Alison Jones Biography

In 1985 Alison first visited Africa in the luxury-tented safari tradition. Stretched beyond the limits of easy Western answers, she and her daughters were forever changed by Africa's testimony to the power of nature, the social issues of today's tribal cultures, and the obvious balances needed in our environment. Tossing out old perspectives, Alison shed her skin like a snake and became a professional documentary photographer working with conservancies and nonprofits. Her daughters both turned to careers in environmental resource management and sustainable architecture.

As a lifetime traveler, Alison knows firsthand the impact of travel. Many in her family have been artists who've explored and settled around the world. Her cousin Jayta married a German baron and built a castle in the Namibian desert in 1907. Her Aunt Bea and Uncle David bought a cottage in a 15th century French village to paint landscapes of the Massif Central. Her sister Pamela has designed a hilltop home in the Caribbean faithfully rendered after traditional sugarcane plantations.

Anne Morrow Lindbergh, a neighbor of Alison's with whom she had the privilege of sharing her love and photographs of Africa, captured Alison's feelings in Earthshine:

"I am haunted by time in Africa, time as history and time as rhythm, for they are allied, perhaps inseparable. The many strands of time constantly weave in and out of one's journey: time of the elephant and time of the impala, time of the European and time of the African."

With this awareness, Alison's cameras focus on endangered ecosystems, wildlife and communities. Her professional travels have included twenty tours of Africa, assignments in Latin America; living in France, England, Portugal, California and New England, and driving solo across much of the US and sailing in New England and the Caribbean.

"How can I travel as you do, behind the scenes?" is a question Alison is often asked. Safari Experts approach to customized and off-the-beaten-track travel provides an answer. Over the last 3 years Alison has visited over 120 African lodges and camps and 30 of the Argentine estancias and hotels Safari Experts recommends to clients. She's climbed Kilimanjaro and copiloted Cessna's for 15,000 miles of flying in 8 African countries. She has seen Africa from all sides for her NGO assignments that have involved much rougher travel than luxury safaris.

By recommending Tim's personally hosted lodges, ranches, and camps, Alison helps others see regions from the inside out, as she always has. In documenting vanishing lifestyles, Alison searches for interwoven connections to each other, to the past, and to this earth: In the same vein, Safari Experts offers clients the greatest reward of travel: new awareness and new friends.

Alison's photographs have been published in books, magazines, calendars, newspapers, TV and videos, annual reports, and sales brochures. She has had 16 solo exhibits in the last eight years, and has won awards in many juried and group shows. She is a member of NANPA, The International Center of Photography, Explorers Club and TechnoServe. She holds an Honorary Masters Degree from Brooks Institute of Photography.