As conservationists we get a little wound up sometimes, thinking about how to save wildlife, their environment and the whole of the natural world. But there are times when I like to take a step back and reflect. Sure, I will be mortified if, in the near future, I awake and look out from our...
As Beverly and I sit in the darkness in our camp in Duba in Botswana, we can see a shape out in the tall grass not far away. We know it is a lioness because she settled there at sunset and is now fast asleep, quite comfortable just outside of the glow of our small...
In June 2003 we followed a leopard to a fallen tree and, after a while, noticed a tiny movement in the branches. An eight-day-old cub, still mostly sightless, stumbled out into the sunlight, starting a full and adventurous life — and a journey for Beverly and me that would end up being over four years wandering in...
In the wake of Cecil the lion’s killing in Zimbabwe we are seeing real conversations about hunting: its viability and its ethics. It has opened some tough discussions, like if we should all boycott Zimbabwe, or whether lion hunting is in any shape or form a viable conservation tool. I don’t think it’s a good idea to...
By Dereck Joubert, National Geographic Big Cats Initiative What is a ‘World Day’ after all? Who cares? Probably the better question is “Who should care?” August 10 is designated as World Lion Day, and as with other allocated “Days,” the origin of such an event is to celebrate something globally, and think about how the...