When Bayer was 2 years old, he traveled with his parents to East Africa, where they were making a film on elephants. He began learning about other cultures and memorizing the Swahili names of animals while floating above the African landscape in hot air balloons and chasing elephants in Range Rovers. These experiences were the building blocks for his global point of view while growing up in the small town of Jackson Hole, Wyoming, on the outskirts of Grand Teton and Yellowstone national parks.