A Surprise Trip to Kenya
Treat the earth well: it was not given to you by your parents but was loaned to you by your children.
– Kenyan proverb
Tears of overwhelm and joy pricked my eyes when I read the email on September 9, 2021. Congratulations! We are contacting you today because your image has been selected as a Highly Honored finalist in the final round of Judging for the 2021 Benjamin Mkapa African Wildlife Photography Awards. Later that day, a second email arrived with the same message. Not one, but two of my images were selected out of 9,000 entries from 50 countries!
Amboseli Elephants - Competition Category: African Wildlife at Risk
The email continued: THIS INFORMATION IS CONFIDENTIAL AT THIS TIME until we are ready to publicly announce the complete set of Winners and Highly Honored images in October. I was bursting with this news, but I couldn’t share it.
Sheldrick Elephant Keeper and Orphan - Competition Category: Conservation Heroes
A selection of Highly Honored images, including your image(s) attached below, will be displayed along with the Category Winners in a print exhibition at the Nairobi National Museum located on Kipande Road, Nairobi, Kenya. The Mkapa African Wildlife Photography Awards Exhibition is being planned to open with a Reception and Awards Ceremony on Thursday, October 28, 2021, from 4:00 until 8:00 PM. As a Highly Honored photographer, you are welcome to attend if you have plans to be in Africa at that time. Please let us know if you may be able to attend.
Would I like to attend? ABSOLUTELY! What a thrill, what an honour. This was the best salve I could imagine for my travel itch. I called my travel agent “Ryan I’m going to Kenya, I need to book flights and safari time. It was a challenge to organize an itinerary on short notice. Kenya had lots of surprises in wait for me. I came home with over 10K images and stories to fuel my blog for months. Today, I share highlights from Nature’s Best Benjamin Mkapa African Wildlife Photography Awards.
Barbara Fleming, a finalist from Colorado Springs, and I bonded in our mutual delight about being present for the red-carpet event. It was great fun to meet other winners from around the world and see their inspiring images. There were 12 categories in the competition: Coexistence and Conflict – Wildlife in Modern Africa – African Conservation Heroes – African Wildlife at Risk – Fragile Wilderness – African Wildlife / Backyards – Art in Nature – Africa in Motion / Video – Youth in Africa – Youth International.
I met many interesting people at the reception including Dr. Winnie Kiiru, from The Elephant Protection Initiative. She is working tirelessly in Amboseli educating and supporting local girls to become conservationists. We hope to find ways to collaborate and facilitate the girls getting their stories out into the world.
The message of Africa taking care of Africa resonated throughout the program. The competition honored former Tanzanian President, the late Benjamin Mkapa, who was widely respected for his legacy of principled leadership and protecting Africa's wild heritage. His wife, Anna Mkapa gave a heartfelt speech encouraging photographers and story tellers to continue her husband’s legacy of advocating for conservation. I was very impressed with Kaddu Sebunya, President of the African Wildlife Foundation. He addressed the press before the ceremony and later the attendees, about the necessity of development and conservation working together.
“Within the context of a rapidly changing Africa, and armed with 60 years of experience, AWF has renewed its vision, and crafted strategic approaches to become a truly global African conservation organization. Through the Benjamin Mkapa African Wildlife Photography Awards, AWF is committed to finding, helping, and amplifying the authentic African voices advocating against the destruction of Africa’s natural wildlife heritage. We are dedicated to defining and refining Africa’s agendas for conservation and development, and to represent these voices — trumpet these voices loudly — around the world.”
Those of us present who had Highly Honored Images in the show were acknowledged and given a certificate. I’m grateful to Winnie Kiiru who accepted my phone and captured the moment.
The Grand Prize Winner, Riccardo Marchegiani, from Italy, received a cash prize of US$ 5,000 and a large Shona elephant sculpture for his photo “Gelada and Baby” shot in the Simien Mountains National Park, Ethiopia. All category winners spoke of the value of photography to address climate change issues and encourage conservation.
Barbara and I did one final tour of the show before we joined the after party outside the Museum.
I was thrilled to learn - the collection of 79 winning images will be on display at the Nairobi National Museum until January 15, 2022, in a bid to capitalize and engage Kenyan audiences and visitors from around the world. The collection will also be published in a special edition of Nature’s Best Photography magazine and will be featured in a year-long traveling exhibition through Africa, North America, Asia, and Europe as AWF celebrates 60 years of visionary conservation leadership. That means I can visit the museum with friends and family when I return to Kenya in January to lead a group safari!
You can view the entire show here. AWF posted a video of the event on You Tube. The show begins at the 27 minute point.
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