Meet Monique and Chris

A note from Monique

Why I want to share the Salty Sea Dogs with you all

Our greatest passion is the natural world and when we are not at sea, we are either in the African bush or at other wild and remote locations on the planet immersed in wildlife.

When we are at sea in Cape Town, our three dogs, Sandi, Brownie and Lucy are almost always on the boat with us.

Right from the beginning, the dogs were very aware and curious of the marine mega fauna we would come across. The reaction of the marine wildlife to the three dogs was also surprising. They in turn were equally aware of the dogs and we began to see some incredible interactions.

Chris, along with a friend, was the first person to discover the now famous breaching Great white sharks at Seal Island. Tragically, just 25 years after this discovery, Great white sharks disappeared from Seal Island and this ecosystem. This lesson has taught us that in order to conserve one species, we need to take a holistic approach by keeping entire ecosystems healthy.

After observing the dogs’ experiences at sea, I felt inspired to use these interactions as a wonderful vessel to introduce the concept of an ecosystem to young readers in an entertaining and unique way.

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Sandi and The Salty Sea Dogs is a fantastical tale with talking dogs and wildlife. The poetic licence to do this is offset by the very strong factual narrative that runs throughout the story.

The animal behaviour I describe, along with the physiological adaptions of each species, and information on how the ecosystem functions, is factual and accurate. Additional information about the different species the dogs encounter is also included at the end of the book.

Taco Teddy is the name of our research and photography boat. It is named after Teddy, another rescue dog of ours, who lived to 17 years old! He was our special boy and we miss him every day.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. The photographs and video of Sandi, Brownie and Lucy interacting with the various species are all authentic, and have been taken over many hundreds of days at sea with them.

Planet Earth and our natural world is at a pivotal time in its history with biodiversity being under tremendous threat. The next generation has the opportunity to make environmental changes for good. It is my goal to help creatively inspire and empower them with knowledge in this endeavour.

Monique Fallows

Monique, alongside her husband, Chris, has worked with Great white sharks at Seal Island in Cape Town, South Africa for 22 years as eco-tourism operators and photographers. Together they have contributed to research by collecting over 3,000 days of field data, which has contributed to 18 peer reviewed scientific papers.

Assisting Chris with his photographic work, they spend upwards of 200 days per year at sea spending time with various shark species, whales, dolphins and sea birds.
Their work with Discovery Channel film crews has also given opportunity to work with Great white sharks at all great white shark hot spots around the world such as New Zealand, California, Mexico and the entire South African coastline.

Monique and Chris now spend extensive periods with various wildlife species in the wilds of Southern and East Africa, as well as photographing iconic wildlife species on all seven continents.

Monique is a former professional tennis player.

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Chris Fallows

In 1996 Chris was the first person to discover and photograph the world famous breaching great white sharks of Seal Island off Cape Town. This led to working at Seal Island with great white sharks for the next three decades as a photographer, an eco-tourism operator, researcher and documentary host.
Chris is now a Wildlife Fine Art photographer with a renowned investment grade collection of Limited Edition art works that artistically celebrates the greatest icons of our Planet.

Using his art work as a conjugate, both visually and through meaningful narrative, his purpose is from the coal face to tell an incredibly important and authentic story pertaining to our Planet at a relevant time in its history.

Chris’s objective is to highlight the threats facing our planet, but also inspire individuals, corporates and the next generation to celebrate our Planet’s iconic wildlife and adopt new ways to sustainably co-exist and protect biodiversity.

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