Wildlife photographer Chris Fallows gained international fame in 2001 with his iconic "Air Jaws" photograph of a great white shark breaching the surface at False Bay near Cape Town, South Africa. Nearly 25 years later, the devastating decline of these apex predators in their former stronghold has led Fallows to redirect his conservation efforts from ocean to land, using proceeds from his fine art photography to purchase and rehabilitate African wilderness areas.
Between 2000 and 2015, research surveys documented approximately 1.64 shark sightings per hour in False Bay, making it a global hotspot for great white sharks. However, around 2015, sightings began to decline dramatically, and by late 2018, great whites had completely disappeared from the area. While some researchers attribute this decline to a pair of killer whales that prey on sharks, Fallows and others point to human activities including overfishing and the use of shark nets as primary factors.
"Nothing can quite prepare you for a fully committed, high-speed breach: one second you are staring at water and the next a magnificent super predator is flying through the air," Fallows explained about capturing his famous photograph. "The success or failure lies in how quickly you pull the trigger." The image catapulted him to fame in the wildlife photography world, but the subsequent loss of the sharks he had spent years documenting became deeply personal.
Fallows and his wife Monique fought tirelessly to protect the great whites, pursuing poachers with their boats, organizing petition drives that gathered thousands of signatures, and pressuring government officials to take action. "We could not have fought harder to save those animals," Fallows said. "We truly poured blood, sweat and tears into chasing poachers with our boats, getting huge numbers of people to sign petitions and forcing government to effectively have special meetings to consider the massive pressure that was being put on them."
When their marine conservation efforts proved unsuccessful, the couple made a strategic pivot to terrestrial conservation. "It was through a process of pain that we ended up realizing we can really still make a difference, but it will be on a terrestrial level more than on a marine level," Fallows reflected. Their reasoning was simple yet profound: "You can't own the ocean, but you can own land. We can control what happens on that land, and make sure it's in the best ecological and biological interests of those environments."
In 2017, using proceeds from his fine art photography sales, Fallows purchased approximately 25 hectares (61 acres) of degraded land on the western banks of the Breede River in Cape Infanta, along South Africa's south coast. The property had been overrun by invasive alien species, particularly acacia trees introduced from Australia during the 19th and 20th centuries. A specialized team was hired to clear these invasive plants, beginning an ambitious rehabilitation project.
The transformation has been remarkable. "It was hard to believe anything would grow where the aliens had been, but slowly, pioneer species started appearing," Fallows observed. "These then fixed nitrogen into the soil and other indigenous species started to appear." Today, the property supports thriving native fynbos shrubland vegetation and diverse wildlife including bushbucks, elands, duikers, and Cape grysboks. Predators such as baboons, caracals, honey badgers, and occasional leopards have returned, along with numerous bird species including eagle owls, jackal buzzards, kestrels, harriers, and falcons.
The success of their initial project inspired neighboring landowners to undertake similar restoration efforts, expanding the conserved area to approximately 1,500 hectares (3,706 acres). Building on this momentum, the Fallows are now pursuing an even more ambitious project: the purchase of a 10,000-hectare (24,710-acre) property in Namibia, again funded through photography sales that have raised an estimated $1 million for land acquisition.
Their ultimate vision extends far beyond a single property. Once rehabilitated, they plan to collaborate with neighbors and local organizations to create what would become one of Africa's largest privately owned wildlife reserves, potentially covering nearly 2 million hectares (approximately 5 million acres). "The vision is to create these huge unbroken corridors that allow the natural migration of animals," Fallows explained.
The proposed reserve would eventually connect with four other conservation landscapes, including Fish River Canyon in southern Namibia, where efforts are already underway to establish the world's largest black rhinoceros sanctuary. While acknowledging the enormity of this undertaking, Fallows remains optimistic: "If in our lifetime we can all collaboratively get that right, we can bring back charismatic wildlife that used to be in that area like cheetahs, black rhinos and increasing the numbers of brown hyenas."
Fallows' photography continues to serve dual purposes: artistic expression and conservation funding. His images, with evocative titles like "The Final Act," "Abundance," "A Change in Perspective," and "Bless the Rains Down in Africa," capture both the beauty and fragility of African wildlife. Through his lens, he documents elephants surviving despite enormous challenges, buffalo herds adapted to harsh conditions, and the essence of wild spaces that once were common across the continent.
Ultimately, Fallows dreams of seeing lions and desert elephants return to areas where they once roamed freely. "The feeling of being able to help those animals and restore environments is priceless," he said. "Being in touch with nature and seeing nature rebound and all the rewards that come with that; being able to give back, rather than just to take, is very special." His journey from documenting marine predators to rehabilitating terrestrial ecosystems demonstrates how conservation efforts can evolve and adapt, transforming personal loss into meaningful environmental action.
