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Abigail Flanagan

Freelance Writer

I’m a consumer journalist, travel writer, and wildlife obsessive with an overriding passion for the natural world. I’ve been a journalist – in one form or another – for over thirty-five years. I first cut my teeth on women’s magazines before moving into TV, including a long stint as a producer and director on the BBC’s flagship consumer show, Watchdog. Since then, I’ve gone on to freelance for a wide range of publications, including The Times, The Telegraph, and The Guardian.

My lifelong fascination with Africa is down to my mum, who spent her formative childhood in Kenya. Armed with my granny’s old photo album, Mum would recall evenings spent helping her pet chameleons catch flies, penknife and fire-building skills honed respectively (and, in hindsight, ill-advisedly) in a canvas tent and a thatched banda, and how she once followed lion tracks into the bush, armed only with a sharp stick. Again, not her best idea.

Today, my work focuses on travel, conservation, and wildlife. Never happier than when immersed in nature, I’ve been privileged to follow in my family’s footsteps to Kenya and beyond. Whether I’m lying in the Laikipian dust, photographing wild dogs, riding a Clydesdale across the Lake District, or hugging towering Ceiba trees in the Peruvian Amazon while nerding over mycorrhizal networks, our wild world never fails to blow my mind. As does our ability to destroy it.

A born-and-bred Londoner, when I’m not on assignment, I can usually be spotted in my favourite homegrown wilderness, Richmond Park, walking my Rhodesian Ridgeback and doing my best to steer clear of the deer.

Posts by Abigail

A Maasai in front of the Maasai Mara Conservation Center. Credit - Oli Dreike 4 mins

Can technology help protect the Maasai Mara?

How do you monitor and protect wildlife across a 1,500km2 national reserve while still…

4 mins

Dugong, dugoing, du…gone?

Dugongs are perhaps most famous for being the likely source of mermaid legends. But…

4 mins

How naming Rwanda’s gorillas became a big do

Rwanda's most treasured wildlife, the newborn gorillas of Volcanoes National Park (VNP), are far…

4 mins

I heard the elephant call my name

If you’ve ever watched wild elephants interact at close range, you’ll have both heard…

4 mins

It takes a village to raise an elephant

Watching your child leave university is a proud moment for any parent. But this…

7 mins

How the Leopard Hides its Spots

For more than a century, the only known documented proof of an African melanistic…

A young lion looks at the camera. 7 mins

Lions Finally Back on the Loose in Kafue, Zambia

Zambia's oldest and largest national park, Kafue, is one of the world's most important natural…

Two young cheetahs chasing each other 9 mins

Botswana’s (Feline) Mother of the Year

Chitabe, a privately owned concession in the Okavango Delta, is best known for its resident…

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