Ian McCallum

Ian McCallum is a medical doctor, analytical psychologist and psychiatrist. He is a specialist wilderness guide, an author and poet as well as a director of the Wilderness Foundation. He is the author of two anthologies of wilderness poems: Wild Gifts (1999), Untamed (2012) and a novel Thorns to Kilimanjaro (2000). His award winning book Ecological Intelligence – Rediscovering Ourselves in Nature addresses the interconnectedness of all living things and ultimately, the survival of the human animal. It was published in South Africa in 2005 and in the USA in 2009. An Exclusive Books HOMEBRU selection in SA, it won the Wild Literary Award at the World Wilderness Congress in Mexico 2009.

He is the writer/poet for the prestigious Dylan Lewis ‘UNTAMED’ exhibited at the world-renowned Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens in Cape Town 2010-2012.

As the leadership project director of the Wilderness Foundation he has recently completed a four-month expedition following ancient elephant migratory routes across southern Africa. The expedition –Tracks of Giants- began on Namibia’s Skeleton Coast on 1 May 2012 and ended at Cape Vidal on the KZN coastline on 2 September. Together with his long-time friend and journalist Ian Michler, the two adventurers walked, cycled and kayaked the entire 5164 Km journey un-motorised. The expedition focussed on two key objectives – the importance of establishing international animal migratory corridors between established national parks in home countries and secondly, to explore the psychological and economic issues associated with the co-existence of human communities and wild animals. A former rugby Springbok and vice captain (1970-74) McCallum’s other interests include wildlife photography – he won the Agfa Wildlife ‘Man and Nature’ category in 2001, astronomy and sport. His academic interests focus on evolutionary biology, human ecology and the animal-human interface (what we learn about ourselves from the wild).

He is a trustee of the Cape Leopard Trust.