SPIRIT OF AFRICA by Scott Ramsay

Spirit of Africa by Scott Ramsay takes you on an immersive journey to many of the continent’s last remaining wild places. The book includes more than 100 powerful images of stunning landscapes, teeming wildlife and beautiful people.

It is not just a collection of photographs. There are more than 30 000 words of evocative, sometimes poignant, personal anecdotes and hard-hitting conservation stories, reflecting Scott’s deep connection with nature.

“I have spent almost 20 years photographing and writing about the last wild places in Africa. I am privileged to have photographed so many wondrous scenes, and so many beautiful people. I am totally in love with wild Africa. She has been the greatest inspiration in my life, and the people who protect Africa’s last wild places have my utmost respect.”

Spirit of Africa is a call to protect – and expand – African wilderness. It is a book about conservation, and the essential importance of wild places in today’s techno-industrial and mechanical world.

Scott writes not only about the need for conservation of wild animals and landscapes, but also conservation of the human spirit.

“Spirit of Africa is a book about feeling truly alive, and falling deeply in love with beauty and wonder. African wilderness showed me how to be effortlessly immersed in the present moment. It is partly a personal book, and I write about the profound impact of African wilderness on my beliefs and thinking – even my dreams. I was unprepared for how African wilderness impacted me. African wilderness probably saved my life. It infused the deepest parts of my being.”

From this book you will glean wisdom, solace, inspiration, gratitude and a serene sense of self. This book is an ode to wild Africa and carries with it an appeal to all of us to recognise the wonder and value of the gift of nature, and to preserve it.

• The most extensive collection of fine-art imagery from Africa’s national parks and wilderness in countries including South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda, Republic of Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique, São Tomé and Príncipe.
• 150 spectacular, large-scale images, both colour and black and white, of landscapes, wildlife, ocean, rivers, skies and people.
• Insightful and science-informed text that highlights many of the conservation challenges facing iconic species such as lions, elephants and pangolins.
• Explores the essential personal connection that all humans around the world have with African wilderness.
• Images of animals include the gorillas of Congo, the wildebeest migration in Serengeti and the flying lions of Busanga Plains in Zambia, but also less obvious – yet no less fascinating – subjects such as bees and geckos.

However, the book explores an even bigger idea, and perhaps the most important of all.

“Wild places represent the revolutionary idea that humans don’t have exclusive rights to Earth. We are just one species out of many millions, and all the other creatures and landscapes have equal rights to the planet. Wild places are the ultimate symbol of this deeply humbling and recalibrating world view. Can we step off our self-important pedestal as humans, and learn to live alongside the rest of Nature in balanced relationship? Ultimately, can we sacrifice our own needs, and give back to Nature? Can we give back more than we have taken? I would say this is the defining challenge of our era.”