A very wild career

JENNA THOMPSON

Perhaps the most important advice wildlife photographer Jan Latta could give anyone on safari is “you’re very safe in a jeep but lunch when you get out.”

Just over 13 years ago, Jan quit her job as an advertising designer to become an author and publisher of the renowned True To Life Books for children. This initiative quickly set her off on world tours, visiting schools with her books and teaching students about conservation. “There’s a lot of interest from the children when you show them photos you’ve taken in the wild and teach them about the animals,” she said.

“One teacher said to me ‘I’m going to go where you’ve just gone’. I love going off and taking photos but it’s a challenge writing the story and getting the facts right, even for a children’s book.”

Such a dramatic sea change came about when Jan got up close and personal with a wild mountain gorilla in the Rwandan mountains.

“The first time you’re face to face with a mountain gorilla, it changes you completely,” she said.

“While we were trekking down the mountain again, I asked my guide Letaloy how many were left and he said 600. I was shocked. But by the time we got to the bottom, I decided I wanted to make books about endangered animals.”

Using her trusty old film camera – “If you’re in the middle of nowhere, where are you going to recharge the batteries?” – Jan said that even after all this time being face to face with a wild animal is still an adrenaline rush.

“Sometimes in the evenings I would think, wow did I just do that? It’s the adrenaline and being very excited all at once,” she said.

Jan has since written a book Diary of a Wildlife Photographer (1997) that chronicles her amazing career – close encounters and all.

“It can be really scary sleeping out under the stars in the African jungle,” she said.

“But you do get used to the sounds. It’s funny; I’ll be laying there trying to figure out which animal is roaring because they all sound similar and then you hear three coughs – oh, it’s just a lion. Sometimes I’d wake up in the morning and find elephant dung right next to my tent. “You can never hear them coming and you think, wow, an elephant was only two metres from our tent.”

At one stage, a cheetah came up to Jan while she was busy changing the film and flopped down beside her.

“You couldn’t ever do that with a wild one, but this cheetah was an orphan that had been released into the wild,” she explained.

“The second time it came up to me, I was more relaxed and put my hand on it’s throat to feel the purring. It was incredible.”

Jan said she often waits for hours – rain, hail or shine – just to get the perfect shot, adding that it helps to know a great deal about your chosen animal.

“Once you read about an animal you know that a certain moment is going to come up soon,” she said.

“It’s that anticipation waiting for the right shot that keeps things interesting.”

Currently returning from her seventh trip to Africa, Jan was joined by a film crew in order to make a documentary about endangered animals.

“I think they’re making a mini documentary on me that I can send out to schools,” she said.

Jan, in conjunction with The Children’s Book Council Australia – South Coast Branch will be visiting the Illawarra on Monday, May 4. She will be giving a Power Point presentation at Wollongong Library Tom Thumb room from 4pm to 6pm. The presentation is free for children and CBCA Members (card to be shown), while it will be $5 for general entry.