Natasha Illum Berg is a Swedish licensed hunter, author, conservationist, and speaker living in Tanzania. When she was 21, she packed her bags and left the Nordics.
Natasha grew up in Eriksberg, a family-owned conservation reserve in Blekinge, Sweden. She comes from a line of hunting conservationists, explorers, and naturalists.
In her upbringing, reading, growing things, and forming opinions were deeply ingrained. She has always felt connected to both the wilderness and the open field, a sensation that has influenced all of her endeavors.
In 1989, after finishing school at Lundsbergs Skola, Natasha traveled to South Africa to work on game farms. She then pursued forestry education in Denmark in 1993 but soon returned to Africa.
By 1994, she moved to Tanzania and became a licensed professional hunter in Tanzania between 1997 and 2000. She was the first woman to become a full member of the African Professional Hunters Association (A.P.H.A.) and the Tanzanian Professional Hunters Association (T.P.H.A.) in 2008.
In 1991, Natasha published a collection of Swedish poems. Her first autobiographical work, Tea on the Blue Sofa, was published in 2002. Rivers of Red Earth (2009) was her first book about her life as a professional hunter.
She released Heart of the Ape in 2005, Looking at Harry and Other Stories in 2008 in Danish, and Bark of the Sundogs in 2010.
Her efforts in conservation led to the establishment of the Ivory Black Foundation in 2014, which focuses on the protection of African elephants.
Natasha's experiences with elephant conservation began in earnest in 2012 after witnessing the aftermath of poaching. She has also been involved in significant expeditions, including leading a group of severely physically disabled people across Namibia in 2011, an event documented by Sweden's national television, SVT.
In 2021, Natasha published All Will Be Well: Letters to My Daughter, an autobiographical work offering insights into life's greater values through letters to her daughter. This book reflects on love, death, and big game hunting, presenting a poetic examination of life's cycle.
Now, Natasha Illum Berg continues to live in Tanzania.
Photo credit: www.natashaillumberg.com
