where it started
& the vision
Savena grew out of fieldwork across forests, mountains, woodlands, and savannas in Latin America and Southern Africa, and from a simple conviction that understanding a landscape requires moving between perspectives: looking closely from the ground, then stepping back to see broader patterns and place each landscape in relation to its surroundings.
who's behind
Savena
Daan Lichtenberg is the founder of Savena. His work combines field data collection and analysis, remote sensing techniques, and visual storytelling to study and raise awareness of natural phenomena across landscapes in Latin America and Southern Africa. Through research, conservation partnerships, and compelling imagery, Daan aims to bridge the gap between science and public engagement, inspiring meaningful action for nature conservation.
what Savena does
In practice, that means pairing in-depth ecological knowledge with spatial analysis to answer the questions that matter most for conservation. Where it leads depends on the question and the partner: a scientific paper, a dataset, a piece of code, photos, a working application, or a combination of these.
- 01
Remote sensing & GIS
- 02
Ecological fieldwork
- 03
Photography
What the
field teaches
Working in places this remote teaches you a few things. Patience. Close observation. The value of connecting with people and their landscapes for the long term rather than chasing short-term outputs. It also blurs the line between fieldwork and analysis: observation, data collection, modelling, and interpretation flow into one another, keeping the science grounded in the places it describes and the methods strong enough to hold up in the field.
Seeing it
closely
Photography is part of the same instinct to look closely. Through images of species and the landscapes they inhabit, it reveals the living threads that make each place unique, including the animals, plants, and ecological connections that shape the diversity and complexity of these ecosystems. It carries what these environments truly feel like to people who may never visit them, transforming distant landscapes into something personal, recognisable, and worth protecting.
where this
is going
The next years are mapped the same way the work is done. Slowly, and field-based. Independent expeditions into the landscapes between the studies. Shared work, alongside the researchers, institutions, and local partners. And more stories told from the field as they happen: photographs and field notes from the places where research takes place.
Savena is built to be joined. We work with researchers, conservation organisations, and local initiatives, while building our own independent work too. If you share a similar vision, let's connect!