Kai is successfully managing nature parks and protected areas in the Caribbean since 1995. He is not an activist, but believes in working directly with communities and governments to develop pragmatic approaches to better manage and protect biodiversity, with full respect for humans and wildlife alike.
Besides his challenging job and primary passion, to document and raise awareness about the fascinating, but vulnerable and threatened tropical marine ecosystems, he developed his underwater videography skills from scratch. Over the years, his interest shifted towards still photography for quicker impact. Recently, with advancing drone technology opening up tremendous opportunities for photo- and videography, as well as nature conservation, he is investing much time and effort to gain in-depth experience in this specialty as well.
The native German received recognition for his involvement in the establishment of the Soufrière Marine Management Area (SMMA) in St. Lucia, which received the British Airways Tourism for Tomorrow - IUCN Special Award for National Parks and Protected Areas in 1997. In the same year, the SMMA was also a top contestant for the “Grand Prix International de l’Environment Marin” (CMAS International Marine Environment Award). Since 2009, Kai is in charge of the marine and terrestrial parks on Saba. He was involved in the established of the Saba Bank National Marine Park in 2011 and the Mount Scenery Nature Park in 2018.
Kai has been featured in numerous magazine articles and TV documentaries, for example:
“Heroes of the Depth - My Greatest Dive Ever” for the British Airways “High Life’ in flight magazine in 2000, National Geographic’s episode “Strange Days on Planet Earth - Predators” in 2003, “Terra X - Universum der Ozeane” in 2009 and “Terra X - Abenteuer Karibik” by the German TV channel ZDF in 2018.
He also gained experience as an assistant and consultant to the Production Manager for the German TV-production “Inseln unter dem Wind”, for which he got involved in the script development and negotiation process with government authorities, officials and companies in St. Lucia. He was also responsible for location management, casting and paying of small roles and extras. He further assisted and participated in the production of several other TV- and movie projects in St. Lucia (“National Geographic Explorer”, “Creature”, “The White Squall”, “Der Räuber mit der sanften Hand” et cetera).