African Wildlife & Environment Issue 81

GOOD READS

Vultures VulPro (2020).

are often wary of humans and when they are feeding on a carcass they form such a seething mass that it is virtually impossible to get clear images. And during my early years of trying to photograph vultures, we used film in our cameras, and our lenses were shaky at high magnifications. But now, with the advent of 'vulture restaurants' with hides built especially for photography, and with the development of cameras that contain sophisticated computers, coupled with lenses that cost more than some motorcars, we have reached the stage of technology that enables some truly astounding images to be captured for posterity. As a group, vultures worldwide are in trouble. Long scorned as rather nasty cartoon creatures, and generally avoided even by ornithologists themselves, vultures took a long time to have their photographs shown on the covers of birding

Magnificent Vultures of Africa . Vulture Programme for the Conservation of Vulture Species in Southern Africa, Skeerpoort, South Africa. Sponsored by the Hans Hoheisen Charitable Trust (managed by Nedbank PrivateWealth) Hard cover, 38 x 30 cm, 72 pp, illustrated throughout with (mostly) colour and (a few) monochrome photographs. ISBN 978-0-62088 -355-9. R 760 (includes delivery to your nearest Postnet), Contact kerri@vulpro.com to order. Vultures are magnificent birds, and this is a magnificent book, a true 'coffee table', hardcover, large-format, landscape orientated production, with some of the most stunning photographs of vultures I have ever seen. As one who has been pursuing vultures around many parts of the world, photographing them has never been easy, as they

3 | African Wildlife & Environment | Issue 81 (2022)