These are honestly amazing photos. They look so good and professional. Have you taken photography classes?
I've not taken any classes, all self-taught
These are fantastic! I particular like the Gemsbok, and the Zebra mother with her youngling, and that spider web. You have a very good eye! Thank you for sharing!
Thank you
Wow! You have a real talent! And such beautiful animals.
Thank you for sharing your beautiful gift with us. Have you ever submitted any of your work to a wildlife magazine? If not, you probably should.
And I love the photos of the dogs the most, of course! I have done Schutzhund training with dogs so I find it really interesting when other people share their experiences with protection work.
I've not tried to get any of my photos published, largely because I don't know how lol.
I loved the days we got to work with the dogs and puppies. Two of the current Anti-poaching dog team are only a few years from retirement so the puppies are being trained up to replace them. The older dogs will still stay with their handlers though as they're inseparable.
There's no point in me denying it - sheer unadulterated envy. It looks like you had a fantastic time.
I did indeed
I get a little solemn being allowed to see the biodiversity that was once present in all regions. I hope africa cares enough about what they have left.
South Africa actually has some of the best preserved biodiversity in the world. I think it was prior to the 1940’s, animals were seen more as pests by the white colonisers, but post 1940’s saw the era of conservation and species numbers have grown vastly since.
A lot of conservation is done by private land owners as animals are seen to have value, some choosing to use their land for wildlife reserves rather than cattle farming, benefiting both environment and species. However, unfortunately many are giving up on keeping White Rhino as they’re incredibly expensive and dangerous to keep safe with poaching being such an issue.
Rhino are the passion of the reserve I stayed at but sadly the public at large don’t seem to have much interest in supporting Rhino charities and the preservation of this wonderful species. At current rates of decline they may only have a decade or so left and the laws banning the sale of Rhino horn is actually hampering the conservation efforts of the people on the front line and drawing targets on their backs as they have to dehorn and then store the horn away at great expense with money they don’t have. I’m hoping to go back next June to help with the de-horning.
The Rhino in the middle is Jodi, and her daughter, Hope is on the left. Named as she was the first rhino born after a devastating poaching incident, which took a Rhino named Raine and her young daughter in 2020.
This is the lady that runs the reserve, the people there are truly passionate about what they do
