Explore the wilderness with us… Within the next 10-15 years we will see the last-remaining wilderness area on earth dominated by the demands of growing human populations and undermined by accelerated climate change. When the earth’s last wild places are gone, all we will have are fenced off protected areas dependent on constant intervention to persist and marginalized by the demands of sustained development in emerging markets. Guides, rangers, researchers, ecotourists, photographers, artists and conservationists around the world apply themselves everyday to sharing, studying, photographing, writing about, protecting, conserving and celebrating the “wild” with their guests, co-workers, colleagues, and local communities. These amazing photographs are a window into their world, a world where the lions, elephants, orangutans and leopards still reign supreme and we can dream of that perfect morning in the wilderness.
Ranger Diaries and
The Bush Boyes have teamed up to bring you the “Top 25 Photographs from the Wilderness”. These stunning photographs are selected from hundreds of submissions and are intended to bring the beauty, freedom and splendor of the wilderness to as many people as possible around the world. Please submit your best photographs from the wildest places to the
Bush Boyes wall or
Ranger Diaries website, and stand a chance of being featured in the “Top 25 Photographs from the Wilderness” published each week. This initiative is all about SHARING and CARING about wild places. Please “Like” this blog post and share this link with as many people as possible… So begins the “Ranger Revolution”… Anyone can be an “Honorary Ranger” if they share and care about the wilderness, stimulating positive change for wild places around the world… Join the “Ranger Revolution” now!
Kalahari Passion, by guide Marlon du Toit. “The biggest male lion I have ever laid eyes upon. His mane was unbelievable, I didn’t know lions like this still roamed Africa. The moment after mating is often a moment of passion and aggression.” (Marlon du Toit / marlondutoit.com)
“The earth does not belong to us. We belong to the earth.” (Chief Seattle)
Winter gold, by guide Dave Pusey. “An alert waterbuck bull made a stunning subject in the tall golden winter thatching grass.”. Photographed at Leopard Hills, South Africa (Dave Pusey / leopardhills.com)
“Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect.” (Chief Seattle)
Leopard and vervet, by guide Chris Renshaw. Read the story behind this powerful image here: http://www.rangerdiaries.com/diaries/diary.html&diaryID=703 (Chris Renshaw / www.safariarchitects.com)“We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children” “We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children” (Chief Seattle)
“We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children” (Chief Seattle)
Gazing on falling leaves, by guide Marlon du Toit. This young leopard kept looking up at falling leaves around him. I loved how the light filled his eyes. Photographed at Singita, Sabi Sands, South Africa. (Marlon du Toit / singita.com / marlondutoit.com)
“The earth is our mother. Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons and daughters of the earth. This we know. All things are connected like the blood which unites one family. All things are connected.
Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons and daughters of the earth. We did not weave the web of life, we are merely strands in it. Whatever we do to the web we do to ourselves.” (Chief Seattle)
Elephant and Kilimanjaro, by Marina Cano. Photographed in the Amboseli National Park, Kenya. “It was impossible to hold back the flood of emotions after years of waiting, working and wishing… the tears came like torrential rain and nourished the earth, the trees and the elephants that I had photographed the day before. That was when I truly realised for the first time that I was in Africa, the land I had fallen so in love with. I even felt happy crying as the country turned into an impressionist and watercolour masterpiece before my eyes.” (Marina Cano / marinacano.com)
“All things share the same breath – the beast, the tree, the man. The air shares its spirit with all the life it supports.” (Chief Seattle)
Curious ground hornbill, by guide Greg McCall-Peat. Photographed at Ezulwini Game Reserve, South Africa. TSouthern ground hornbills are the largest of the hornbill family, and are classified as vulnerable by the IUCN due to loss of habitat and suitable nesting trees (Greg McCall-Peat / ezulwini.com)
“This We Know. All Things Are Connected” (Chief Seattle)
Cheetah kill, photographed by Andre Marais in the Kgalagadi Transfronteir Park, South Africa/ Botswana. (Andre Marais)
“Take only memories, leave nothing but footprints.” (Chief Seattle)
Mother leopard providing for her cub, by Fred von Winkelmann. Unlike cheetahs, leopards are not known for taking live prey back to their young to teach them valuable hunting lessons. However, there is evidence to suggest that this occurs more often than previously thought. (Fred von Winkelmann / fredvonwinckelmannphotos.com)
“How can you buy or sell the sky, the warmth of the land? The idea is strange to us. If we do not own the freshness of the air and the sparkle of the water, how can you buy them? Every part of the earth is sacred to my people.” (Chief Seattle)
Fowl Clarity, by guide Kyle de Nobrega. Helmeted guineafowl, South Africa (Kyle de Nobrega / inthestixx.com/ lionsands.com)
“Whatever befalls the earth, befalls the sons of the earth. If men spit upon the ground, they spit upon themselves.” (Chief Seattle)
Wide eyes, by Dana Allen. “When the world is new, you look at everything with trusting and wide eyes. This young lion cub has plenty to learn about the ways of the world before she reaches her prime in a few short years.” Photographed at Wilderness Safaris Mombo Camp, Okavango, Botswana (Dana Allen / wilderness-safaris.com/ photosafari-africa.net)
