Nature Roars Back: Bob Poole Brings Africa to Adelaide

A nature photographer for 25 years, Bob Poole will deliver a presentation on elephant rescue stories, wildlife photography tips and his restoration of the Gorongosa National Park after years of civil war this August. Featuring an impressive collection of still and moving images, Poole will reveal Africa’s magnificent wildlife in intimate form. Raised in East Africa, Poole’s fierce curiosity and bold spirit as a teenager lead to his relationship with National Geographic. Born in Connecticut, Poole moved to Malawi at the age of three. His father was the Director of Peace Corps and the African Wildlife Foundation, but died in a car accident when Poole was a teenager. Before his death, he arranged for Poole to join a project on relocating buffaloes. At 17 Poole had already worked alongside a film crew for a documentary on elephants and after a decade of following this passion for documenting wildlife, he produced his first film, War Elephants. In War Elephants, Poole and his sister help to “reintroduce Mozambique’s very aggressive elephants” after years of trauma and devastation brought by the civil war. Poole hopes his films are an incentive to raise awareness to save Africa’s wildlife. “I think that’s what I try to do because everything can be rebuilt, nothing is ever completely lost,” Poole tells The Adelaide Review. Poole’s work documenting and helping to restore the Gorongosa National Park has been monumental. The enormous park sits in central Mozambique, and overflows with remarkable and iconic African species, such as lions, elephants and crocodiles. Sadly, the park was badly damaged by Mozambique’s civil war in the 80s and 90s, with many of the native species being plundered for their pelts and ivory. It was only after concerted protection and conservation efforts that species have once again come to thrive in the park.  Nature Roars Back – With Bob Poole Her Majesty’s Theatre Wednesday, August 24, 7.30pm www.natgeolive.org/australia Images: Courtesy National Geographic and Bob Poole