Born in Bilbao in 1977, during her childhood she spent a great deal of time in the countryside and in the mountains between the Basque Country, the north of Burgos, and Galicia. She studied Veterinary medicine and a little time after graduating she went to work as a volunteer in a wild animal rescue centre in Venezuela. From there and after some initial experiences working as a vet with non-human primates, she went to Holland to work at a simian rescue centre, Stichting AAP. Her next challenge was to set up her own NGO with her husband, Argitoe Ranting and some other team-mates. In her search for funding Karmele came into contact with International Animal Rescue with whom she created IAR Indonesia a centre that rescues and rehabilitates orangutans and other simians before returning them to the wild.