Tailor-made safaris and travel to Southern Africa

Peter Steyn is a former schoolteacher and now a natural history author and photographer of world renown. His books include Eagle Days, A Delight of Owls, Birds of Prey of Southern Africa and Nesting Birds. Peter is a regular contributor to Getaway, Birding in SA and Africa: Environment and Wildlife magazines. Based in Cape Town, he spends his time travelling, writing and pursuing his photographic art.

Peter's natural history interests began with butterflies and snakes while still at preparatory school in Cape Town but he soon switched to birds. At the age of 13 he took his first bird photograph and hasn't stopped for 50 years, during which time his pictures have appeared in magazines and books world-wide. His 280 popular and scientific publications are mostly illustrated with his own photographs, but his camera has always been used for research and not just for pretty pictures.

After qualifying with a degree in English and History at the University of Cape Town, Peter emigrated with his wife and small son to what was then known as Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and taught for 10 years at Falcon College, a school in the Matabeleland bushveld 55 kilometres south of Bulawayo. Here his passion for birds of prey, especially eagles, thrived and he published many scientific studies of this group.

In 1970 at the age of 34 the momentous decision was taken to leave teaching and photograph and write about birds on a professional basis. Residing in Bulawayo within easy reach of the Matobo hills he continued his studies of the many raptor species there, especially the Black Eagle. In 1973 his first book Eagle Days was published and it was the culmination of 20 years of observation and photography of this magnificent group of raptors. This was followed in 1974 with a popular guide to the birds of Hwange National Park which remained in print for the next 25 years. Then, in 1982, after long years of research, Birds of Prey of Southern Africa appeared and it remains the definitive reference work on the raptors of the region. Subsequent publications were A Delight of Owls (1984), Hunters of the African Sky (1990), Birds of Southern Africa (1991) and then in 1996 his second major work Nesting Birds which encapsulated a lifetime of observation and fascination for the breeding habits of birds.

After returning to live in Cape Town in 1977, Peter was able to travel widely and his African peregrinations now included professional guiding when he joined Wilderness Safaris on one of their earliest safaris in Botswana in 1984. His initial overseas experiences were aboard the research ship S.A. Agulhas when he was able to visit the subantarctic islands of Marion, Tristan da Cunha and Gough. Later, as a lecturer aboard cruise ships, his travels extended from the Arctic to the Antarctic culminating in an unforgettable visit to Emperor Penguin colonies in the 1997/1998 season. In the Indian Ocean he has visited Mauritius (at a time when the endemic kestrel was on the brink of extinction), the Seychelles and Madagascar.

Peter has an enthusiastic interest in all aspects of natural history, not just birds, and is an entertaining speaker who imparts humour and his infectious enjoyment to those who travel with him.

Call on 27-11-463-7889 or email us at info@Liyatshwa.com