The Elephants of Sumatra - the Final Stand documents the last remaining elephants within Sumatra and their fight for survival currently on the critically endangered species list.

Initially I came to Sumatra to document the efforts to save the life of Bona the orphan baby elephant in Bengkulu Sumatra but I soon got swept up and became part of the story. I spent 7 months single handedly hand raising baby Bona to the point where she did not need milk anymore. I fed her day and night 4 times per day form being woken up at 5am to midnight when she would wander into camp looking for her final feed for the day.

Since successfully hand raising Bona I realised the enormity of the situation that the elephants of Sumatra face. Bona's situation came about when her family (herd) were all poisoned, all seven adult elephants including her mother. I soon realised the bigger picture and what was initially a short trip has turned into a life changing event and ongoing project.

I have now been residing in Sumatra for over 3 years documenting the last remaining elephant of Sumatra throughout the island, from wild elephants to captive in the government run camps around Sumatra. In the time I married my indonesian wife and have settled into a new life in Sumatra focusing my photography on trying to create awareness and funding to make a difference to the lives of the last remaining elephants.

During the last 3 and a half years I have committed everything to documenting the amazing work that a small number of dedicated NGO's do to help the plight of the elephants and in that time have also created our own local NGO named Berdiri (Stand) with my new Indonesian family.

The book - Elephants of Sumatra the Final Stand is a collection of photos, stories and information gathered from my time documenting the elephants within Sumatra, with over 30,000 photos collected over 3 years the book will be a collection of 100 pages of the best photos from conservation project work, the orphan elephants, documenting the lives of individual elephants and the issues surrounding their survival.

About the Photographer

The Issues

The Elephant Camps

The Projects 

The Orphans - Bona

The Orphans - Yekti

There are many issues facing the elephants of Sumatra and their survival. The is also covered in the book and some of the solutions that are currently being implemented. Also covered are the many ways in which you yourself can help even from the very seat that you sit in around the other side of the world. There are ways in which we can all help and if we al do a little bit then that can add up to be quite a lot.

Please see the details for the project rewards and how you can pre-order before the book becomes available. Below is the poster that is available as part of the rewards for pre ordering the book.