Thomas Peschak: Capturing wonders of the Amazon and Great African Seaforest
Cape Town - Award-winning National Geographic photographer, Thomas Peschak who has 25 years experience visited our shores to share his jaw-dropping footage filmed during his 396 days spent tracing the course of the Amazon River and its tributaries across South America.
South Africa’s Great African Seaforest, which stretches north for more than 1,000 km into Namibia, is a wonderland of abundance and rich biodiversity and is home to many creatures found nowhere else in the world.
According to Peschak, this destination has become ideal for persons like himself.
“It’s also the birthplace of more conservation storytellers per capita than almost anywhere else on earth,” said Peschak, who is Save Our Seas Foundation (SOSF) Director of Storytelling.
The sea forest has launched the careers of many talented filmmakers and photographers whose footage has captured the imaginations of millions worldwide, including Peschak
Earlier this week, Peschak gave Cape Town a taste of his talent at the Labia Theatre in Cape Town where he shared incredible footage and stories that he had collected over years which included his journey into the Amazon.
The adventure saw him visit nine countries and he recounted his diving experiences and expeditions which stretched from 6, 000-metre-high snow-capped Andean volcanoes to the Atlantic Ocean.
Peschak is seasoned in his talent and is a marine biologist turned photojournalist which enabled him to broaden his conservation stories and has focused much of his career documenting marine species.
In 2022, he embarked on his most ambitious conservation storytelling project to date, the Seaforest to the Amazon Forest where he spent 396 days tracing the course of the Amazon River and its tributaries across South America.
According to Peschak’s biography which was shared with Weekend Argus, for National Geographic Magazine he has produced 14 feature stories that cover a variety of natural history and conservation issues, from manta rays to marine protected areas.
He embraced photojournalism 15 years ago and learnt how powerful it was in showcasing the greater conservation impact than scientific statistics.
As being the director of Save our Seas Foundation, SOSF he has been part of the organisation for ten years and is also the founding director of the Manta Trust and a senior fellow of the International League of Conservation Photographers.
He has written and photographed eight books and his latest piece called Wild Seas was published by National Geographic Books in Nov 2021.
Peschak’s images and stories have won 17 Wildlife Photographer of the Year and 7 World Press photo awards.
Jade Schultz, global communications manager of SOSF, said Peschak was seasoned and talented and that local story-tellers were thrilled to have him in the Mother City.
“Thomas is a world-class storyteller. It’s great to collaborate with him again and share his latest inspiring body of work here in Cape Town, where both Thomas and the Save Our Seas Foundation have strong roots.”
Dr. Jannes Landschoff from the Sea Change Project who had been present at Peschak’s presentation said he was deeply inspired by the seaforest and the shared insights from the SOSF supported 1001 Seaforest Species initiative.
“He highlighted the extraordinary biodiversity of the Great African Seaforest and explored how every species, from tiny crustaceans and fascinating fishes to visiting whales, plays a vital role in this vast marine ecosystem.”
The panel discussion was led by Steve Benjamin, a zoologist, marine guide and photographer and included other Cape Town-based storytellers whose stories have gone beyond the seaforests,such as Pippa Ehrlich, co-director of My Octopus Teacher; Shamier Magmoet, a National Geographic Explorer, documentary filmmaker, and ocean conservationist; Roger Horrocks, an underwater cinematographer for My Octopus Teacher, Blue Planet 2, and Our Planet; Otto Whitehead, a storyteller and ecologist.
“We are so fortunate to have such talented ocean storytellers right here in Cape Town, and the Save Our Seas Foundation is honoured to host these global storytelling superstars for the panel,” Schultz added.