Brian J Bassett
Author
Brian spends a considerable amount of time researching and enhancing his knowledge of African wildlife and the eco-system in which they live.
Brian was born in Norseman on the Goldfields of Western Australia, spending much of his childhood exploring the surrounding bush. Constrained by limited educational facilities he eventually relocated to the capital city of Perth to study civil and structural engineering.
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A flourishing engineering career culminated in numerous appointments at a senior executive level managing port, mining and smelting operations for large international resource companies, in Australia and New Zealand.
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Prior to retirement he established his own consultancy, successfully advising the leaders of large organisations on how to improve the operational and cost effectiveness of their respective businesses.
Upon retirement, looking for opportunities to pursue his desire to explore and learn, with cameras in hand, he and his wife Sue travelled to Africa in 2010 largely as tourists. He was captivated by Africa and her people. He knew he had to return, not just as a bystander, as someone deeply engaged in conservation projects. He recognised the potential of the countries and was determined to make a difference.
Africa was a natural choice, not only were a serious number of the animals vulnerable, but so were many of the communities themselves, those people attempting to protect the eco-systems, with distressingly limited resources with which to do so.
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On a comprehensive range of subsequent trips, he completed an entry-level Ranger's Training Course, accompanied a wildlife veterinarian onto private game reserves and national parks throughout Southern Africa, and volunteered on numerous research projects in several countries.
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He has amassed a considerable knowledge-base of African flora and fauna and bush-craft during the months of travel throughout nine different countries in Africa. With this new knowledge, each trip takes him to increasingly more remote and exhilarating destinations, with inherent pleasures of meeting new people, closely interacting with wildlife, and producing a confidence he is making a modest but valuable contribution to the conservation of the natural world.
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After climbing Mt Kilimanjaro in Tanzania on his inaugural trip, he was especially enamoured by the engaging honesty of the people he met. He and his wife Sue subsequently chose to sponsor the on-going boarding and education of a young girl, at The School of St. Jude in Arusha, Tanzania. This decision, provides a sustained desire for regular visits to see her, her family and the amazing progress being made by the school.
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Implementing one of his fundamental mantras comes naturally to Brian - "B Positive - not just a blood group - a way of life."
Sue Bassett
Photographer
Wildlife photography provides the shortest of windows in which to capture an image. Sue, poised with camera at the ready.
Born in the small wheat-belt town of Lake Grace, Western Australia, and living her formative years in Bunbury, Sue moved to the capital city of Perth to study Fine Arts and Education. She taught Visual Arts in Geraldton, Perth and in Brisbane, Queensland, prior to transferring to the remote mining environment of the Pilbara, in the north-west of Western Australia with her husband, Brian.
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Sue developed an enviable reputation within the art teaching community, and returned to Perth to the innovative Wanneroo Senior High School, where appointments were made only by invitation.
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Utilising her creative skills. Sue established a graphic design business while accompanying Brian on an
executive mining business appointment residing in New Zealand. Upon returning to Australia, she co-owned a successful home-based cookery business while living in both Sydney, New South Wales and Tannum Sands, Queensland.
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Upon retirement, with a rekindled interest in photography, it wasn't until her first trip to Africa in 2010 that wildlife photography became a passion.
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She has been in partnership with her husband Brian in all of his conservation endeavours. She too has completed an entry-level Ranger's Training Course, volunteered on wildlife research projects, and understudied conservation procedures with a wildlife veterinarian in several Southern African locations.
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Sue enjoys designing and self-publishing photographic books depicting some of their African adventures. After a significant number of vocational relocations around Australia and New Zealand, Sue and Brian now reside on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, where they spend their time between visits to African countries for conservation research, and domestic road travel within Australia.