Africa Media Academy - Building a generation of wildlife media specialists

Abby Volkman

I am nibbling on leftovers from last night’s farewell Braai as I ponder my month spent mostly in the Garden Route of South Africa. In the Western Cape, I interviewed game drive rangers, took a few walks to (...)

Michael Hewitt

Best experience of my life!

I joined the wildlife filmmaking program in 2018. At the start I was worried that it would be too advanced as I had never filmed wildlife before, although I had worked with cameras during my university studies. (...)

Joanne Mellon

Such an amazing experience and learned a lot in a short space of time on the film program. The team who run the program are fantastic and make sure that everything runs smoothly. A real privilege to get so (...)

Miguel Mercado

Hi, I took my UWP course in Mozambique, the experience is amazing. Theres so much to learn and so much biodiversity to see, that one month is not enough to enjoy that beautiful country. The UWP internship is ok (...)

Katie Duval

I was part of the October 2017 film program. Everyone at Africa Media were extremely kind and helpful. We learned about so many important skills, and got to use them in the field while at schotia, which was (...)

Claire Grant

I really enjoyed this program and was able to get a quality short film out of it as well. I thought there was a nice variety of activities offered and I believe I got a good idea of what Africa has to offer. I (...)

Elaine Smith

We spent a month last year as interns and throughly enjoyed the program. There was so much to do from hiking and wildlife photography to underwater shark experiences. The staff was great and knowledgeable. Our (...)

Jack Austin

Having the opportunity to spend a month in Mozambique, learning the art of Underwater Photography, was well and truly one of the most inspiring experiences I've ever had. Mentored from Fiona Ayerst, a (...)

(...)

Having the opportunity to spend a month in Mozambique, learning the art of Underwater Photography, was well and truly one of the most inspiring experiences I've ever had. Mentored from Fiona Ayerst, a world-renowned underwater photographer, I managed to cultivate the skills and understanding of Underwater Photography in a friendly and positive environment. The course is set in Guinjata Bay, a remote bay near the town of Inhambane, providing the perfect setting to really live and breathe the course. You'll wake up to the sounds of the ocean, spend all day in the ocean and then spend the night watching it; there's really not an experience like it and you'll find a place that at first, felt strange and surreal, becomes like home very quickly. Everything was very well organised, right from the communication prior to the trip, to the daily activities and schedule, to even now being supported as an alumni of the course. I learnt a lot about myself during this experience and there was so so many things I didn't get right or felt I wasn't great at. However, the support throughout your learning here is incomparable and through getting out there day after day, you will soon find you're making some amazing progress from when you first started. The honest truth is, I started the course with 6 open water dives (4 of them were in my OW course). Since completing this underwater photography internship, I then went on to become an Open Water Instructor, working in the dive industry in several dive destinations around the globe and now work as a professional underwater photographer. I put this all down to the experience, learning and teaching that I had in Mozambique. I highly recommend this course for those with either a passion for marine life or photography. Using myself as an example, you don't have to have a tonne of dives to partake on this course, you will quickly develop those skills too except it will be way better as you'll have a full underwater camera set-up in your hands. No question, I would love to go back and do it all again!

Kyra Kalageorgi

I’ve realized that every time I travel to an unfamiliar location, my perspective of the world warps and changes. Africa, the Underwater Photography Internship led by Fiona Ayerst with the help of Shalini (...)