Temporary exhibition

Tanzania,

The Lost World of Udzungwa

FRÉDÉRIC NOY

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RETOUR DE MISSION : ESCALE # 3

SEPTEMBER 10 - OCTOBER 10, 2025

Tanzania, in East Africa, has 22 national parks. Udzungwa National Park, in the center of the country, is home to some of the richest biodiversity on the African continent, spanning just 2,000 square kilometers. Its waterfalls, including Sanje, which rises to a height of 170 meters, naturally irrigate the entire region.

It was in its mountains, covered with thick tropical vegetation, that the last monkey specimen was discovered in the early 2000s: the Kipunji (Rungwecebus kipunji). But no lions, no rhinoceroses, no leopards... Tourists shun it, but for scientists, it is one of the most important sanctuaries to protect, with a high rate of endemism - particularly primates.

Nestled in the humid mountains of the south of the country, Udzungwa is only open to those willing to tread its steep trails, poorly maintained by understaffed rangers. A vertical, misty, and humid kingdom that resembles the Brazilian jungle more than the image one has of Tanzania (...).

Certainly, the park's boundaries are not in question. But the increase in agricultural activities centered on monoculture (sugar cane or rice), the population explosion, internal immigration of Tanzanians coming to take advantage of the richness and fertility of the land, as well as deforestation for domestic purposes, have gradually eroded its limits.

So, organizations like Mazingira and others are launching cross-cutting programs: educating new generations about agroforestry starting in primary school, raising awareness among farmers about more environmentally friendly practices, and creating and maintaining corridors that allow wildlife to move without coming into conflict with humans. Not to mention attracting tourists to help keep this fragile Eden alive.

The Yves Rocher Foundation, through its photographic campaign titled “In the Name of Biodiversity,” sends a renowned international photojournalist each year to document the state of our planet. From 2023 to 2025, the Espace Frans Krajcberg will welcome three of these photographers upon their return to France, giving them a platform to share their powerful testimonies.

Just like Frans Krajcberg, who since the 1960s used photography to raise awareness about deforestation in Brazil, these three invited reporters reveal the threats facing the last remaining natural reservoirs of our planet. From the Pantanal to Papua New Guinea, they have immersed themselves in these protected sanctuaries where unique animal and plant species still survive.

Frédéric Noy and Frans Krajcberg

As part of a photographic commission from the Yves Rocher Foundation, photojournalist Frédéric Noy, a leading specialist in environmental and geostrategic issues, immersed himself for months in this threatened natural space. Born in 1965, Frédéric Noy is a French reporter whose documentary approach favors chronicling as a narrative mode, moving away, as much as possible, from ethnocentrism.

His photographic narratives focus on the troughs of current events, on unexpected stories or on the existence of socially excluded or stigmatized populations, or those struggling with the consequences of contemporary conflicts or dilemmas.

This nodal point, prioritizing the land we want to protect, is at the heart of this photographic essay on the Udzungwa mountains. And Frédéric Noy, from then on, follows in the footsteps of Frans Krajcberg, a protean artist who made the environment his fight. An internationally renowned sculptor and committed photographer, Krajcberg did not copy nature; he reinvented it in his works. This universally respected environmental activist suffered from seeing the Amazon rainforest disappear under the ashes to satisfy agricultural needs. He used his art in response to the threats of destruction of our planet. Frans Krajcberg and Frédéric Noy raise the same cry, that of preserving the last natural worlds.

Exhibition in partnership with the Yves Rocher Foundation, which financed this report as part of its photographic mission entitled “In the name of biodiversity: these living sanctuaries to preserve”.

Exhibition curator: Cyril DROUHET, Director of Reporting and Photography, FIGARO MAGAZINE