The Creation of a Coalition

Two members of the young coalition on patrol. 

The wonder of working in nature is that you often get glimpses into an animals life. While I certainly do not dismiss the necessity of good photographic equipment I find wildlife hugely more exciting and interesting than even the most advanced camera systems or post processing tecniques. On this last trip to the Timbavati with Africa Photographic Travel I was once again reminded of that. Sightings were really fantastic both on a photographic level and we certainly had more than enough great subjects. Yet also lot of non-photographic excitement. No fewer than four individual leopards were seen including a female with cubs; two prides of lions and many more other interesting animals. Elephants came through our unfenced camp every single day and on my way back to my tent one night I was confronted with a female elephant only feet from my balcony (try slipping past that one ten o’clock at night!!). We also spent a very memorable morning with a buffalo herd probably a thousand strong as the came down to drink.  But the highlight of the weekend by far was finding what’s known as the Jacaranda lion pride as the sun came up one morning and witnessing one of natures’ subtle intricacies. Reading between the lines if you want?

Still to young to risk a loud roar that may attract large territorial males, the young males continuously uttered soft contact calls to one another as they moved through the bush

 My real amazement came when the character of the five young lions were revealed. To start with, a coalition of five lions is very impressive to start with and these associations become very quickly well known. Think of the Mapogos of the Sabi Sands or the legendary Notch and his sons that dominates the Mara at the moment.  But to get back to the Jacarande five. At one stage a lion call was heard in the distance and almost as one the pride got up and started towards the source of the sound. Although still relatively young the strength of the coalition and their determination to enforce their dominance was evident, almost as they already knew the strength lying in their numbers. At between three and four they are certainly not capable of overthrowing resident males but as time goes on they will certainly develop into a force to be reckoned with in this part of world. And a fascinating story to follow and document in years to come.

His youth still emphasized by his “Mowhawk” hairstyle a young lion strides purposefully toward the source of a possible intruder, utter determination evident in his stare.

The Matriarch of the pride also on the lookout for the distant intruder. 

Undoubtedly many dramas will unfold over the next few months and years, many of which under cover of darkness and out of sight of us humans. A few though will probably be witnessed during the very few serendipitous minutes guests and guides share natures’ stage with these iconic animals.

Revisiting Mashatu

We managed to link up with these two cubs just as it got dark, a time when they start getting active. Just as the light from our spotlights and the last remaining ambient light balanced out the male yawned.

The year seems to rush past and its amazing to think that this would have been the fourth time that I visited the Tuli Block this year already. What was amazing for me was the fact that I got to see all its drama's from drought to heavy rains and the worst floods in 25 years (which nearly washed my car into Mozambique!!) to a spectacular verdant bush teeming with life. All of this during the first four months of the year. What made our last visit so spectacular was not only the quality of the sighting but also the quantity of creatures, something rarely found on a photographic trip. Here are a few images that I chose with a few ideas of why it stood out for me. As always a bug thanks to Shem for a fun time guiding together and not least a great group of people joining in the photography.

One my favorites form the trip. I chose this image as it epitomize the Tuli area as well as the social life of elephant. I love the comforting touch of the older calf, possibly a sister, on the back of the second

youngest one in the group.

We had some Crazy Leopard encounters!

During the course of our time there, no less than 6 individual leopards were seen. We managed to spend quite a bit of time with the two, seven month old cubs. Because I already had a great shot of both of them in the same frame in the bag, I went for the trickier motion blur image.

Our first sighting of lions were quite tricky photographically as all twelve of them were in dense vegetation. As the light faded some (mostly youngsters such as this one) crept into the sun.  

This is just a fun shot of a Saddle billed Stork loosing its meal. "Lucky Fish" :)

Lions interacting in golden Light! What more can a photographer ask for?

Green season in Kruger

Nature erupts during the wet season. Here a young Black-backed Jackal pup hunts emerging Termite Alates.



So often we, as photographers want the perfect shot. That normally entails the perfect animal, in perfect light with perfect uncluttered background. But what if nature sends you something different? I have just returned from a week in Kruger with Dan Streck, a great photographer from the States and a Kruger regular who have taken some incredible images there( Take a look here: http://streck2012.blogspot.com/ ). November is pretty much one of the greenest months in the Lowveld bush which results in limited visibility, admittedly m aking photography somewhat difficult. And being the rainy season one may spend days (as we did) without seeing the sun. So what now? Well, you pretty much take what is there. The greenery provided spectacular vibrancy to the images and the cloudy weather provided beautiful muted light and allowed us to photograph well into the late morning or early afternoons, time one won’t even think of taking out the camera when the sun is out.

