An Interview With Dereck and Beverly Joubert
What To Expect From This Interview:
Beverly & Dereck Joubert are two of my wildlife heroes & have had the pleasure to get to know them & work with them over the last few years. I sat down with them recently over zoom in between their edit for an upcoming series for National Geographic, where they are busy updating & remastering some of their classic films. Their connection with National Geographic is a long lasting & impactful one, including over 25 films & the launch of the Big Cat Initiative. They are award winning storytellers but also relentless conservationists in the work they do to protect wild animals, spaces & the communities that rely on these spaces in the land that they love so passionately - Africa.
Our wide ranging conversation covers what Africa means to them, how they stay motivated after all this time & also what they see as successful conservation. They are the real deal & as always it was a fascinating chat.
A snippet of the conversation between Jules, Beverly and Dereck:
Julieoldroyd introduction: So I’ll kick off by saying that you are truly two of my wildlife heroes. I greatly admire your commitment in terms of everything that you do to not only protect the kind of wild spaces in Africa but more importantly, I think, not only the animals but also the communities that are part of those spaces as well. And I think if I was to look at your work, it really falls into three areas that we'll talk a little bit about today- it's the visual space, the science, and then the conservation.
On the visual side you've been working in the field for over 30 years you've made over 35 films for Nat Geo and 12 books and, in fact, I have one of these here, that is a prized possession.
This book, I think, was where I first kind of got to know you and your work, with this book (Eye of the Leopard) documenting the leopard Legadema and the beautiful documentary that you also made that that told her story.
And you know I’ve been very privileged to work with you on some of your more recent projects, one of those being Jade: The Blue Eyed Leopard. So we'll talk a little bit more about your visual work in a moment.
On the science side in 2009 you establish the Big Cats Initiative with National Geographic. And I mean how many grants is it around about 100?
Beverly Joubert: Over it's over 150 now in 28 countries and, most of those countries, are in Africa, and I think there's only two that aren't.
Jules Oldroyd: Yes and then most recently, you establish the Great Plains Foundation which has a mission to protect wild spaces in Africa, but also a commitment to protect the environment of the animals and the communities, and I know the communities, in particular, are very, very important to you and we'll talk a little bit more about that in a moment, so.
Jules Oldroyd: A tremendous breadth of work, but I just want to sort of start very beginning and you've been described as true children of Africa and I want to ask you, what does Africa mean to you both?
Dereck Joubert: Well, Africa was the place that we were born in, and so we are children of Africa, but it's got many nuances and faces.
Dereck Joubert: You can end up in Cape Town in the French Riviera of Africa and never really know Africa, and so, for us, Africa is that place where man was born, where we were born & many animals were born. But it’s that edgy harshness where you look into the mirror of your soul. Africa is that place, that thing & there are not many continents that are like that.
Beverly Joubert: Yes all of that… but to add to that you know once you do a deep dive what we have been doing in Africa, the writings of Carl Jung springs to mind & he wrote that “Africa was one of the continents that still had a soul”. And looking at why did he felt that & for us going in to discover the wild places of Africa, we felt that keeping the wildlife areas alive, vital, having migrations happen, having the predators out there was one of the key reasons & the other key reason is that the cultural differences across Africa area so vast & are celebrated by each other instead of this constant battle to have everyone the same.
And so those are the two added aspects that I can give on Africa.
Fintech TV
Beverly did an interview with Pat Mitchell for Fintech.TV - Dangerous Women: Leading Onward. Pat asked Beverly questions around conservation in the pandemic, Project Ranger and the re-release of their films on big cats on Nat Geo WILD. The current importance of the Big Cat Initiative was also discussed.
Project Ranger
To date Project Ranger has raised enough funds to pay 152 rangers’ salaries across 8 countries and has 16 project partners.
On World Ranger Day Dereck and Beverly put focus on all the front-line workers/grantees they are supporting through PR through the pandemic. presented for the Global Biodiversity Festival. They presented alongside Dr. Samuel Wasser and Nir Kalron, investigators in the illegal wildlife trade.
Links to more:
To view the full collection of Beverly’s Fine Art, please see her website: https://beverlyjoubert.com
Great Plains Foundation: https://greatplainsfoundation.com
Big Cat Initiative: https://www.nationalgeographic.org/projects/big-cats-initiative
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A series of photographic work, exploring wildlife from around the world. View the full collection here.
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My top prints are available to purchase as limited edition runs of only 25 and 15 between 30” and 60” prints. View a selection below or the full collection here.
More Interviews with Jules Oldroyd
Masai Mara 2025
Available in:
Limited edition run of 25 - 30” print for £500
Limited edition run of 15 - 48” print for £1250
This evocative lion photo was captured in the Mara North Conservancy early one morning. I had spent the previous afternoon with the River Pride, including the powerful male coalition of Lenkoe, Enkong’u, and Saning’o, but most of the time had been spent watching the pride asleep, and by the time they stirred, the fading light had brought my encounter to an end.
At first light the following morning, I set out again, hoping to find the males. Fortune was on my side. While it was still dark, my guide located two of the coalition brothers. As they began to move, the first hints of pre-dawn light emerged, allowing me to capture this intimate portrait of Saning’o, his face and mane softly illuminated by the subtle glow of dawn.
Shortly afterward, Saning’o and his brother slipped into a nearby thicket, remaining hidden for the rest of the morning. Moments like this are fleeting, especially with male lions, whose lives are shaped by constant challenge and conflict and then resting.
Male lions face immense pressure throughout their lives. After being forced from their birth pride, they endure years of uncertainty, hunger, and injury before forming coalitions strong enough to challenge resident males. Even then, success is never permanent. Defending territory requires relentless vigilance, brutal confrontations, and the physical toll of repeated battles. Most male lions rule for only a short time before younger rivals arrive.
Saning’o and his brothers have formed a formidable coalition, taking on rival males across Mara North and securing their place among the region’s dominant lions. Yet in this lion portrait, the strength and aggression often associated with male lions gives way to something more atmospheric and timeless. This portrait reveals a quieter, almost ethereal side of a true Lion King which I hope will make it a compelling piece of lion wall art that speaks to both their power and vulnerability.
For more details on printing, delivery and charity, click here.