Welgevonden – An African Wilderness Reborn
The following blog was done by Kate Polley for African Geographic:
Distinguished photographer, Ian Finlay’s coffee table book, ‘Welgevonden – An African Wilderness Reborn’, was launched this year in February.
This glossy, collectable book is a culmination of Finlay’s decade long passion for Welgevonden, a game reserve in Limpopo, which forms part of the magnificent UNESCO Waterberg Biosphere. Each photograph documents the rich variety of wildlife, which flourishes within the reserve, whilst the rugged landscape of varying seasons and moods, provides a majestic backdrop to Finlay’s artistry.
‘I first saw Welgevonden one morning in early 1977. I had recently driven from Northern Kenya to the Cape of Good Hope, and had experienced many great wildlife reserves of east and southern Africa along the way. But in Welgevonden I discovered a natural world unlike any I had seen before – a landscape of extraordinary variety and beauty, of rugged escarpments, of secluded wooded valleys and clear streams, of summer waterfalls cascading down red stone gorges, of rolling grassland plains, of limitless views over folds of receding hills … I remember that morning seeing a group of white rhinos. Among them was a young one, inquisitive and playful, to watch these great and ancient animals grazing quietly and safely in the Welgevonden landscape was somehow to sense the future of conservation in South Africa. I decided that day that Welgevonden was a place in Africa to be. This book is the result’
Visit Welgevonden’s website
More about the author:
Ian has been photographing wildlife since his boyhood in Ireland. After travelling and photographing extensively in southern Africa, he first visited Welgevonden in 1997. As well as his work with wildlife, Ian Finlay’s photography has included a book on Dublin and award winning album covers for U2. He has also exhibited at the Photographer’s Gallery in London.
The book is available at retailers throughout South Africa at a suggested retail price of R350.00.
