Where the Wild Things Were

Charlie Hamilton-James is the photographer behind some of the world’s most iconic wildlife images and now, in this hilarious and irreverent memoir, he shares the chaos that has characterised life behind the lens.
Sunrise on the Serengeti, waiting for the sound of thunder to signal the approaching wildebeest migration, Charlie Hamilton-James is desperately hungover.


This rip-roaring memoir is Fear and Loathing behind the scenes of a big budget wildlife documentary, ‘gonzo journalism’ in the jungle. Eaten alive by insects, sustained on guinea pig meat and cocaine, Hamilton-Jones has lived in the trenches, fighting for the ephemeral perfect shot. But amidst the debauchery and very real danger are moments of transcendence; a chance to see what the rest of the world will have to watch on television. In I Can’t Eat My Guinea Pig, he tells the story of an extraordinary life, lived alongside the advent of modern nature photography and signposted with his most iconic images.