The Selous Game Reserve in southern Tanzania is Africa’s oldest and largest protected area. Proclaimed in 1896 and bigger than Switzerland, the Selous is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Selous remains one of Africa’s largest and greatest undisturbed ecosystems, teeming with life including one of the two largest elephant populations remaining on the African continent, probably half of all of the wild dogs in Africa, vast herds of buffalo as well as more lions than any other protected area on the continent as reported by National Geographic in August 2013. The game reserve is becoming more important by the day as the pressure on elephants and other species grows - problems that are addressed here in this book.
New York-born photographer Rob Ross has spent much of the past four years photographing in this vast and difficult to access reserve. He has compiled more than 100,000 images showing all aspects of the reserves varied landscapes, seasons, flora and large and small fauna. The spectacular large-format photography book features a selection of the very best images including landscapes, wildlife portraits and behaviour, night photography, impressionist style work and breath-taking aerials.
AUTHOR: Robert J. Ross is a native New Yorker who has spent the past decade capturing colourful moments in Africa and elsewhere around the world. Rob’s work has been published in National Geographic Adventure, National Geographic Traveler, Conde Nast Traveler, Getaway Magazine, Africa Geographic, Islands, Travel Africa and many other leading travel and environmental journals. Rob has also undertaken photographic assignments for the World Wildlife Fund, The Wildlife Conservation Society, and The Global Fund for Children.
Rolf D. Baldus, was the German manager of the Selous Conservation Program in Tanzania from 1987 to 1993. In 1998 he returned in Tanzania as Government Advisor for Community Based Natural Resources Management and he was involved in revising the Wildlife Act and in assisting the creation of the new Saadani National Park and the Selous-Niassa Wildlife Corridor in southern Tanzania.
Bryan Christy is an author, journalist, and filmmaker. He is director of the Special Investigations Unit at National Geographic magazine and is a National Geographic Society Fellow. In 2014 he was named National Geographic Explorer of the Year. Christy is author of The Lizard King: the true crimes and passions of the world’s greatest reptile smugglers. His international ivory investigation was made into the award-winning National Geographic-PBS documentary Battle for the Elephants.
Walter Jubber has worked in reserves in Namibia and South Africa and he is currently Environmental Officer and Senior Trails Guide for Pafuri Campi in the northern region of Kruger National Park.
A world renowned naturalist, explorer and activist, Peter Matthiessen (1927-2014) was the author of more than thirty books and the only writer to win the National Book Award for both non-fiction ( The Snow Leopard, 1979 and 1980) and fiction ( Shadow Country, 2008).
190 colour and 15 b/w photographs