Beauty of the beasts. This is Frans Lantings vibrant tribute to Old Africa revisited on its 20th anniversary. Botswana many say represents the last of Old Africa. & in the heart of this arid land lies a place as inspiring & as incongruous as the snow-capped summit of Kilimanjaro rising on the equator: that is the Okavango one of the greatest wetlands on earth whose very existence in the middle of a desert is nothing short of miraculous.
- Frans Lanting 1993 For a year between 1988 & 1989 Frans Lanting roamed the wetlands & deserts of northern Botswana living by the rhythms of the water & the movements of the animals as he captured them on film. The National Geographic" had sent him there on assignment but what he would take away was much more than a magazine story; it was a seminal & unparalleled collection of photographs depicting a world of flora & fauna that many had assumed no longer existed on this earth. As Lanting wrote " To many who have seen the fate of other wild areas in Africa & elsewhere in the world the very notion that such a place as Okavango still exists is like a dream." Living out of vehicles & canvas tents gliding through swamps following lions by night
- Lanting armed with his Nikon FE2 got up close & personal with some of the planets most formidable creatures. The book he published a few years later " Okavango" was a testament not only to the wondrous wildlife of the region but also to Lantings extraordinary courage skill & photographic eye. After many publications of Lantings work including " Jungles" " Eye to Eye" & " Penguin" TASCHEN now revisits his original classic with this updated & expanded edition of " Okavango" further enhanced with all new reproductions & dozens of previously unpublished photos as well a new preface by Lanting."