Crouching in the brush of Kenya’s Ruma National Park, award-winning conservation photographer Anthony Ochieng Onyango eyes what he’s spent a year looking for – the roan antelope.
The powerful yet elegant animal is one of Africa’s largest antelopes. It’s estimated there are only 60,000 of them left on the continent, and as of July 2021, there were only 15 living in Ruma National Park, according to the Kenya Wildlife Service.
By photographing the elusive antelope, as with all his images, Onyango hopes he can inspire others to pursue conservation efforts and protect wildlife in its natural habitat.
“What I love [about] being a photographer the most is just seeing people getting back to me and saying, ‘the image you took made me realize that I need to do something,’” he said.
Engaging the youth
In 2016, Onyango created the media platform TonyWild to “promote conservation action through photography, film and science.” His team visits schools to host MITIgation and Visual Ecological Literacy Programs where students are given photography lessons and the opportunity to plant and nurture trees.
“We need to speak their language so we can get into their hearts to take action in conservation,” Onyango said. “My hope is for the students to just be able to appreciate what they currently have within their ecosystem.”
Onyango hopes his work with TonyWild will continue to break barriers in photography and prove to the next generation that anyone can pursue their passions. He says that when it comes to climate change and wildlife conservation, young people are our best hope of “changing whatever is happening right now to the planet.”
Look through the gallery at the top of the page to see some of Onyango’s images and learn more about his story.
