As an African conservation photographer, on this page I share my thoughts and personal history around African conservation photography. The list below includes the conservation organisations and humanitarian charities I support largely through the auctioning of wildlife prints.
Wild Shots Outreach: Donation of 16 ‘Phototips – Getting it right in camera‘ books to introduce underprivileged children to African wildlife photography.
Game Ranger Association: African conservation photography donation in the form of fine art wildlife prints to support rangers.
Painted Wolf Wines: African conservation photography donation in the form of fine art wildlife prints to aid wild dog conservation.
Choc Cows: Photography donation in the form of fine art wildlife prints to aid children with cancer.
Mad charity: Photography donation in the form of fine art wildlife prints to aid underprivileged education.
Rebuilding the Pride: Lion conservation in Kenya $25 000 raised personally, $32 000 raised for a ranger vehicle and $10 000 for a new Wild Dog project through Remembering Wildlife.
Guild Cottage: Photography donation in the form of fine art wildlife prints to aid help sexually abused girls.
Philile Foundation: Photography donation in the form of fine art wildlife prints to build a school for the underprivileged.
Bethany Home: Photography donation in the form of fine art wildlife prints for school fees.
Fight With Insight: Photography donation in the form of fine art wildlife prints for troubled youth.
Lawyers Against Abuse: Photography donation in the form of fine art wildlife prints for gender based violence.
Remembering Wildlife: For rhino, elephant, great apes, lion, cheetah and wild dog conservation. One of only 13 photographers to contribute to each series and over $1 million raised.
Pretoria Boys High: Wildlife society book prizes and presentations.
The Boucher Legacy: Rhino conservation – marketing material.
Children in the Wilderness: African conservation photography donation in the form of fine art wildlife prints for facilitating sustainable conservation of rural children in Africa.
Gondwana Conservation Foundation: African conservation photography donation in the form of fine art wildlife prints to aid rhino conservation, children and community involvement.
Rhinos Without Borders (5% of the total RACK accommodation cost is paid over by the Oryx Conservation Fund, for all my safaris going to Great Plains properties)
Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation ($50 per client per safari is paid over by the Oryx Conservation Fund, excluding safaris going to Great Plains properties)
Wildlife Ranger Challenge: The Global Wildlife Conservation foundation hosted a sale of wildlife photography from 20 of the world’s leading conservation photographers to support ranger teams in Africa that have been most severely hit by the economic implications of COVID-19. The lack of tourism has resulted in many rangers being furloughed or losing their jobs, leaving many families destitute and wildlife unprotected. A full 100% of the proceeds went to rangers on the ground, administered by Tusk Trust and providing a lifeline to their communities as well as iconic wildlife such as elephants, pangolins, rhinos, and lions. Four X-large (130cm) limited edition Greg du Toit wildlife prints were sold to this good cause with a total donation amount of US$12,760.
Ann Harding Cheshire Home: I donated 20 framed fine art wildlife prints to help decorate this incredible home for persons with physical disabilities.
Inspire Malawi: Donated 4 prints from my fine art wildlife gallery to support rural primary schools in Malawi.
Prints for Wildlife: 50 Wildlife Portraits donated to help raise funds for African Parks. An African conservation photography collaboration.
“Images have the power to affect how we feel about the natural world and therefore how we treat it.”
As an African conservation photographer, I have a valuable commodity in the form of highly exclusive limited edition wildlife prints that can be sold or auctioned off. It therefore makes sense that I donate these prints to conservation projects that help conserve the very animals that I spend my life working with as an African conservation photographer. But which conservation projects should I donate to? This is a fundamental question all conservation photographers should ask.
My personal plan was to find a conservation project that was small enough for me to be able to work alongside with as an African conservation photographer and of course one that is really making a difference. I also wanted to back a project whose work I believed in and what better way to do this, than by having actually witnessed their conservation successes on the ground – with my own eyes. And so it came to pass that I became the official Conservation Ambassador for a lion project in Kenya called Rebuilding The Pride. The project operates in the south Rift Valley of Kenya, a place where I lived, and indeed where I cut my teeth as a wildlife photographer way back in 2004-2006. During that time there were only 12 or so lions in the area and I am happy to report that there are now many more and over 80! This is largely thanks to Rebuilding The Pride, who work alongside the local Maasai to help support and facilitate a coexistence.
“Lions are the very image of majesty and indeed of Africa itself.”
These are no ordinary lions that we are trying to protect; they are free ranging lion, living outside of a formal park or national game reserve. A large percentage of Africa’s remaining lion population does in fact occur outside of protected parks and what a sad day it will be when the only lions left in Africa are the ones in parks, surrounded by dozens of safari jeeps and minivans. As an African conservation photographers, this cannot happen on our watch. One of the really sticky points around free ranging lion populations is conflict between lion and livestock, and this is exactly where Rebuilding The Pride comes into play:
Teams of lion monitors are deployed every day to track and find lion. This way the project is able to communicate to the villages and herders valuable information about the lions whereabouts and activity. This in turn allows them to make educated decisions abut where to graze their livestock. Added to this service, Rebuilding The Pride operate a 24 hour hotline allowing the community to report lost livestock to the lion monitors, who then facilitate a rescue operation to return the lost animal to its rightful owner. Speed is of the essence as livestock must be rescued before the lions find them and before the villagers come into contact with either lions or other dangerous game, like elephant and buffalo, while looking for their lost livestock and often in the dark of the night.
The above-mentioned projects are just two ways in which the Rebuilding The Pride team are actively, and practically, working to make a difference. As an African conservation photographer and ambassador I saw the need to raise money to buy a pick-up truck for the Rebuilding The Pride project so that lost livestock could be loaded effectively, and returned to the Maasai before conflict occurs. To date I have hosted 3 talks and exhibitions in Kenya and the USA, and managed to raise in excess of $25 000 for the Rebuilding The Pride projects. Through introducing the project to the Remembering Lions initiative and facilitating a trip to show the good work being done, I am happy to report that a further $32 000 was donated. These funds have been used to buy the aforementioned pick-up truck.
As an African conservation photographer I host photo safaris in the area, thereby actively reinforcing with the community that their wildlife has a real and tangible value. If you would like to help and learn more about Rebuilding The Pride, and meet the lions, researchers and the Maasai, then please do get in touch. It is a wonderful photographic safari that promises a wild adventure far off the beaten track and includes photographing flamingoes from a helicopter and Maasai cultural photography as well as a Shompole hide experience.
“Within the last 20 years or so lion numbers have fallen by almost half.”
In concluding my thoughts on African conservation photography I must add that wildlife conservation is not only about protecting wildlife. It is as much about helping and supporting people as it is about saving animals. If human populations the world over, but especially those surrounding wildlife, are not looked after – then what hope does our planet or the wild animals inhabiting it really have? This is a key reason why as an African conservation photographer I support Rebuilding The Pride because they work with both lion and people, helping ensure coexistence. It is also the reason why I often donate wildlife portraits to charities that are not necessarily wildlife based.
Only when people are being looked after can we guarantee that animals will be too. This is a simple fact outlined in Maslow’s hierarchy. I support conservation projects and humanitarian charities through the donation and auctioning of my African wildlife fine art photography and books. In most cases I handle the printing costs of the prints myself which means that every cent raised has gone to the project or charity.
The end.
“Great pictures of nature have one thing in common – they are unforgettable.”