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\n EDITOR\u2019S NOTE:\u00a0 Call to Earth is a CNN editorial series committed to reporting on the environmental challenges facing our planet, together with the solutions. Rolex\u2019s Perpetual Planet Initiative<\/a> has partnered with CNN to drive awareness and education around key sustainability issues and to inspire positive action. Wildlife photographer and conservationist Chris Fallows is a Call to Earth guest editor.\n<\/p>\n \n Almost 25 years ago, when Chris Fallows captured his famous photograph of a great white shark breaching the surface at False Bay, off Cape Town, the area was a hotspot for the predators.\n <\/p>\n \n Between 2000 and 2015, research surveys identified<\/a> around 1.64 shark sightings per hour in the area. Around 15 years later, sightings started to dwindle, and by late 2018, great whites completely disappeared from False Bay.\n <\/p>\n \n Some researchers<\/a> blame a pair of predatory killer whales for the decline \u2014 suggesting the sharks simply fled \u2014 but others, including Fallows point to human behavior such as overfishing<\/a> and the use of shark nets.\n <\/p>\n \n Whatever the reason, for Fallows, the loss was personal.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201c[My wife and I] could not have fought harder to save those animals,\u201d said Fallows, who travels the world with his wife Monique photographing wildlife. \u201cWe 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 [the sharks].\u201d\n <\/p>\n Beyond the lens with photographer Chris Fallows\n <\/p>\n Beyond the lens with photographer Chris Fallows<\/p>\n 3:42 <\/p>\n \u201cYou can\u2019t own the ocean, but you can own land\u201d<\/p>\n \n When they couldn\u2019t save the great whites, they decided to turn their attention to conservation on dry land. \u201cYou can\u2019t own the ocean, but you can own land,\u201d said Fallows. \u201cWe can control what happens on that land, and make sure it\u2019s in the best ecological and biological interests of those environments.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Using part of the proceeds from the sale of his fine art photography, in 2017 the pair bought around 25 hectares (61 acres) of land on the western banks of the Breede River in Cape Infanta, South Africa\u2019s south coast.\n <\/p>\n \n A team of specialists was hired to clear alien tree species which had taken over the land \u2014 including the acacia which was introduced to South Africa from Australia in the 19th and 20th centuries.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cIt was hard to believe anything would grow where the aliens had been, but slowly, pioneer species started appearing,\u201d Fallows said. \u201cThese then fixed nitrogen into the soil and other indigenous species started to appear.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Today, the property is unrecognizable, he says. Where once the acacia stood, there is now an incredible amount of wildlife, such as flourishing natural fynbos \u2014 a native shrubland vegetation \u2014 and antelopes including bushbucks, elands, duikers and Cape grysboks feeding on the vegetation.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cWe have baboons, caracals, honey badgers and even the occasional leopard as predators,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have many different reptiles and incredible birds\u2014 eagle owls, jackal buzzards, kestrels, harriers and falcons.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cQuite simply, our property is alive with what should be here.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Inspired by the transformation, neighboring landowners soon started to do the same, Fallows said, expanding the conserved land to around 1,500 hectares (3,706 acres).\n <\/p>\n \n The Fallows are now in the process of purchasing a 10,000-hectare (24,710 acre) property in Namibia, again funded through photography sales, which they estimate have raised around $1 million so far for acquiring land.\n <\/p>\n \n Once the area is rehabilitated, they hope to team up with neighbors and local organizations to create what they say will be one of Africa\u2019s largest privately owned wildlife reserves, possibly covering close to 2 million hectares (around 5 million acres).\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThe vision is to create these huge unbroken corridors that allow the natural migration of animals,\u201d said Fallows.\n <\/p>\n![\"Fallows](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/fallows-pkg-1-still.jpg\")
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