Greg du Toit is a professional wildlife photographer and 8th generation African, born in South Africa in 1977 and has lived and worked in four different African countries. From a young age, he has engaged the wilds of Africa, and there was never any doubt as to what he would do with his life. It was therefore no surprise that after completing his tertiary education in Nature Conservation, he went to live permanently in the African bush. The first few years of his career were spent in Timbavati Game Reserve (South Africa), where he served an apprenticeship as a Wilderness Trails Guide. It was during these years that he set aside devoted time to study every aspect of the African bush, from identifying wild flowers and dung beetles through to stalking big game on foot. These skills later proved invaluable as he focused his attention on photography.
Since those early days, he spent more than a decade living in and photographing some of Africa’s wildest, remotest and largest ecosystems. His photographic works of art are raw and timeless, conveying intimate interactions with the natural world. This intimacy, as a signature theme, has allowed him to represent his work internationally, whereby he is currently a contributing photographer to Gallo Images who globally represent all collections from Getty Images. His photography and writing is however, much more than a career; it is a way for him to channel his passion for Africa and to share the beauty and awe of Africa’s wild places with others, hopefully contributing to their continued existence.
Highlights include undertaking a three-month assignment that entailed camping in the remote north of Kenya, where he lived alongside local Samburu tribesman and got to experience their culture first hand. Another special time for him was the extensive undertaking to photograph the remote region of Kenya’s southern Rift Valley, home to the traditional Loodokilani clan of the Maasai Tribe. It was during this sixteen month project, that Greg was able to spend much time on the remote shores of Lake Natron, not only the largest breeding ground for Lesser Flamingo in the world, but also one of Africa’s most inhospitable lakes. His time spent documenting from the shores of Lake Natron, led to an Africa Geographic cover story in February 2006. While in Kenya, he also undertook to photograph nomadic lion, which eke out a precarious existence beyond formal park or reserve boundaries. Setting up hides and spending countless hours sweating it out on the floor of the Rift Valley (and being bitten by Tsetse flies), he was finally able to capture images of these wild and elusive creatures. He has also more recently, spent a total of twenty-two months in the deep south of Tanzania where he set out to document one of Africa’s largest and truly wild wildernesses. In fact, it was so remote and wild that in the South of Ruaha National Park, he had to first slash rudimentary bush tracks, before undertaking to photograph the area. This project led to the first portfolio ever published representing Ruaha National Park, which appeared in the March 2008 issue of Africa Geographic magazine. His most recent photographic adventure entailed trekking with local Maasai guides and pack mules over the wall of the Great Rift Valley and through the heart of Maasai-Land.
Greg is currently focusing his attention on offering customized safaris and private guiding to fellow photographers. In addition to running his own personalized safaris, he is also hired by other safari operators to conduct and host photographic workshops. Africa Geographic Expeditions are one such client. After living permanently in the African bush and on remote locations, for over a decade, he is now based in the city of Pretoria, South Africa. From this base he is available for commissions, whereby he hopes to use his photographic and writing skills to advance the principles of nature conservation.
If you would like to learn more about Greg,
or read some of his other articles,
please visit his profile on ODP Magazine
(clicking on the image will open a new page)
