Mapping the wild

Mike Fay
Conservationist Mike Fay stands next to the Cessna he used to travel across Africa in 2004.
Photo by Mark Christmas/National Geographic Magazine

Two summers ago Mike Fay embarked on a journey to see Africa the way few people do. He'd already walked 2,000 miles through its interior, but in this project he would exchange the intimacy of that trek; for the kind sweeping perspective that only an aerial view can provide. So he outfitted a plane with nearly 200 cameras and spent seven months photographing the splendor of pristine forests and the elegance of a herd of antelope on the move.

He found hippos in Zambia and Barbary sheep in Chad. But he also saw the damage that the continent is suffering from overcrowding in some areas, and devastating environmental policies.

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