Some of my favourite photos taken during my trip to Rwanda in 2017 to see the endangered mountain gorillas … (main image: This gorilla structure is located at the site of Kwita Izina -a centuries old Rwandan tradition for giving a name to a new born baby gorilla. The structure was blown over in a storm but has since been rebuilt.) Innocence – this tiny fluffy baby would wander up and stare intently SaveSaveSaveSave SaveSave SaveSave SaveSave SaveSave SaveSave
In May last year, the colonial-era metre-gauge Lunatic Express sleeper train from Nairobi to Mombasa, which used to last anything from 16 – 24 hours, ended. It was replaced by a new fast standard-gauge line (SGR) taking only four hours and 30 minutes. I’ve yet to travel on the new line but needless to say, travelling on the Lunatic Express (that really was its name) is an adventure I’ll never forget. The train travelled through the middle of the most expansive slums I’ve ever seen and cut a swathe through acres of new development where the remains of villages clung[…]
This sweet young Rwandan boy pictured above with the expressive eyes and shy glance is David Mugiraneza. David used to love football, enjoyed making people laugh and hoped one day to become a doctor. At the age of ten, he had his whole life before him and was no doubt the apple of his mother’s eye – from all accounts a caring and sweet son. In 1994 before he’d even had the chance to see the world, experience his first love, marriage, have a family of his own, or even pursue his dreams of becoming a doctor, David’s short sweet life came to[…]
As well as photographing elephants, lions, leopards, cheetah and baboons during my recent trip to Africa, I also managed to take a few shots of the amazing birdlife from honking hornbills to grumpy vultures. In fact the very first photograph I took in Africa was of a yellow weaver bird on a fence. We were having breakfast at the Ole Sereni hotel in Nairobi en route to Diani for the first leg of our travels. The weaver suddenly hopped onto the fence and kindly stood there in perfect profile while staring out at the national game reserve. I couldn’t have asked for a better photographic subject! Most[…]
In three weeks I’m heading back to Africa – to Rwanda this time to photograph the mountain gorillas and golden monkeys in the country’s Volcano National Park. As I start prepping my gear for my next wildlife adventure, my thoughts wander back to my most recent three-month trip to Africa and the amount of time, work and effort it took me to prepare for that trip. I spent hours and hours googling, phoning and wandering the high street looking for the bits and pieces I’d need for my trip (and that’s not even counting the hours of research I did into my photography gear prior to leaving! –[…]
I’ve had some great adventures in my life from climbing icy mountains to fishing for piranha in the Amazon, but nothing quite compares to the experience of babysitting a smelly, mischievous orphaned baby baboon in Namibia. During a recent trip to Africa I volunteered at the Naankuse Wildlife Sanctuary near Windhoek where part of my ‘work’, alongside food prep, carnivore feeding, game counts and cheetah walks, was to spend the night with a baby baboon, bottle-feeding him and changing his nappy. As my friend Anneli said, ‘good baby practice!” There are currently several orphaned baby baboons at Naankuse – all bought to the[…]
It was with a bit of trepidation that we first met the traditional Himba people of Namibia – an indigenous people of about 50,000 living in Northern Namibia and Angola. We were on our way back from Etosha and our guide had warned us the Himba were aggressive business people, wouldn’t like being photographed too often and would most likely cover our arms in bracelets and try to get us to buy everything! While the latter was true (and I did end up buying a few bracelets after they covered my arms in them), I found the Himba despite their serious business demeanour to be warm, friendly and[…]
On my second day in Namibia, I was introduced to a fascinating yet shy group of people called San people. Also known as the bushmen or Basarwa, they are the oldest inhabitants of southern Africa where they have lived for at least 20,000 years. While many San people have adapted to modern ways and no longer live the traditional lifestyle in Namibia, it was fascinating to learn about their culture and see how they lived off the harsh African landscape and nature. We listened to the chief of the group speak in the click language ‘Khoisan’ as he showed us how to hunt wildlife in the traditional San way using poison[…]
In the gardens of Jinchini on the coast of Msambweni, Kenya live a band of Sykes monkeys who tear through the neighbouring properties like marauding pirates – sucking the pollen from flowers, licking leaves like their lives depended on it, stealing chocolate cakes, fighting over food and inhaling bananas left behind by the Humans. These comical monkeys, which consist of nervous mothers, gangly spider babies, boisterous and naughty juveniles and the larger ‘dude’ males with their moving caterpillar eyebrows, series of squawk, barks and squeaks and unsubtle crashing from tree to tree, provide hours of entertainment every time I visit Kenya. They are such[…]
In 2015, I spent three weeks in New Zealand photographing the beautiful fauna and flora of my native country. Here are just some of the images I took from bees collecting honey from deep inside the Pohutukawa flowers in Taranaki, to my favourite birds – the peeping Oyster Catchers – appearing to comically stare at their own reflections in the sand in Raumati, just north of Wellington. Hope you enjoy! SaveSave