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| Pete Cooper |
| Born
in 1962, Pete spent the first twenty years of his working life in Finance
and Management. Inspired by his first trip to Tanzania on his honeymoon
in 2000, he began to combine a lifelong appreciation of wildlife with
photography. He bought his first SLR camera in December 2000, and during
the next two years visited numerous sanctuaries and wild places throughout
Britain building a portfolio. |
| In
2001 he was on a holiday to China, and by chance National Geographic
had a Tiger Weekend that was picked up by the cable TV in his hotel.
Among the programmes shown was a documentary made by Nick Nichols about
the tigers of Bandhavgarh. Inspired by what he had seen, Pete chose
to ditch the “rat race” and made the decision to turn professional
in spring 2002. Shortly afterwards he made a return trip to the Serengeti
and the photography career was underway. Weekends saw him loading an
old camper van with photographs and frames, travelling across the UK
selling via a combination of craft fairs and exhibitions. That first
year was a blur of various marquees, stuck in more muddy fields than
he could count! |
| Exhibiting
in competition at Bristol Zoo in October 2002, Pete won the Nature Photographers’
Association Merit Award for the Best Portfolio in Show. He repeated
this success the following year. In addition, his image of a Lilac Breasted
Roller won the Nature Photographers Association Gold Certificate of
Merit for Best Photograph in Show. |
| Always
a cat lover, Pete was drawn to India to see tigers in the wild, and
in early 2004 spent four weeks travelling to various reserves. One of
these places was Bandhavgarh, which had provided his life changing moment
two years earlier. The visit made such an impression that he decided
to return to the park later in the same year, and again in early 2005.
For this visit he was accompanied by the BBC and filmed for a documentary
that was screened as part of the Inside Out Series on BBC One in September
2005. |
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| He
spends many months each year studying the park, and now runs a series
of tours there to support both the wildlife and local communities. He
believes that responsible tourism provides valuable protection by its
presence, and that where a community benefits financially from its wildlife
it is more likely to help protect it. Hopefully this will aid the long-term
survival of the tiger in the wild. |
| He
is actively developing similarly focussed tours to other parts of the
Indian Subcontinent. |
| He
is also a member of the RSPB and The Wildlife Trusts, and supports Global
Tiger Patrol, the Feline Advisory Bureau and Care For The Wild International.
Media contributions include The Derby Evening Telegraph, Nottingham
Evening Post and specialist cat magazines such as Cat World and The
Cat. |
| He
currently lives in Nottingham with his wife Lynn and three cats. |
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| Contact Us |
If you would like more information, please contact us at
phone: +44 (0)115 9877796
mob : +44 (0)770 2078324
email : tours@lionscape.co.uk
post : PO Box 9846, Nottingham NG4 9DQ |
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