Babenzele Pygmies by Michael Nichols

Babenzele Pygmies

Nature, first prize stories

1993

Babenzele Pygmies watch an expedition member using nylon climbing ropes. In 1993, a carefully planned expedition, lasting more than a year, ventured into the depths of central Africa to the Ndoki River. It is an almost undisturbed area supporting groups of pygmies and abundant wildlife.

Commissioned by: National Geographic

Photo Credit: Micheal ‘Nick’ Nochols

Michael 'Nick' Nichols is a wildlife journalist; his narratives are epics where the protagonists are lions, elephants, tigers, and chimps. Scientist-conservationists like Jane Goodall, J. Michael Fay, Iain Douglas-Hamilton, and Craig Packer are all in featured roles. He came to National Geographic magazine with the legacy of a childhood spent in the woods of his native Alabama, reading Tarzan and John Carter of Mars adventures. Nichols became a staff photographer for National Geographic magazine in 1996 and was named Editor-at-Large for photography in 2008. From 1982 to 1995 he was a member of Magnum Photos. He lives in Sugar Hollow, VA, with his wife, artist Reba Peck.

Nick has published 27 stories with National Geographic magazine, most recently “Orphans No More” (NGM September 2011), the final chapter in his twenty-year endeavor to document the emotional intelligence of elephants. His “Redwoods: The Super Trees” (NGM October 2009) story used ground-breaking rigging and stitching techniques to create an 84-image composite of a 300-foot-tall, 1,500-year-old redwood tree. National Geographic will publish another tree on its pages using this technology in late 2012. He is also a Director and Founder of the annual LOOK3 Festival of the Photograph in Charlottesville, VA. Now in its sixth season, this three-day celebration of peace, love, and photography includes interviews, exhibits, projections, and workshops from both established and emerging photographers.

At the heart of Nick’s mission is to preserve true wildness. Whether in the redwood forests of California or the acacia plains of Kenya, it must be documented, nurtured, and protected. Nick is working to create images that show what we have to gain in caring for this magnificent planet and what we have to lose.