Zachy Hennessey
July 14, 2024, Updated July 24, 2024

“I found myself spending the whole summer waiting to see a hyena use a crosswalk in the middle of the night.”

That’s just another day (or in this case, night)  in the life of Yuval Dax, a veteran nature photographer for the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (SPNI).

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A hyena walks by a bird in the Israeli wilds. Photo by Yuval Dax

Over the course of his 22 years as a wildlife and conservation filmmaker, the 50-year-old Israeli has captured stills and videos of countless species, and has had his work featured by renowned publications.

His works are exhibited in the Eretz Israel Museum at the Israel nature exhibition; his wildlife footage is available online in the new Incredible Animal Journeys series by Nat Geo Wild/Disney; and will be included in the BBC “Asia” series airing in November.

In an interview with ISRAEL21c, Dax explains that his entire career has been an effort to highlight the beauty and diversity of wildlife in Israel — a feature that he says is often overlooked.

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Two buzzards engaged in a heated debate. Photo by Yuval Dax

“When you talk about wildlife in Israel, people are always surprised because they don’t see wildlife around them in everyday life; they think wildlife starts at Ben-Gurion airport on the way to a safari in Africa. 

“But in fact, for me, Israel is the best place for wildlife in the whole of the Middle East: it’s one big nature reserve surrounded by a big, big fence,” Dax says.

“My mission is to give Israeli wildlife prime time.”

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A group of porcupines. Photo by Yuval Dax

From diapers to DSLRs

Dax has been pursuing that mission for a long time.

“I’ve been a naturalist and a nature lover since I can remember,” he recounts. “I was already looking for birds and feathers when I was three years old. I got my first pair of binoculars when I was six years old. My mom says I learned to read both English and Hebrew by looking at birdwatching guidebooks.”

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Yuval Dax was fascinated with documenting nature at an early age. Photo courtesy of Yuval Dax

By age seven, he had joined the Jerusalem bird club, and at 16, began guiding younger children in birdwatching.

Around that time, he got his first camera, which he used to record footage of nature in his area. “I was just fascinated by the small things around me, like flowers and insects,” he recalls.

While he enjoyed nature photography as a hobby, in his early childhood years Dax had no Israeli nature photographers to emulate, and as a result he resigned himself to finding a more traditional career.

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Two gazelle fawns have a tussle. Photo by Yuval Dax

Initially, he pursued degrees in biology and art, both of which he found impractical in terms of career prospects. However, his big break came when an instructor assigned him a film about barn owls.

This first piece of conservation filmmaking was a success, igniting his passion for nature photography and inspiring his career choice. 

Dax began finding more and more opportunities to record footage of Israel’s wildlife, gradually building experience and accolades.

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Yuval Dax, veteran nature photographer for the SPNI. Photo courtesy of Yuval Dax

“The more I filmed, the more success came,” says Dax. “I started investing in equipment. All my equipment was secondhand, the worst equipment, but I was doing many things that no one had done before in Israel, so that was an advantage.”

Doors opening for a shutterbug

Dax’s dedication to documenting Israel’s wildlife has resulted in a unique collection of images showcasing the country’s biodiversity, which he shares annually in a “Year in Photos” webinar through SPNI.

The past year has been particularly eventful for Dax. He collaborated with the BBC to film swifts and hyenas (the aforementioned stakeout for a hyena using a crosswalk was for this collaboration), and worked on a project for National Geographic, capturing the migratory patterns of storks, cranes and pelicans.

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One of his most challenging endeavors in the last several months was tracking the elusive caracal, Israel’s only remaining wildcat after the extinction of the leopard. 

This project involved extensive fieldwork and overcoming various obstacles, including broken equipment and physical injuries.

“I was just in the desert, driving in every direction, drinking bad coffee from gas stations and putting up trail cameras,” he recalls. 

“It’s a really physical effort. It drives you to the edge of your physical limits because you have to move around a lot and you can get really hurt; I’ve broken a couple of bones while shooting in Israel and abroad. It just happens because of the conditions.”

What ate my camera?

During his hunt for the caracal, he encountered a mystery you could really sink your teeth into:

“Someone was eating my camera.”

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One of Dax’s trail cameras, broken into pieces. Photo by Yuval Dax

After finding one of his trail cameras broken into little pieces where he had left it, Dax remembers feeling confused.

“I wasn’t sure what did it in the beginning. I was trying to think, ‘Who would do such a thing? One thing is stealing it, but why break it into small pieces and leave it?’”

Luckily, the mystery didn’t remain unsolved for long, thanks to an intact memory card found at the scene of the crime.

“I was checking their pictures and I saw so many wild animals arriving at the camera, like a wolf and a wild ass and a wildcat and a porcupine… but the last picture was the huge, ugly face of a hyena,” he says. 

“And I realized that it was a curious hyena that was checking its teeth on the camera.”

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The culprit behind the Case of the Crunched Camera. Photo by Yuval Dax

After putting that riddle to rest, Dax ran into other hardships — including having one of his trail cameras stolen by drug smugglers in the middle of the night — but the photographer’s perseverance paid off when he finally captured an image of the caracal.

The elusive caracal, Israel’s last remaining wildcat species. Photo by Yuval Dax
The elusive caracal, Israel’s last remaining wildcat species. Photo by Yuval Dax

Zooming out; zooming in

Because he has a constant eye on Israel’s nature and wildlife, Dax has observed several significant changes in Israel’s natural environment over the years.

Two wolves having a friendly disagreement, moderated by nearby birds. Photo by Yuval Dax
Two wolves having a friendly disagreement, moderated by nearby birds. Photo by Yuval Dax

“You can hardly shoot wildlife without some noise or garbage in the background. It’s really hard to find a place which is totally quiet anymore, and the amount of garbage in this country is growing exponentially — even the most remote places I remember as totally natural are now flooded with plastic waste.”

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A rabbit stands at attention. Photo by Yuval Dax

Still, he remains dedicated to showcasing Israel’s wildlife and promoting conservation efforts.

“Nature… it really makes me excited whenever I touch it. Being somewhere outside before sunrise gives me a kind of a thrill, an excitement,” he concludes. “Anything can come in such a wild place — and we still have an extremely wild place here in Israel.”

A fox proudly parades his way home holding his hard-earned lunch. Photo by Yuval Dax
A fox proudly parades his way home holding his hard-earned lunch. Photo by Yuval Dax

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