumas to Primates.

"I want people to join me on the experiences and my passion for animals and the environment," he said.

Chris reminded me how grateful I was for my own travel experiences and for the place I call home.

It's amazing how travel can alter your outlook on life and give you new appreciation for simple things you once took for granted.

Perhaps we can forget about overseas travel for a while and copy Chris, who was perfectly happy exploring in his own backyard.

"There's such a rich abundance of wildlife here," he said.

"From Batemans Bay all the way down south."

I wouldn't want to be any where else during this pandemic. How about you?

To keep up with Chris' adventures, follow his Instagram - @chriscanguro