Winner of Greatest Maasai Mara Photographer of Year

The Angama Foundation is proud to announce Nairobi-based photographer Paolo Torchio as the 2020 Greatest Maasai Mara Photographer of the Year, for his image“Blessing Rain”, of a female leopard posing on a dead tree in final raysof sun during the start of a powerful downpour.

Paolo becomes the third winner of the competition, winning a five-night safari for two at Angama Mara and US$10,000 in cash. Paolo faced strong competition from the nine other finalists, including Americans Yaron Schmid and Vicki Jauron, South African Graham Wood and Kenyan Rihaz Sidi.

Commenting on his win, Paulo said: “In a year that has been so difficult for everyone working in the photographic tourism industry, this is the most wonderful news. It is my hope that my picture will inspire peopleto come and visit this fantastic place – the Maasai Mara.”

Acclaimed wildlife photographers, Art Wolfe, Federico Veronesi, Michael Poliza, Nisha Purushothaman and Adam Bannister judged the entries. Discussing the photograph, Federico said: “Two elements make this image really stand out for me: the backlight and the rain. The atmosphere these two elements create are surreal, almost like a fairytale. It is fitting that in a year as wet as 2020 has been in the Mara that the winning image features a big cat in the rain.” The Greatest Maasai Mara Photographer of the Year competition encourages the creation and submission of beautiful imagery to showcase the Maasai Mara as a year-round wildlife destination, raising the profile of wildlife photographers and supporting conservation initiatives in the process.

Despite a difficult year where tourism into the Mara almost disappeared overnight due to the pandemic, the competition celebrated a record number of entries. Running from January through October 2020, thousands of submissions were received with photographers from 43 countries and guests from 79 camps entering, testament to the Mara’s status as the preeminent destination for photographic safaris on the continent.

Each entry includes a donation to one of the competition’s boots-onthe-ground conservation partners active in the Maasai Mara, and these donations were further bolstered by the launch of an online auction platform, which sells images from the competition’s participating photographers. As a result, close to US$30,000 was raised for the competition’s conservation partners, and shared between the Anne K. Taylor Fund, the Maa Trust, the Mara Elephant Project, the Mara Conservancy and the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust.

A unique element amongst wildlife photography competitions, Paolo’s guide Anthony Kiplunghurt from Elewana Sand River was also recognised for his role in supporting Paolo, and won a return ticket to London to watch a Premier League football match, along with Kiarie Mathaga who

guided finalist Suhaib Alvi. For more information about The Greatest Maasai Mara, to enter the competition or buy a print, please visit:

www. thegreatestmaasaimara.com

Did you know that bees are a widely used weapon in the conservation arsenal? In fact, these underestimated little miracle workers are being deployed at Samara Private Game Reserve, where they are playing a vital role in protecting the key tree species.

How exactly does a bee stop, say, a hungry elephant from tearing down a tree? It’s simple, really: many animal species are known to avoid beehives because of the danger of being stung.

This concept has been put to the test many times, with great success: in Kenya, for example, Dr Lucy King erected a 400m beehive fence in Gazini, the first of its kind. That was in 2016, and as a result, the community has been kept safe from elephant invasions.

It’s a strange concept, because a bee’s sting can’t do much to an elephant’s thick hide, but if those stings go into sensitive parts like the elephant’s trunk, eyes and mouth – well, that’s a different story, especially if there are hundreds of bees in a swarm; a fact that scientists are using to their advantage.

At Samara, the practice is going to be used to protect the reserve’s iconic tree species. For example, the first two beehives will be planted at Wolwekloof, where they protect two beautiful witgat (Boscia Oleiodes) trees. One of these trees is a magnificent specimen, estimated to be around 800 years old.

The Karoo isn’t naturally a high honey producing region, although bees in the area usually collect nectar from species like acacia and spekboom. Samara expects swarms to number between 33 000 and 40 000 bees in each swarm, with a population comprising the queen, the male drones which are responsible for breeding, and the workers, who guard the hive. As each hive grows too big, a new queen will emerge after fighting the reigning monarch, taking part of the swarm with her to establish a new hive.

This is how Samara’s bee population will grow – important, because bee populations around the world have are under threat. The team at Samara is pleased to be playing a part in helping them to recover their numbers, with Reserve Manager Alan Feldon, who has extensive experience in beekeeping, responsible for overseeing how this project progresses.

As an added benefit, they are looking forward to seeing their own local honey produced from flora indigenous to the Karoo region, like spekboom. Samara can expect to see around 10kg of honey produced from each hive – a treat they are looking forward to sharing with guests both in the food they service, and for sale in the curio shop.

www.samara.co.za