A roaring success
Wildlife photographer Margot Raggett’s Remembering
Wildlife series has raised £500,000 for conservation
projects – a figure she’s about to top with the launch
of the latest book in the series...
he purpose of the Remembering
Wildlife series is twofold. Firstly,
it is to raise awareness of the
plight facing the featured
species, and then secondly,
to raise funds for its
protection. So far we’ve
published Remembering
Elephants, Remembering
Rhinos, Remembering Great
Apes and now, just published
in October, Remembering Lions.
Each book is a wonderful and varied
collection of images donated by many of the
world’s best wildlife photographers, such as
Marsel van Oosten, Frans Lanting, Art Wolfe
and Greg du Toit, and we also include
essays from some of the world’s leading
conservationists. They are beautiful,
collectible coffee table books, and 100
per cent of profits are donated to the cause.To this day, we’ve worked with more than
150 different photographers across the
series of four books.Take me back to the start
It was seeing a poached elephant in
northern Kenya in late 2014 that prompted
me to take action. I was impotent with rage
that a young elephant had been poisoned
for its tusks so needlessly and I wanted to
try and do something to help. As a result I
started to ask wildlife photographers I knew
and admired if they’d consider donating an
image each to what I thought then would be
a one-off book on elephants. Little did I
know it would be the start of a series...
The photographs used for Remembering
Lions have been donated by 73 different
photographers and come from across
Africa, as well as one of an Asiatic lion from
the Gir Forest National Park in India. It wasvery important for us to show as many
sub-species of lion, different habitats and
behaviours as we possibly could. Because
of this the photos range from lions roaring
at dawn, sleeping, hunting, mating, curious
cubs and magnificent males in their prime.
Our aim is also to make the most
beautiful book on a species to serve as a
tribute to what that animal is like in its
natural habitat. I think that’s what makes it
so popular – a species-by-species
collection, with everyone working together,
has never really been done before.The good work
There are so many things about the series
that bring me joy, not least the sense of
camaraderie and community that has
sprung up from it between the
photographers (who, as rivals, had not
always spoken to each other before) to
the many volunteers who help me.
That being said, the best thing for me is
the amount of money we’ve been able to
raise and seeing those donations put to
good use. I was just visiting one such
project, called ‘Rebuilding the Pride’ in the
Southern Rift Valley in Kenya. There, we’ve
donated £25,000 to an NGO called
SORALO that is running the project, which
aims to secure the safety of lions living
alongside people outside of a national park.
It is critically important work they’re doing
and the new vehicle we’ve been able to buy
them will make a massive difference to their
ability to get things done.
This latest donation has also just taken us
over half a million pounds raised in the three
years since the original Remembering
Elephants came out, which I am equally
staggered and thrilled about.
As the books have continued growing
in fame and popularity, more and more
photographers want to contribute their
photographic work and, with only so many
places, that has brought its own set of
challenges. Choosing between images
when you have so many stunning
photographs available has been a real
challenge! I just hope that we’ve done the
species justice with our final selection.Remembering Lions is available now from
http://www.buyrememberingwildlife.comThere are so many things
about the series that bring
me joy, not least the sense of
camaraderie and community
that has sprung up
ON ASSIGNMENT
T
This picture, taken by Billy
Dodson, serves as a reminder
of the special bonds that
could be lost if more
conservation work isn’t
done to protect lions.Images:^ ©MargotRaggett,^ BillyDodson,^ PeteOxford,^ Albie^ Venter(Remembering^ Lions)