The land is like poetry: it is inexplicably coherent, it is transcendent in its meaning, and it has the power to elevate a consideration of human life. (Barry Lopez)
Long eared owl, by Will Nicholls. An unusual characteristic of this species is its communal roosting in thickets during the winter months. Photographed in Hungary. (Will Nicholls / www.willnicholls.co.uk)
What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night. It is the breath of a buffalo in the winter time. It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the Sunset. (old Crowfoot saying)
Wild dogs and wildebeest, by guide Fin Lawlor. Wildebeest are a formidable prey item for the wild dogs due to their size difference. Photographed at &Beyond Ngala, South Africa (Fin Lawlor / andbeyond.com)
The Wilderness holds answers to questions man has not yet learned how to ask. (Nancy Newhall)
Sleeping warthogs by guide Andrew Nicholson. Photographed at &Beyond Ngala, South Africa (Andrew Nicholson / andbeyond.com)
Pilgrimage to the place of the wise is to escape the flame of separation from Nature. (Old Sufi saying)
Winters morning, by Ken Moore. Southern right whale photographed during their annual migration through False Bay, South Africa. Whaling reduced their population from an estimated 100 000 to 300 individuals in 1920. Their numbers are increasing again, and there are now over 10000 of these leviathans swimming our oceans. (Ken Moore)
Now I see the secret of making the best persons. It is to grow in the open air, and to eat and sleep with the earth. (Walt Whitman)
Leopard kill, by guide Brendon Cremer. “We came across this great male leopard in a tree with an impala kill on a photo safari in the Sabi Sands, South Africa. We spent a substantial amount of time with him and a young female who was clearly in season and trying to get his attention to mate with her, but he wasn’t having any of it until he had filled his belly. She was very persistent and eventually got her way.” (Brendon Cremer / www.brendoncremerphotography.com)
The love of wilderness is more than a hunger for what is always beyond reach; it is also an expression of loyalty to the earth … the only home we shall ever know, the only paradise we ever need — if only we had the eyes to see… (Edward Abbey)
Onset of darkness, by Dana Allen. A leopard basks in the waning glow of the African sunset, waiting for the onset of darkness to conceal her for the evening’s hunt. Photographed at Wilderness Safaris Mombo Camp, Okavango Delta, Botswana. (Dana Allen / wilderness-safaris.com/ photosafari-africa.net)
What a country chooses to save is what a country chooses to say about itself. (Mollie Beatty)
Lion in flight, by guide Morkel Erasmus. “I will never forget this moment, seeing a successful lion hunt take place right next to us on a dusty Kalahari plain at dawn.” (Morkel Erasmus / morkelerasmus.com)
Believe one who knows; you will find something greater in woods than in books. Trees and stones will teach you that which you can never learn from masters. (St. Bernard de Clairvaux)
Pied kingfisher and the matumi tree, by guide James Kydd. Photographed at Londolozi, South Africa (James Kydd / rangerdiaries.com / londolozi.com)
Man is whole when he is in tune with the winds, the stars, and the hills… Being in tune with the universe is the entire secrets. (William O. Douglas)
Aerial predator, by guide Brendon Cremer, A fish eagle takes off with its tiger fish prey. Photographed on the Chobe River, Botswana. (Brendon Cremer / www.brendoncremerphotography.com)
We shall not cease from exploration And the end of all our exploring Will be to arrive where we started And know the place for the first time. (T. S. Eliot)
Great Egret, by Lee Daniels. In 1953 the Great Egret in flight was chosen as the symbol of the National Audubon Society which was formed in part to prevent the killing of birds for their feathers. Photographed in the Everglades, USA. (Lee Daniels)
Without enough wilderness America will change. Democracy, with its myriad personalities and increasing sophistication, must be fibred and vitalized by the regular contact with outdoor growths — animals, trees, sun warmth, and free skies — or it will dwindle and pale. (Ralph Waldo Emerson)
Praying Mantis, by Elaine de Bruin. There are over 2400 species of mantis world-wide. (Elaine de Bruin / Facebook/ElainedebruinPhotography)
The supreme reality of our time is… the vulnerability of our planet. (John F. Kennedy)
Dragonfly after the rain, by Martin Heigan. There are around 5680 species of dragonfly in the world. (Martin Heigan / martinheigan.wordpress.com)
The wilderness and the idea of wilderness is one of the permanent homes of the human spirit. (Joseph Wood Krutch)
Through the trees, by guide Morkel Erasmus. A large elephant bull is dwarfed by the massive trees in the forests of Mana Pools, Zimbabwe. (Morkel Erasmus / morkelerasmus.com)
Ability to see the cultural value of wilderness boils down, in the last analysis, to a question of intellectual humility. The shallow-minded modern who has lost his rootage in the land assumes that he has already discovered what is important. (Aldo Leopold)
Battle-scarred warrior, by guide Greg McCall-Peat. Photographed at Ezulwini Game Reserve, South Africa (Greg McCall-Peat / ezulwini.com)
In wilderness I sense the miracle of life, and behind it our scientific accomplishments fade to trivia. (Charles A. Lindbergh)
Demise of a buffalo, by guide Brendon Cremer. Two young male lions take down a buffalo after a well co-ordinated chase, spurring panic into the herd. Photographed at Chitabe Camp in the Okavanago delta, Botswana. (Brendon Cremer / wilderness-safaris.com/ odpsafaris.com)