Jacob Schwebach

Africa media validated my passion for media and conservation

You may not know how to put it into exact words but you will remember it. It gives me a sense of pride, accomplishment and (dare I say) love as I ease it to the forefront of my memory. If you are at all like I was, Africa Media sounds too good to be true as you peruse the site for the first (or tenth) time. I can’t condense the discoveries I made during my two months in the journalism and photography internships into anything short of a novel. My long-story-made-short is like a lucid dream, deep yet immediate. Africa media validated my passion for media and conservation. That’s the simple part. Professional fieldwork challenged me, sometimes frustratingly so. I wouldn’t have that part any other way. The appreciation I accrued for the animal kingdom, humans included, was immense. The lot at Africa Media was the most original, enthusiastic and daring I have known. We worked hard, played hard, and often the two were indecipherable. I can’t predict everyone you’ll meet on the Garden Route. But you will remember them and probably stay in touch with the special few. You will remember the exhilaration, awe and attentive calm of seeing a great white shark for the first time. You will remember the “f-yeah!” of truly capturing the subject after one hundred clicks. You will remember the nervous authenticity of your first interview: the tingling in your fingertips when you put it into an article. You will retell the countless adventures in-between.