mafia island and whale sharks

We arrived to Mafia Island with the primary intention to swim with the elusive whale shark (a type of shark, not whale). Lodging for the week:

Hopping on the boat before the tide escaped us

Whale sharks are filter feeding, meaning they sort of skim the surface and strain matter and food from the water. After a debriefing we all got into the water as smoothly as we could and waited...

Along with lots of jellyfish

Open mouth shot!

Getting photos for research!

Amazing. Suddenly there was a feeding frenzy and no short of THIRTY sharks appeared, which rarely happens but about once or twice every TEN years! Got knocked about so photos are not as good...

Ending the epic day with some South African serenades, post Swahili dinner

seed workshop

Tomatoes were wet-seed processed earlier this week in the Cole Science Center as part of the week long January Seed School program, offered by Native Seeds/SEARCH and Hampshire College. Native Seeds/SEARC, a non-profit, works to strengthen food security primarily in the Greater Southwest by conserving the region's unique crop diversity and teaching others to do the same.

save what you love

“If we can teach people about wildlife, they will be touched. Share my wildlife with me. Because humans want to save things that they love.” ― Steve Irwin
              Just back from an incredible week documenting conservation efforts and awareness at the Australia Zoo, located outside of Brisbane, Australia, in the Glasshouse Mountains. See below:

From hugging koalas to lounging with kangaroos, feeding elephants to scrubbing tortoises, the students learned what it takes to be a zookeeper and how much work wildlife conservation, education, and initiatives take. The zoo is known for being very interactive so that visitors get to know the animals and that in turn furthers the interest and care for them. This is exactly the sort of thing I love to shoot and why I do what I do- to put a face on issues I love that hopefully brings about awareness, change, interest or at least a laugh, be a storyteller of topics that matter, and experience every type of job out there!
Here is a wombat, a very soft marsupial

Cleaning up the elephant pen

A wallabee