Willi Dolder

Willi Dolder (2009)

Willi Dolder (born August 13, 1941 in Winterthur , Canton of Zurich ) is a Swiss photographer , nature photographer and travel writer .

Life

Willi Dolder grew up in Schaffhausen on the Rhine Falls. He was interested in nature from an early age, guided by his father, who was also a natural scientist. In Schaffhausen he also attended schools and did an administration apprenticeship. After completing his apprenticeship, he first worked as an administrative clerk in Schaffhausen and later for ten years in Zurich.

In 1966 he and his brother Heinz made his first trip to East Africa, which took them six months in a VW bus through Kenya , Tanzania and Uganda . In 1969 he wrote his first book called Call of the Animals . In 1972 he and his future wife Ursula, zoologist and biology teacher, went on a trip to India in a Citroën Ami6 . The Dolders worked as freelance travel writers and nature photographers for 30 years. For months they traveled to game reserves in the Rocky Mountains , Hawaii , Australia , Sri Lanka , the Alps , the North Sea and, for ten years, almost exclusively in sub-Saharan Africa . Later they also published over 70 illustrated books about many countries, about people and art guides about Graubünden / CH and Valais / CH as well as a non-fiction book about "Excavators and other construction machines". In addition, Dolder's photos appeared in Bernhard Grzimek's magazine Das Tier and in over 100 different newspapers, magazines and books. In addition, his pictures are offered by half a dozen photo agencies around the world.

In 2004 Dolder traveled to southern Sudan on behalf of the organization “Vétérinaires sans frontières” (VSF, Veterinarians Without Borders ) and captured the life of Toposa in around 25,000 digital images. Dolder describes this trip to the still original Southeast Sudan as "the most impressive safari of my life". In 2011 he traveled to northern Kenya and southern Ethiopia for the German section of Veterinarians without Borders to photograph a large number of VSF projects. In 2016 he went on a trip to Lake Magadi and Lake Natron with his long-time Masai friend Simon Ole Tanyasi.

Dolder has had his second home in Kenya for a number of years and drives his off-road vehicle, which has been converted into a motor home, across eastern and southern Africa. He is often accompanied by his son Urs (* 1978), who has visited and known Africa since he was five.

Works (selection)

1969: Call of the Animals
1975: The most beautiful game reserves in the world
1975: The tiger is still hunting
1976: India Zoo
1976: Tropical world: fauna and flora between the tropics
1977: Paradises: The last primeval landscapes and their animals
1977: Nature in the struggle for life
1978: Wunderland Zoo: The most beautiful animal photos from Europe's leading zoos
1978: Les tropiques
1980: India
1981: Hawaii: Paradise of the Pacific
1982: Animal parents and their young
1983: Traveling with the camera: Photo tips for traveling
1984: The most beautiful animal paradises in the world
1984: The big five of the animal world
1985: The Alps as a habitat
1986: Yugoslavia
1988: The South of England and London
1989: Habitat North Sea coast and Wadden Sea
1989: Our beautiful forest
1990: lions
1991: Kenya
1992: Graubünden: Art, culture and landscape from the headwaters of the Rhine to the Engadine
1992: Around the Säntis
1992: Fascinating experience of the animal world
1992: dogs
1993: Natural paradises of Africa
1994: Crete
1996: animal children
1997: The Valais
1999: The great colorful animal world
1999: Wunderwelt Zoo. The magazine for zoo visitors and nature lovers (magazine)
2000: Around Lake Constance
2000: Tembo the little elephant
2000: Urs the little bear
2000: Sokwe the chimpanzee girl
2000: Simba the lion girl
2000: ornamental birds
2003: ornamental fish
2007: a thousand excavators and other construction machinery
2008: Endangered Animals

Web links

personal data
SURNAME	Dolder, Willi
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Swiss photographer, nature photographer and travel writer
DATE OF BIRTH	August 13, 1941
PLACE OF BIRTH	Winterthur