Lawrence Weitz

Fascinated by natural history in his formative years, professional guide Lawrence Weitz feels incredibly privileged to have had the opportunity to be introduced to Southern Africa's wilderness areas at an early age, a time when the safari experience was rugged and for the intrepid. More recently, Lawrence has expanded his guiding horizons in pursuit of experiencing the afromontane forests of East Africa, rainforests and spiny forests in Madagascar, Brazil's incomparable Pantanal, India's Himalayan alpine steppes, deciduous forests of Madhya Pradesh and rainforests in South East Asia. Upon completing his secondary education in South Africa, Lawrence joined the Wildlife Capture Unit at Sable Ranch, a private wildlife breeding farm in the North West of the country and was involved in capturing and transport of various rare and endangered mammals. He went on to be employed by an Anti-poaching Unit in South Africa's Mpumalanga Province, where he served as a Game Scout. Having worked alongside former Shangaan hunters, considered widely as peerless exponents of animal tracking and field craft, Lawrence gained valuable insight to the skill of tracking and understanding of animal behaviour. Driven by his desire to guide professionally, Lawrence qualified at the acclaimed Sabi Sabi Game Reserve in 1996. He gained formal guiding qualifications through the Field Guides Association of South Africa, and also holds a Botswana Professional Guide’s Licence. Lawrence subsequently registered his tour operator company in 2013, and now leads private wildlife tours to various countries globally. His experience and skillset has contributed to his photographic approach - an accomplished wildlife photographer, Lawrence has been commissioned by BBC for his work, and has previously been nominated in the 2015 Final Round of WPY. He appreciates the importance of light, positioning and timing, and will go to greatest lengths to capture the moment.