I’m always looking for coffee table-like books with amazing photographs and stories about the fascinating animals with whom we share our magnificent planet.1 It’s said that a picture is worth a thousand words.

However, that’s a vast understatement for photographer and storyteller Ian Poh Jin Tze’s new book *The Silent Song of The African Savannah *in which he portrays peaceful encounters that reveal the stillness—and shared divinity—behind a predator’s golden eyes, split-second hunting scenes capturing the razor-thin line between survival and loss, quiet camaraderie across species and unexpected cross-species friendships born of instinct and mutual respect, and motherhood in the wild, full of vigilance, sacrifice, and legacy.

Marc Bekoff: Why did you create The Silent Song of The African Savannah?

Ian Poh Jin Tze: What began as a simple holiday slowly unfurled into something far more enchanting. Only days into the journey, as I peered through the quiet eye of my Leica, I found myself drawn into an intimate communion with the wild—an encounter that stirred the first whispers of this book.

At the outset, I carried a trembling awe, even fear, of these apex beings who ruled the savannah with such primal grace. But as the days unfolded, that fear softened. I began to sense their true nature—creatures woven from the same divine breath as we are, powerful yet gentle, desiring nothing more than to exist unbothered within the vast hush of their world.

It was then I knew I needed to share this feeling—this sacred, wordless connection—with others through my photographs.

MB: How does your book relate to your background and general areas of interest

IPJT: From a young age, I was captivated by the world around me—by the textures of food, the allure of travel, and the raw beauty of landscape photography. But what began as a fascination with vibrant landscapes slowly transformed over the years.

My lens shifted focus, moving from the bustling colors of the world to the quiet, introspective stillness of monochrome scenes. This shift is at the heart of the chapter I’ve dedicated in my book—a reflection of how photography became not just a hobby, but a deeper journey into the emotions beneath the surface. I wanted to show the world not just what they look like, but what they feel—to evoke a raw, emotional connection between the viewer and the subjects through the lens of my camera.

MB: Who do you hope to reach?

IPJT I set out originally to write the book for nature enthusiasts and photography fans.

Then the feedback started rolling in: even children are apparently holding my book hostage as their new bedtime read.

I guess adorable furry creatures have a marketing strategy of their own. So yes, I’ve now learned that when it comes to loving nature, everyone from toddlers to grown-ups is fair game.

MB: What are some of the topics you consider and what are some of your major messages?

IPJT: When I set out to write this book, I sought to carve its essence into the very fabric of emotion itself—dividing it into four realms: Ataraxy, Huntian, Camaraderie, and Maternology. Yet, two realms remained untouched, shadowed by the complexities of the human heart: Monochromatic and The Quest.

Ataraxy speaks to the stillness of the soul. It is a quiet moment in a strange land, where I found myself adrift in a world that felt both alien and yet familiar. Amidst creatures whose presence seemed so sure, I found myself asking a chilling question: Who truly fears whom in this tangled dance between human and beast?

Huntian is the chapter where nature’s raw elegance reveals itself in the most primal of ways. It follows the apex predators—those I watched through a lens, studying their movements as they stalked the wilderness with quiet ferocity, their eyes mirrors to a world I could never fully understand. In their gaze, I saw not just hunger, but an eerie, inevitable calmness before the kill, a moment frozen between two worlds.

Camaraderie unveils the unsung stories of kinship found in the wild. Some I witnessed firsthand; others were whispered to me by weathered rangers by the warmth of a crackling fire. It is in these moments of shared silence and untold bonds that I glimpsed something profoundly human in the animal kingdom—the deep connections that transcend words, transcending even the need for survival.

Finally, Maternology is a testament to the fierce, unyielding love that radiates from the animal world. It is a love that is often mistaken for aggression, yet beneath the surface lies an unbreakable will to protect, to shield, and to ensure the survival of those most vulnerable. It is a love that endures through sacrifice, sometimes through adoption, always through a quiet, unwavering devotion that defies even the harshest elements.

MB: How does your work differ from others that are concerned with some of the same general topics?

IPJT: While many photos may share similar angles or capture the same fleeting moments, my work goes beyond mere visual similarities. Through my lens and words, I aim to stir deep, raw emotions—inviting the reader to not only witness the scene, but to feel it.

I want them to pause, reflect, and connect with the very emotions that I experienced in that moment. As I lay prone on the safari jeep, heart pounding, striving to capture the perfect shot, it’s not just the image I’m chasing—it’s the soul of the moment itself, frozen in time.

In my work, every shot is an invitation to experience the world through my eyes and the eyes of the creatures who share it with me.

MB: Are you hopeful that as people learn more about this amazing landscape they will come to appreciate the land and its nonhuman residents and treat them with more care and compassion?

**IPJT: **I truly hope that the next time someone embarks on a safari, they look beyond the fleeting thrill of a perfect selfie. I hope they pause, deep within themselves, and find a moment of true peace—one that allows them to connect with the land and its creatures on a deeper, more profound level.

These magnificent beings are not to be feared, but revered. They are not just creatures in a distant landscape; they are living souls deserving of respect, compassion, and our unwavering care.

If we can truly see them for what they are, we can begin to understand the delicate, fragile bond that ties us all together on this Earth.