Guido Bonett, ARPS, AMPS has had a keen interest in nature and its conservation from a fairly young age and, as a consequence, he has travelled widely in his quest to observe and photograph wildlife.
He was born in Birkirkara in 1956, when what is now Malta’s most populated town was still relatively rural, and where significant pockets of semi-natural environment still flourished and which, therefore, helped instil an interest in natural history. Some years later the family moved for a spell to Germany. The exposure to seemingly endless countryside and forests in Central Europe continued to nurture a fascination for nature and a sense of responsibility towards its protection in the young Guido. Consequently, on his return to Malta, he became actively involved in the local conservation movement, serving for many years in various societies, ultimately holding the positions of public relations officer and council member of the then Malta Ornithological Society. Nature protection in the seventies and eighties were challenging times for conservationists and Guido’s commitment to the cause saw his participation in various European regional conferences and flora.
In recent years, Guido has participated in a number of European Union-funded research projects which the University of Malta was involved in, as visual technologies specialist and nature photographer. Study sites included remote locations in Morocco and Tunisia as also coastal regions within the Maremma in Italy. In addition, he has also travelled fairly extensively, for the explicit purpose of wildlife photography; destinations included various countries within Europe. He has also participated in expeditions to the Amazonian rainforests of French Guiana in South America; Namaqualand in South Africa; the Namib and Kalahari deserts of Namibia, the Okavango Delta in Botswana and the Victoria Falls and Zambezi river in Zambia in Southern Africa; Lake Nakuru, the Masai Mara and Amboseli in Kenya, Tarangire National Park and Ngoro Ngoro crater in Tanzania and Josani forest in Zanzibar, the latter destinations during his most recent photographic safari in Eastern Africa. He is also a regular visitor to the Straits of Messina, as a participant of the annual raptor migration camp in the Monti Peloritani in Sicily, an important western Palearctic and European Birding Hotspot.
As a result of his travels and experience, Guido has had many of his nature photographs published in books and other publications, locally and abroad. In 2005, he co-authored two volumes entitled The Maltese Countryside, a pictorial guide to the flora and fauna of the Maltese islands, which bore the fruit of his photographic endeavours.
He is an active member of the Malta Photographic Society and has placed first in various competitions. In 2005, Guido was awarded the status of Associate of the Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain (ARPS) following the presentation of a photographic panel based on local nature. In 2008, he was awarded an Associateship of the Malta Photographic Society (AMPS).
Guido is married to Jane, and they have two children, Matthew and Sarah.
The Natural History of the Maltese Islands
