By Leslie Harlib
W
ildlife photographer Suzi
Eszterhas has had more
weird and wacky
moments in her career
than most people have
had hot lunches. For instance, a
chimpanzee once slapped her. Bugs laid
eggs in her feet. A ringtailed lemur
grabbed her telephoto lens while she was
a couple of feet away behind the camera.
She was chased by a green mamba, one
of the world's most poisonous snakes.
Nearly kidnapped by humans on one
journey, she managed to escape by her
highly developed sense of survival and
flight.
It's easy to think that getting paid to
photograph gorgeous wild animals in
their natural habitats is an Indiana Jones-
worthy career of glamour and excitement.
But Eszterhas, one of the world's few
female full-time wildlife photographers,
illustrator of more than 150 magazine
articles and author of 19 animal
photography books for children, says she
has logged thousands of hours out in the
Lenses, Tigers and Bears
S u z i E s z t e r h a s e m b r a c e s a p l a n e t ' s w o r t h
o f w i l d l i f e t h r o u g h t h e c a m e r a
Above: A brown bear sow and her cub cross a stream in front of a glacier at Katmai National Park in Alaska; Below: World renowned wildlife photogra-
pher Suzi Eszterhas calls the North Bay home. – Photos by Suzi Eszterhas, Jak Wonderly
W
40 NORTH BAY WOMAN | F A L L
