My partner Elaine and I had a very well deserved and much needed holiday to South Africa and Namibia over the Xmas break after another hectic wedding season and visited the famous salt pan in the Kalahari Desert known as Etosha National Park in the North of Namibia. The scenery is quite stunning and the contrast of white desert, acacia thorn scrub land and the salt flats make a landscape which is by contrasts harsh and yet stunning and supports the big 5. On our way back after several punctures in our “not fit for purpose” Golf Polo (why did everyone else have 4WD off road vehicles!!) we stopped for a night at the famous Africat Foundation http://www.africat.org/ where I was lucky enough to get very close to these beautiful predators. The Africat Foundation was founded in 1991 to promote large carnivore conservation and animal welfare. Looking at some of these images transports me back there to this country that has a very special place in my heart. Was a bit of the shock to the system to learn that whilst we had been away it had been minus 12 degrees recorded in Benson, Oxfordshire where we live whilst we were sunning it in the + 30 degree sunshine. Brought me back down to earth when shooting the lovely wedding of Katie & James at Wentworth Golf Club in Surrey and back to my lovely job as a full time wedding photographer living in beautiful (but cold!) Oxfordshire!!