"Paradise Inc. is the culmination of a twenty-year effort to document the final days of the great East African wilderness. It is the result of numerous expeditions into the African bush, during which I visited nearly every country on the continent. As a Frenchman with Malagasy heritage, born in Madagascar and raised in Kenya, I have witnessed firsthand the dramatic changes reshaping the continent over the past three decades through my work as a documentary photographer. The purpose of all these trips was to explore the remaining wildernesses of Eastern Africa which has been my home for a long time, and to observe and document the efforts of those people who are trying to preserve them." [Back Cover]
PARADISE INC. looks at the issues of climate change and the precarious conditions under which the wild world survives in the face of human activity, as well as the impact of Western influence and the double standards of international policies on financial aid and nature conservation. It also looks at the hundreds of millions of dollars invested in conservation over the last forty years, often without significant results.
Guillaume Bonn is a documentary photographer with over 20 years of experience capturing the complexities of conflicts, social issues, and environmental challenges across Africa. A contributor to publications such as The New York Times and Vanity Fair and a current fellow of the Royal Geographical Society in London, Bonn has authored five books, including Mosquito Coast: Travels from Maputo to Mogadishu, Le Mal d'Afrique: A Journey into Old and New Africa, and Peter Beard: Scrapbooks from Africa and Beyond. His work has been featured in numerous solo and group exhibitions, earning him accolades such as The CAP Prize for Contemporary African Photography, the American Photography prize, PDN Photo prize, a Pulitzer grant, and nominations for the Pictet Prize.
Jon Lee Anderson is an American author and journalist who began his career in the early 1980s, reporting on Central America's civil wars.
As a staff writer for
The New Yorker since 1998, he has reported from Syria, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Somalia, Angola, Liberia, Libya, Central African Republic, Mali, South Sudan, Zimbabwe, Brazil, Cuba, Venezuela, Sri Lanka, and many other countries. Anderson has also profiled a number of international public figures, including Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Augusto Pinochet, Fidel Castro, Hugo Chavez, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and King Juan Carlos.
One of the most respected American journalists of his generation, Anderson is also the author of a biography on the iconic Marxist revolutionary Ernesto Che Guevara. He has written several other books, including Guerrillas: Journeys in the Insurgent World, The Lion's Grave: Dispatches from Afghanistan, and The Fall of Baghdad. Anderson is currently writing his next book, a biography of Fidel Castro.
Ezekiel Ole Katato is a Maasai elder and culturalist working to secure the future of the Kenyan environment, wildlife, and Maasai generations to come. For three decades, he has supported the education of Maasai girls, promoting and facilitating access to stable and long-term schooling. He is also dedicated to establishing a peaceful coexistence between the Maasai and their elephant neighbors, securing and protecting 1.2 million hectares of land that not only protects the elephants and the environment, but also generates direct and sustainable income to rural villagers.
Ole Katato conceptualized managed "Walking with the Maasai," a six-day walking expedition through Maasai land following the footsteps of Joseph Thomson, the first European explorer to cross Maasai land in 1883. Women, girls, and youth groups have been supported through these walks.
