The Cable News Network (CNN) featured an award-winning Kenyan photographer Anthony Ochieng Onyango who spent a year looking for a rare antelope known as the ‘roan antelope’.
Anthony spent one year at Ruma National Park tracking the antelope and today owns an exclusive photograph of the wild animal.
The roan antelope is one of Africa’s largest and rare antelopes with only 15 living at Ruma National Park.
In July 2021, Kenya Wildlife Service estimated that there were only 60,000 roan antelopes left on the continent and they were slowly becoming extinct.
Speaking to CNN, Anthony stated that by photographing the exclusive antelope, he hoped the photos will inspire others to conserve the environment and protect wildlife.
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 realise that I need to do something,’” he stated.
The award-winning photographer also built a media platform in 2016 known as ‘TonyWild’ to promote wildlife conservation.
Through the platform, he uses film, photography and science to teach students about the environment as well as equip them with photography skills.
“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,” noted Anthony.
According to him, the move enables individuals to speak the same language because of the understanding of nature.
“We need to speak their language so we can get into their hearts to take action in conservation.
“My hope is for the students to just be able to appreciate what they currently have within their ecosystem,” he added.
Anthony hopes to prove to the next generation that they can pursue their passions.
His latest award was the 2022 East African Photography Awards where his photo named 'A Changing Community and the Fears Ahead', took the second position.
The photo focused on the changing aspects of Nairobi highlighting the new structures, political changes, and house affordability that creates a cloud of fear over Nairobi residents.
