MONICA
Mónica is an International Award Winner Photographer who grew up in Mexico City. In 2023 she won the World TOP 10 Wildlife Photographers of the Year.
She is a committed conservationist, adventurer, therapist and published author. She began her studies in Fine Arts in West Sussex, England and continued her artistic career in Mexico City.
Throughout her childhood she was inspired by her parents; Her mother a fine-art painter, writer and conservationist at heart, and her father who traveled through Africa and used to tell stories about his safari adventures and his close contact with nature. Since then she has pursued that dream, learned from professional photographers and over the years, ventured out into finding her own personal style and that's how her passion for traveling and experiencing other cultures began.
In 2009 she wrote her first novel “The English Photographer” about the environmental impact of gold mining in Tanzania. But until January 2011 she finally made her first trip to Africa where she began her long-awaited adventure, where she discovered her dreamland to capture the essence of life and freedom.
In 2014 she traveled to South Africa as a volunteer at “C.A.R.E” Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre & Sanctuary in Gritjie Nature Reserve, Limpopo province, pioneering in rehabilitation for release chacma baboons back into the wild. She came into direct contact with wild animals and learned the importance of helping and also protecting endangered species. After that unique and invaluable experience, she became a conservationist through her photography.
She has returned to Africa over the years to continue expanding her wildlife photography where she feels she has a mission to accomplish.
"Why wait until a species is on the brink of extinction before we try to help?"
-Rita Miljo, Founder of C.A.R.E. 1931-2012