As a dedicated conservationist and wildlife photographer, Peter Chadwick has worked throughout southern Africa in some of its most special wild places. These include the Kalagadi Desert, Kruger National Park, Drakensberg Mountains, the sub-antarctic Marion Island and De Hoop Nature Reserve and Marine Protected Area.
Working across these diverse habitats has allowed him to gain vast experience in all aspects of conservation management in all of the biomes in southern Africa. His special interests are in ecosystem based approaches to management, developing management strategies for rare and endangered species and in capacity development of conservation personnel. He currently works as the programme manager of the WWF South Africa - Integrated Ocean Use Programme. His work focuses around supporting Marine Protected Areas in South Africa and sub-region.
Peter’s photography is a natural extension to his conservation work where he has numerous opportunities to capture nature pictures that showcase the beauty and complexity of the outdoors. He believes that “through a photograph we have the ability to capture a moment of time, that if correctly composed can positively influence the way that we respond, think and act”. Peter aims to take compelling and ethical nature images that communicate the key values of the environment, showcasing its benefits and highlighting the need for the protection of our fragile earth.
His photography is internationally recognised, with his work appearing globally in a wide range of print media. He regularly writes conservation related articles for a number of magazines. Peter is also the winner of the 2011 Gerald Durrell Award for Endangered Wildlife in the Veolia Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition and is a winner of the Eric Hosking Award in the British Gas Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition.
1: Cape Fur Seal cows spar briefly with one another to find the perfect spot in which to warm themselves in the early morning sun at the Namaqualand National Park.
2. Cape Gannets at their nest sites on Malgas Island in the West Coast National Park. An early morning storm passed over the island providing brief glimpses of the sun and providing for dramatic imagery.
3. An endangered African Penguin makes the mistake of passing too closely to a nesting Cape Gannet on Bird Island in Algoa Bay. Bird Island is one of the most important breeding islands left for these two species.
4. Two African Black Oystercatcher males spar alongside a female on Malgas Island in the West Coast National Park. Every morning during the start of the breeding season, male oystercatchers would try to dominate one another to gain access to the female oystercatchers.
5. Each morning, White-Tailed Tropic Birds would ride the wind currents over Cousin Island in the Seychelles before they headed out to feed over the ocean.
6. The aptly named Fairy Tern is the smallest and most distinctive of four tern species that breed on Cousin Island in the Seychelles. They are extremely inquisitive and come to investigate any intruder to their roosting and nesting area.
7. De Hoop Nature Reserve & Marine Protected Area in the southern Cape is one of the best places globally to view breeding Southern Right Whales as they congregate in sheltered bays to calve and mate between the months of May and November each year.
8. Lake Nakuru National Park in Kenya is famous for its large numbers of Lesser Flamingoes, Great White Pelicans and other water birds that occur in large numbers and which can be easily viewed in the Lake shallows.
9. A Cape Buffalo bull wades through the shallow waters of Lake Nakuru National Park while Lesser Flamingoes congregate behind the buffalo.
10. A hippo bull walks with purpose and agression towards another bull on the shores of Lake Saint Lucia in the iSimangaliso Wetland Park that is also a World Heritage Site.
11. Spotted Hyena clans wander the shores of Lake Nakuru National Park in Kenya in the hope of either finding dead water birds or actually running into the water to chase down and catch unwary birds.
12. A Cape Buffalo bull covered in mud and having recently emerged from spending the heat of the day lying in the shallow waters of Lake Nakuru in Kenya.
13. A Cape Buffalo bull covered in mud and having recently emerged from spending the heat of the day lying in the shallow waters of Lake Nakuru in Kenya.
14. A young lioness and lion from the same litter play fight with one another in the Addo Elephant National Park. This play fighting is important in gaining experience that they will need as adults in both fighting for territory and in hunting down prey.
15. A young Chacma Baboon sits and feeds on bulbs pulled from the ground in the short grasslands within the De Hoop Nature Reserve. The baboons diet is extremely varied and includes various fruits, bulbs and fresh grass shoots through to bird eggs, insects, reptiles and on occasion even small antelope.
16. These three White Rhino’s held territory on the short grasslands of Lake Nakuru National Park and mainly spent the cool hours grazing alongside the Lake shore, moving to either wallow in a shallow mud pool or lie in the shade of large trees during the heat of the day.
17. De Hoop Nature Reserve in the Western Cape holds the last breeding colony of Cape Vultures in the province. The colonies survival is interlinked with the neighboring farmlands as conservation friendly farmers leave sheep and cattle carcasses out in the fields for the vultures to feed on.
18. This recently hatched Cape Cobra was part of a nest of close to twenty cobra’s that hatched in the De Hoop Nature Reserve in the Western Cape. The young cobra’s were extremely aggressive and raised their hoods in defense towards any movement.
19. The Southern Adder is a largely unknown adder that inhabits sensitive coastal habitats in the southern Cape and which is threatened by large scale coastal developments. It is a highly resident species feeding mainly on small skinks and lizards.
20. A Great White Shark raises its head to peer above water at our research boat in False Bay near Cape Town. The Bay is known as one of the best locations globally to view and study these apex predators.
