S2 E23: Sebastian Kennerknecht

In the season finale to Season 2 of the podcast, Charles and Jon talk to the founder of Cat Expeditions – camera trap virtuoso and feline aficionado – Sebastian Kennerknecht from his home in California.

Sebastian explains how his passions for wildlife and photography were formed and talks about the powerful role photography can play in conservation. He shares fascinating stories that demonstrate both his dedication to – and the skills behind – camera trapping. And we hear about some of his many adventures while photographing 31 of the world’s cat species: from almost treading on a Snow Leopard in Kyrgyzstan to almost being trodden on by an elephant in Gabon!

The mammalwatching podcast will return in the spring of 2024. The first episode features Peter Kaestner, who just saw his record breaking 10,000th bird species.

Notes: Sebastian’s tour company Cat Expeditions, has produced several reports featuring his superb photos (a selection of reports are here). Meanwhile here is Jon’s report on looking for – but not finding – Snow Leopards in Kyrgyzstan.

The answer to the mystery mammal call from Episode 22 is revealed at the start of the episode. Many thanks to Chris Scharf for sending in the recording. His podcast episode is well worth a listen! And thank you to everyone who took the time to guess. Some of the entries arrived after we had recorded the episode so sorry if we didn’t mention you.

Cover Art: Sebastian in the field.