Tripp grew up in Raleigh, just down the road from Duke. He has worked on a wide variety of projects: with rhinos and lions in Namibia, with wolves in Yellowstone, with Alaska Native communities in the Arctic, elephants in India, and on the BP Oil Spill in Louisiana. During his most recent conservation work, he was on a Fulbright in Kazakhstan to help with snow leopard efforts. He loves whitewater paddling, winter hiking, and Carolina basketball. His photography and writing have appeared in magazines in the US and in Asia.