About Merlin

Merlin was born in Pretoria in 1971, and has been passionate about nature since his early childhood days. Birding in these early years was pretty much restricted to the garden, with the biggest highlight being the annual family holiday to the Kruger National Park. As a young boy he spent many hours longingly looking at the pictures and reading up on all the exotic animals and birds in his books and field guides, dreaming of the day he would actually see them in real life. After school he has attended the University of Pretoria where he has obtained a degree in mechanical engineering, and it was during this time that he bought his first camera with money from his study bursary.

Soon his passion for nature turned into an interest in photography, which in turn led to a love for travel. Merlin loves visiting new places, where every new creature he comes across is still greeted with that same boyish excitement. To date Merlin has visited six continents, and he also does quite a bit of travelling to some remote parts of Africa. As much as possible of his free time is spent in the outdoors, while he continue dreaming of a day when he can turn his passion into a full time occupation.

This portfolio is a dedication to some of the wonderful creatures in God’s creation, which Merlin had the privilege of seeing and photographing. Most images were taken in Africa, showing wild, free-living animals in their natural habitat, while there are also images from various other places all over the world.