About Dez of My Deztination

Hey guys, I'm Dez!

I’m an American girl who gave up the traditional lifestyle & career to become a wildlife conservationist, world traveler & entrepreneur.

After traveling solo across several countries I decided to settle in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, where I started my online business, fell in love with the culture & found an inexpensive tropical destination I could call home.

Since then I've created several new branches of my company, from dating services to PV activities, while providing Mexico lifestyle services and world-wide volunteer opportunities to my readers through inspiring articles, videos & photography.

But this is only just the beginning…

Ever since I was a little girl I knew I wanted to work with animals in their natural habitat, so I started training as a veterinary technician when I was 17 years old. At the time I thought my goal was to become a veterinarian and open my own clinic, so I put myself through undergraduate vet school at the University of Hawaii while I worked full time at a local veterinary clinic on the island of Oahu.

After a few years of struggling to maintain the expensive Hawaiian lifestyle while working inside the four white walls of a veterinary clinic and studying full-time to be an animal doctor, I decided I wanted to do MORE; I wanted to be outside with the animals, getting my hands dirty and working toward protecting them in their natural environments…I just didn´t know what that meant yet.

So I took a risk and dropped out of vet school to pursue my dream of traveling to Thailand to volunteer at the Elephant Nature Park in their veterinary student program.

And boy was I so glad I did!

Working at ENP in Thailand taught me things about conservation and the impact of tourism on wildlife around the world more than vet school ever could, and it truly changed my life. I had no idea the terrible things that elephants had to go through just to be “trained” enough to accept rides from tourists…and this was only the beginning of my discoveries…

Please prepare yourself before watching this heartbreaking video: The Pajon Treatment – Breaking the elephant’s spirit to be ridden by tourists.

This video broke my heart but changed my life for the better – it gave me PURPOSE – a purpose to educate travelers on the negative effects of tourism on animals and inspire them to help me change the world, one animals’ life at a time.

While studying under the founder of ENP - a nature park designed to protect elephants from the Pajon treatment and a life in entertainment - I learned that there are ways to have close encounters with wildlife in their natural and untouched environment, to learn from them and be inspired to protect them and our planet without using them for entertainment.

But today’s world of tourism and wildlife protection wasn’t designed that way.

I realized then that my passion for wildlife conservation and talents in marketing and tourism were accumulated throughout my life because I was meant to do something more than I ever thought possible…I was meant to start my own nature park with the goal of preserving their natural habitat and provide education and inspiration for people around the world to fall in love with them - just like I did.

But here´s the caveat – where could I start such a large project where the animals need my protection as well as the major question:

How the heck could I ever pull something like this off???

I decided to continue my search around the world for a place that needed my passions and talents where I could truly make an impact on the effects of tourism on wildlife and their natural environment.

And I found that when I came to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

And as expected, starting my nature park wasn´t as simple as claiming a piece of land and protecting the species on it. It has required a lot of networking, building my brand and credibility locally, as well as on the ground investigating of the needs of the culture and natural wildlife in this new city I called home.

After almost 3 years of living in Mexico and surviving on my eco-tourism business, I moved into a little jungle casa where I met a very special girl named Waka, a green military macaw that had been shot from the sky and could no longer fly, and was rescued by my landlord and given the best life she could possibly have with her permanent injury.

I realized then how special Puerto Vallarta was - the place that the endangered Guacamaya´s (Spanish for Macaw) called home but were quickly being pushed to extinction because of poachers, financial gain and tourism.

This experience has forced me into a sense of urgency to protect these birds as well as the other endangered wildlife in Mexico, while still balancing respect for the culture and it´s people.

My goal is to open my wildlife nature park in Puerto Vallarta as a place where endangered animals can call home, with a focus on rehabilitation, reproduction and release back into the wild.

I would like to open this conservation park to the public to offer education and inspiration to other people like myself, hoping to spread the message that Animals are not for Entertainment…and close encounters with protected wildlife is possible without causing harmful impacts on the environment, the species or the wonderful culture of Mexico.

If you would like to connect with me and help contribute to the goal of this nature park or need any of my Mexico lifestyle services or PV activities, send me an email at dez@mydeztination.com. I look forward to hearing from you.

Elephant Nature Park

This is Khamla, a baby elephant suffering from a form of herpes virus deadly to Asian elephants. Because Khamla refused to take his medications orally, the veterinary team administered the antiviral rectally throughout the day and night.