Wilderness Dreaming: Memoir of a Wildlife Photographer

by Greg du Toit

Overview

Greg du Toit recounts his fascinating life having spent decades as an African Wildlife Photographer, including incredible once-in-a-lifetime experiences like photographing lions from the middle of a watering hole. This autobiography is a must for anyone who dreams of Africa.

Packed with adrenalin-fuelled adventures, humour and true-life campfire tales, Wilderness Dreaming is an endearingly honest memoir of one photographer’s unforgettable quest for his own lost Africa.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781776323258
Publisher:	HPH Publishing
Publication date:	02/15/2023
Pages:	440
Sales rank:	434,519
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 2.00(d)

About the Author

Greg du Toit is an 8th-generation African born in 1977. His commitment to the beauty and wildness of Africa and her animals lead him to photograph entirely in the wild, never making use of traps, bait, gimmicks or captive-bred animals as subjects. His methods and passion have resulted in many international awards and much acclaim as an artist.

Read an Excerpt

The human mind is remarkable.
In what I am certain are the final moments of my life, my mind draws me out of my body – out from the perilous situation I am in. Perhaps I am on my way to heaven and God is simply sparing me the pain of experi­encing being torn apart? But no, all of a sudden my vertical travel stops – abruptly. It seems the lift has gotten stuck on its way up and has left me suspended, looking down at myself and my current precarious position, sitting in a waterhole, fearing for my life. Twelve months and 270 hours have culminated in this moment.
Like Superman stuck to a flytrap, I hover above my waterhole. Arms outstretched and my legs spread-eagled, I watch my desperate attempt to escape being prey play out below me.
Gazing down, I see the Great Rift Valley sprawled across Africa. In its vastness my waterhole is a mere puddle, with a barely perceptible dot in the middle of it. That dot is me. I am all alone and suffering the close attention of two lionesses, whose flattened ears and twitching tails speak volumes. Is this how it all ends, before it has even properly begun?
There is no time to answer this question because now the showreel of my life has started playing. The scenes it chooses are intriguing. I have heard of the proverbial ‘life flashing before your eyes’ event, which is supposed to take place in the moments preceding death, but it is strange to actually be in that cinema. Like an old black and white Charlie Chaplin movie, there is no sound, just moving visuals. These vignettes of my life, although detailed, strangely do not include what I would have thought might be ‘package highlights’: like the fact that I have had malaria six times or that an elephant bull once nearly trampled me in front of my wife. Surely almost having my throat slit on top of a sacred mountain in northern Kenya should qualify as a significant event? Or what about paddling down the Zambezi River and having a gigantic crocodile nearly land in my canoe?
While these experiences seem to be missing from my biopic, other less significant ones are present: like the time I was standing dripping wet and being electrocuted by a fence designed to keep elephants out of our camp (if having 8 000 volts flow through your body can be ‘less significant’, that is). As the story of my life unfolds, I wonder if the final instalment will include the worm living inside my foot or the fly maggots hatching out of my back …

Editorial Reviews

‘Putting his heart, soul and camera on the line, writer and photographer Greg du Toit takes us deep into Africa’s wild places. You will cherish it!’
JENNY CRWYS-WILLIAMS

‘I often think about the wild life my grandfather lived. The dreams dancing across these pages will evoke the same nostalgia in my children.’
KIM WOLHUTER

Wilderness Dreaming is a delightful read, full of adventure and pranks that remind me of my own youth. I found the passion of Greg du Toit in his pursuit of his great love of the outdoors quite extraordinary. This is not a coffee table book but a keeper for every bookshelf to tell the story of how life is in the bush.
Duncan N.

From the Publisher