What is Mojo-Zen?

My photo
Mojo-Zen is the collected ramblings of zoologist and cultural explorer, Will Benson.

Friday 30 July 2010

An Experimental Film

As well as old photos, I've rencently located a stash of old videos which I shot on my digital camera when in Borneo in 2008. Instead of simply leaving them to gather digital dust, such is the sad fate of many of my images, I thought I'd edit them together into a short film.

For those technically minded folk out there, these clips were shot on a Fujifilm S5600, and edited on Movie Edit Pro 16.


Monday 26 July 2010

From The Archives: BORNEO

A selection of shots from an amazing month long trip I made to Borneo's states of Sarawak and Sabah with my eternal traveling companion Brian, in 2008.

(Kuching's waterfront by sunset)

(Proboscis monkey, Bako National Park)

(Brian and me resting in one of the lodges on the trek to the Pinnacles)

(Pitcher plant, Sarawak)

(view from the longhouse, Mulu)

(sun kissed peak from Gunung Kinabalu)

Four men and a Swiss saucepan...

...But these are no ordinary men, and theirs is no ordinary Swiss saucepan.

These four men are four musicians from East London who collectively go by the name of the Portico Quartet. And their Swiss saucepan is actually not a saucepan at all, but a wonderfull pan shaped instrument called the 'hang'.

Shortlisted for the Mercury Music Prize in 2008, and with two fantastic albums out on the shelves of your local HMV, it is definitely time that anyone who has not yet heard of them to check them out.

Below is the first track that I heard from the Portico Quartet that got me hooked on their unique sound...

Mojo-Zen is off to Zambia

When I’m not working for various documentary production companies in London, developing and writing science and factual films, I’m usually hatching my next master plan to go and study, photograph or film something exciting in some remote corner of London/the UK/the World.

In August this year I will be packing my backpack full of camera kit and hopping on a plane to the African wilds of Zambia. My mission: to film and edit a number of short promotional films of the animals, plants, people and scenery of the South Luangwa National Park.

The films will be made for the Bush Camp Company, a safari company who have operated in Zambia for the last 11 years and who lead what are regarded to be the best walking safaris on the continent with some of Africa‘s most experienced guides, including the famous naturalist Phil Berry. I have the amazing luck to be based at their recently refurbished Mfuwe Lodge, overlooking a spectacular ox-box lake (yes these do exist outside GCSE textbooks) in the heart of the unspoilt grassland and miombo woodland of the Luangwa Valley.


During my three month stay I’ll hopefully get a chance to film their walking safaris and game drives, as well as the many conservation initiatives that have been set up through the Bush Camp Company to preserve the amazing habitat and the livelihoods of those who live there.

As I film and photograph the incredible sights and sounds of life in the African bush I will add them here as I go - I look forward to sharing the adventure.

Saturday 17 July 2010

The Last of the Great Explorers...

I wanted to bring your attention to a living legend that I've been reading about recently. This man is one of a dieing breed - truly one of the last great explorers...

His name is CHARLES BREWER-CARÍAS. A 71 year old explorer, naturalist and author who lives in the jungles of Venezuela and has no intention of retiring. He has 16 plants, three reptiles, two insects and one scorpion named in his honor. He has endured a raft of tropical diseases, including deadly leishmaniasis, a spleen-enlarging ailment caused by the bite of a sand fly.

In 186 expeditions into Venezuela’s backlands, Mr. Brewer-Carías has discovered the world’s largest sinkholes, on a tabletop mountain called Sarisariñama, and practiced dentistry among the Yekuana tribe, whose language he speaks fluently. He once survived by eating roasted termite larvae, and has received the Order of the Liberator award for venturing into jungle at the center of a territorial dispute with neighboring Guyana.

A full list of his current work and past exploits can be found here.

I salute this man...