After waving goodbye to a soul-crushing corporate career, Scott Ramsay has spent the last 20 years on a journey across Africa, using the power of photography to drive home one simple conservation message: the urgent need to protect Africa’s wild spaces.
He has interviewed Africa’s conservationists, naturalists and local guides to share their stories and knowledge with the rest of the world.
“Ultimately,” he says, “I wish for others to experience the sacred nature of wild Africa for themselves, and then to stand up and speak up for Africa’s incomparable — yet threatened — wilderness.”
In a blog post this year, Ramsay wrote, “The sparkle in someone’s eyes — literal and figurative — captivates me. The spirit of Africa shines so brightly in its people. Though I am a nature writer and photographer, I’ve also fallen in love with the diversity of the human spirit and how it manifests in Africa’s diverse people. I’ve been fortunate to interact meaningfully with some very different cultures: the bushmen of the Kalahari, the Baka of Congo, the Samburu of Kenya, the Tonga of the Zambezi Valley, the Nama of Namibia, the Shona of Zimbabwe, the Bayei of Botswana’s Okavango ... and most of the fascinating cultures of South Africa, my home country.”
His latest book, Spirit of Africa, features more than 150 beautiful images from across the continent, offering an unusual glimpse into the magic and majesty of the African wilderness. What was Ramsay’s inspiration to produce Spirit of Africa?
“The book is about how I fell in love with nature. The African wilderness probably saved my life, and it taught me to be aware of the wonder of life around me,” he says. “The West has its cathedrals and the East its temples, but here in Africa we have pure wilderness. I wanted to share the importance of these spaces with people — those who’ve experienced them, as well as those who might dream of them but lack the opportunity to see them.”
With more than 30,000 words accompanying the pictures, Spirit of Africa is more than just a collection of photography. But Ramsay says he needed some text alongside the visuals. “Over the past two decades of travelling, I’ve always kept journals and notebooks, collecting thoughts and quotes and poetry that speak to me, as well as to the impact of the wilderness. By including text — and I mean more than captions — alongside the images, I hope people will take a moment to stop and reflect, to meditate on the words and the images as one.”
He has an unusual approach to photographic wildlife. “Unlike many nature photographers, I tend to frame animals quite small within each image. I feel the animals need to be placed within the context of Africa,” he says. “Despite the imposing size of a male lion or silverback gorilla, I try to use scale to emphasise the sheer immensity of African landscapes. That, hopefully, also helps to communicate the spirit of the landscape.”
And his favourite image in the book? “The images of the lions on the Busanga Plains in Kafue National Park, and of a lone male in the Maasai Mara National Reserve, are especially powerful for me. Lions are such an icon of Africa, and yet few people realise just how threatened they are by habitat loss and poaching. There’s a real chance they will become extinct in many parts of Africa. I’m hoping my images of them show their grace and power, but also their vulnerability.”
Spirit of Africa is available in all good bookstores, or here. The book retails for R1,200, and for each copy sold Ramsay will donate R50 to the Endangered Wildlife Trust
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.