Peter Frost wants to take Whanganui people an African safari, all without leaving the comfort of the Davis Lecture Theatre.
He is the speaker at Tuesday's Nature Talks event and will discuss the diversity of some of the continent's wildlife, especially the large mammals.
"This will be aimed at giving people some insight into the patterns of wildlife distribution and abundance in Africa, to answer some, no doubt, unasked questions," Frost said.
Frost will cover why the Serengeti-Mara ecosystem supports such large numbers of animals.
"I'll then briefly look at the future, particularly the challenges of conserving these biologically rich ecosystems and other less rich but no less important ones in the face of rising human populations, the drive to develop economically, globalisation of both trade and tourism and - the elephant in the room - climate change."
Nature Talks is a monthly event run by three environmental
groups - Whanganui Museum Botanical Group, the Whanganui branch of Forest &
Bird, and Birds New Zealand (Whanganui Region) - in conjunction with the Whanganui
Regional Museum.