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Shivani Bhalla was born in Nairobi, Kenya in 1978. She attended primary and secondary school in Nairobi. Secondary school camping trips and safaris organised by her parents confirmed Shivani's passion in wildlife. In 1996, Shivani left for Lancaster University, England to undertake a Bachelor of Science Honours degree in Environmental Science, that included a year’s exchange to the State University of New York at Stony Brook.Upon successful completion of her studies, Shivani returned to Kenya where she worked with the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), which included her strong involvement in the CITES conference in Nairobi in 2000, where she campaigned for the continued ban on the ivory trade. Shivani’s work within KWS subsequently enabled her to gain employment as a wildlife biologist with Save the Elephants (STE) in 2000. In December 2002, Shivani moved to Samburu in Northern Kenya, where she still resides. Shivani soon developed a greater interest in lions when a lioness named Kamunyak adopted a baby oryx antelope. As a result, Shivani completed a Master of Science degree in Wildlife Biology and Conservation by distance learning with Napier University, Scotland. This focused on the population size, structure and movements of lions within the reserves in the region. Shivani will commence her PhD studies with the University of Oxford in 2007 that will continue the lion study she initiated in 2003. Shivani is currently STE’s Education Officer, where she works with students from the local communities and also liaises with schools on the establishment and maintenance of environmental and wildlife conservation programmes. Shivani is a Bronze level guide with the Kenya Professional Safari Guides Association, and her articles and photographs have been published in such forums as Applied Animal Science Behavior journal and National Geographic.