Robert Louis DeMayo is an award‑winning novelist, explorer, and storyteller whose work sits at the crossroads of adventure, wildlife, and the human urge to wander. A long‑time member of The Explorers Club and current Chair of its Southwest Chapter, he draws on decades of field experience to help audiences see the world—and themselves—with more curiosity and courage.
Before thirty, Robert had already traveled through roughly 100 countries, often overland, working as an adventure and travel journalist and sending dispatches from remote corners of Africa, Asia, and Alaska. Those years on the road became the backbone of ten books, including historical novels, mysteries, and travelogues that have earned multiple independent‑press awards and a devoted readership for their vivid sense of place and deep respect for wildlife and local culture.
As Chair of The Explorers Club Southwest Chapter, Robert helps connect scientists, adventurers, and conservationists, championing storytelling as a bridge between fieldwork and public understanding. His talks braid together this legacy with personal encounters—from being surrounded by wild orangutans in Sumatra to trekking to see mountain gorillas in the Virungas and listening to gibbons call across Asian forests.
DeMayo has spoken regularly at bookstores, festivals, schools and libraries. In recent years, Robert has brought these stories into classrooms and student gatherings, helping young people reframe anxiety—about the future, the planet, or their own lives—as an invitation to curiosity. He has spoken at schools across Arizona, tailoring his programs for English and history classes, library assemblies, and all‑school events.
Whether guiding students through the moment a lioness stepped out of the dark in Botswana or reflecting on how a darkroom photograph of a mountain gorilla redirected his life, Robert’s goal is the same: to show that curiosity is not a luxury, but a survival skill and a source of meaning.