EPISODE 02: Becoming the Big Cat People – 'Africa My Home'

Welcome to The Big Cat People podcast! We're Jonathan and Angela Scott, award-winning wildlife photographers, authors and conservationists. We've have made our name documenting the lives of lions, leopards and cheetahs in the Masai Mara National Reserve in Kenya.

Today's episode will be the second in a ten part series named 'Our Story: Becoming the Big Cat People'.

This episode is named 'Africa, My Home'. Having arrived in Johannesburg at the end of my 4 month overland trip from London I was determined to stay. I sold my onward ticket by boat from Cape Town to Sydney in Australia, but hated life in apartheid South Africa. I realized that there were three options for someone intent on doing something with wildlife. I could follow a scientific career in zoology. But that would ultimately resign me to teaching at university with less time in the field. Instead I could train as a safari guide or run a camp or lodge to satisfy my urge to live in the bush. Or—and this seemed the most attractive—pursue my love of drawing, become a wildlife artist and nurture my interest in photography. That would allow me to spend time among big cats and earn a living. I dabbled in all three options at one time or another and after visiting with Tim and June Liversedge on their houseboat in the Okavango Delta in Botswana I determined to make a living selling my pen and ink drawings and head back to East Africa - the savanna Africa that I had fallen in love with and where I wanted to make my home.

This podcast series is a continuing effort to educate and inspire our audience. If you'd like to learn more about us, or to check out our latest collection of educational ebooks, please visit our website: www.bigcatpeople.com