Why the world's biggest mammal migration is crucial for Africa – photo essay

Up to 10 million straw-coloured fruit bats descend on Zambia's Kasanka national park every year, dispersing millions of seeds as they go

• Words and photographs by Georgina Smith

David Mubiana will always remember the day he was shot. It happened in 2002, when his unit was ambushed by poachers with AK-47 rifles and a shotgun. He was wounded in the arm and stomach; one bullet rupturing his spleen. As a wildlife police officer in Zambia's Department of National Parks and Wildlife, his job is inherently risky.

Even if you fall down, you have to stand up and continue fighting. If we finish our wildlife, [our children] are not going to see what we are seeing today," he says.