Page 18 - African Safaris eBrochure by Bushtracks
P. 18
SOUTHERN AFRICA
CATCHING LIONS BySusan
McConnell
African wildlife conservation photographer and Bushtracks traveler Susan McConnell
describes efforts to protect lions in Mozambique’s Niassa Reserve from accidental snaring
and offers a solution for lion conservation through the Wildlife Conservation Network.
Susan McConnell is a conservation T hrough a loudspeaker hung near the decaying
photographer, neurobiologist, carcass of a poached elephant, we broadcast the
and Professor of Biology at bawls of a distressed buffalo. The calls ended in
Stanford University. She has quiet. We scanned the bush with a red spotlight, less
traveled extensively in southern visible to cats than white light. Nothing. Ten minutes later
and eastern Africa, where she has we played the calls again, and a second sound became
photographed wildlife and worked audible—a low, grunty-breathy huhn huhn, coming from
with conservationists to promote the right. Keith Begg touched my shoulder. “Lion,” he
biodiversity and the sustainable mouthed.
use of natural resources. Through
her photography Susan strives to Keith found the lion in his binoculars. “It’s Samora,” he
connect people with their natural whispered. “I can’t believe it. Exactly the lion we’ve been
heritage and stimulate a commitment to conservation. Her hoping to find.” Keith and his wife Colleen, who direct
images have appeared in Stanford Magazine, Nature’s Best the Niassa Lion Project in northern Mozambique, had
Photography, Outdoor Photographer, Expressions, Currents, and equipped Samora with a GPS tracking collar the previous
the American Kennel Club Gazette. Notably, her photographs year, but the lion hadn’t been seen for months. The Niassa
of elephants in Namibia were featured as a cover story in team was eager to recover the collar and replace it with
Smithsonian magazine and one of these was exhibited at the a satellite collar that would transmit the lion’s location
Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in Washington D.C. several times a day.
16
CATCHING LIONS BySusan
McConnell
African wildlife conservation photographer and Bushtracks traveler Susan McConnell
describes efforts to protect lions in Mozambique’s Niassa Reserve from accidental snaring
and offers a solution for lion conservation through the Wildlife Conservation Network.
Susan McConnell is a conservation T hrough a loudspeaker hung near the decaying
photographer, neurobiologist, carcass of a poached elephant, we broadcast the
and Professor of Biology at bawls of a distressed buffalo. The calls ended in
Stanford University. She has quiet. We scanned the bush with a red spotlight, less
traveled extensively in southern visible to cats than white light. Nothing. Ten minutes later
and eastern Africa, where she has we played the calls again, and a second sound became
photographed wildlife and worked audible—a low, grunty-breathy huhn huhn, coming from
with conservationists to promote the right. Keith Begg touched my shoulder. “Lion,” he
biodiversity and the sustainable mouthed.
use of natural resources. Through
her photography Susan strives to Keith found the lion in his binoculars. “It’s Samora,” he
connect people with their natural whispered. “I can’t believe it. Exactly the lion we’ve been
heritage and stimulate a commitment to conservation. Her hoping to find.” Keith and his wife Colleen, who direct
images have appeared in Stanford Magazine, Nature’s Best the Niassa Lion Project in northern Mozambique, had
Photography, Outdoor Photographer, Expressions, Currents, and equipped Samora with a GPS tracking collar the previous
the American Kennel Club Gazette. Notably, her photographs year, but the lion hadn’t been seen for months. The Niassa
of elephants in Namibia were featured as a cover story in team was eager to recover the collar and replace it with
Smithsonian magazine and one of these was exhibited at the a satellite collar that would transmit the lion’s location
Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in Washington D.C. several times a day.
16
