My adventures in South Africa have not just been sharks and teeth, I have also spent a’lot of time with the adorable but feisty the African Penguin. I have been in the presence of white sharks, came face to face with nile crocodiles and filmed a pod of six orca whales chasing a pod of common dolphins, but none of these epic beasts come close to the amount of pain the African penguin has inflicted on me. For 2 years I have volunteered at a seabird rescue facility called S.A.P.R.E.C and have worked hands on with these pecking, biting and clawing beasts. They stand no taller than a tube of Pringles yet they have drawn more blood than any other animal I have encountered.
However, I have gained a love for these birds. The small flightless birds have a rosta of enemies ranging from the seals who they compete with for food, to the white sharks looking for a penguin sized snack. Despite there low odds they have taken the challenges set by Africa’s most feared predators and have surviving colonies all over the coast.
Unfortunately these little warriors are facing extinction, its believed that overfishing of there food supply is forcing the African penguins to work harder for there meals and come into direct competition with larger predators. There numbers have shrunk dramatically, with an estimated 21,000 breeding pears left in the wild compared to the 141,000 in 1956. Spreading the word and getting the information to the general public is vital in saving these truly special breed.
Growing up I always enjoyed watching the adventure films of yester-year. 7th Voyages Of Sinbad, Jason And The Argonorts and all of these classic B-movies are still some of my favourites. However, Studying these films for around five years dented my love a tiny bit and when thoughts five years land you a job in food retail, love is definitely not the word I would use to describe my studies. As time passed I kept seeing an online advert for an internship that took people shark cage diving for a month, the images of my own B-movie adventures where all to tempting. The adventures I had become a passion, and I’ve been photographing the wildlife of this planet now for two B-movie-esc years.