So here are a few pics to show what is possible when many would pack away their gear due to “Bad” light.



Cloudy weather provided us with soft muted light allowing long hours of photography.





The sun did appear every now and again. Here I tried to capture the essence of Kruger as a mig male Lion feeds in thick cover.



A pack of African Wilddogs walked into a pride of feeding lions and having to see over the tall green grass this dog had to get as high a vantage point as possible to see the potential danger. With sightings like this Kruger is certainly one of the best wildlife photography destinations in Africa.



A Red Chested Bustard makes for a very interesting subject as soft rain washed the bush.  



Wildlife Photography in the Masai Mara.

Cheetah Learning school. An eight month old cheetah hones his hunting skills while mom supervise.

I have just returned from the last of this years Kenyan Migration Safaris. My season this year actually started in May already with a flying Safari through some of Heritage Hotels properties for Africa Geographic magazine. Although this trip took me through Tsavo and Samburu in the North it also brought me to the Mara before the main migration season. Being May, the long rains was in full swing but it did allow me to view the Mara again as I only saw it when I lived there way back in 2004. Wonderfully green with waist high grasses and breeding birds all around. A challenging time to drive a round the Mara’s black cotton soil but also a rare privilege to see the Mara as few see it. Have a look at the article below and if you do not see it in print on the shelves during November click on the image to link to the PDF article online.


Lion Lenses and Little Planes, an Africa Geographic article on flying safaris through Kenya

To quote friend and colleague Greg du Toit, the Mara is a great place to fill up memory cards but a very difficult place to get anything new or unique. It is one of the most photographed parks in the world. With these challenges clearly in mind I set off with guests in tow seeking new and exciting shots.

Although its always very special observing leopards, merely photographing them as a portrait doesn't do the animal much justice. 

A young leopard strolls through the grassland backlit by the setting sun.

In order to capture its true character and although a much trickier shot, opting for a motion blur image is a more accurate reflection of their character in the dense undergrowth where it makes its home. 

A trickier shot but when done well a motion blur image really stands out.

The rising sun illuminating steam from a freshly killed wildebeest carcass provided the perfect backdrop for capturing a familiar scene of feeding lions in a unique manner. Photographing backlit is very rewarding, especially in such dramatic sircumstances, yet I often find that people would rather go for the more conventional front lit shots, even though these have been done millions of times.

A lioness pause momentarily as the rest of her pride devours a wildebeest. The mist in this scene comes from the freshly killed wildebeest.

With its open habitat and clean backgrounds the Mara is a great place to capture action. Having done the “Cheetah on the Termite Mound” images countless times in the past, my personal goal this year was to get some action shots. Throughout the various trips we witnessed a dozen or so kills, ranging from crocs taking wildebeest to lion and the impressive high speed chases of cheetah. Realistically they are often difficult to photograph as it happens too far away or is obscured by grass. A few proved to be in range such as this lioness  below taking a young Topi.

A lioness about to grab a young Topi.

Action wasn’t limited to kills only and playing lions were equally impressive.



Playing Lions are allways very photogenic.

We saw a few servals on the plains, one of which spectacularly killed a young Scrub hare in clear view. Capturing the essence however of a determined Serval hunting through the long grass provided yet another challenge as I wanted to move away from crispy portraits.

Because its allways a rare sight one can be forgiven for doing for the safe crispy portraits of Serval Cats. But Motion Blur captivates the essence of the cat staliking throught its grassy domain.

Also very rewarding is capturing the quieter more pensive moments in the bush and playing with spectacular light allways helps.

Beautifull light and nothing else makes even the misunderstood Hyena look stunning.

We were privileged to follow this mother and her only surviving cub belwo for two weeks. During this time she used our vehicles several times as vantage points to scan for prey and remarkably were were treated to one of nature’s most emotional dramas as she released her kill for the cub to hone its hunting skills (Check out the first pic above). Being such a dramatic event I will post more images in a next post to share the entire event.

Her breath condensates in the cold mornuing air. We followed this mother cheetah and her cub for a few weeks.

Then the Mara is nothing without the dramatic and well known wildebeest crossings. Sitting in the heat of the day with 30 other cars only to get harshly lit images is certainly not my way of having fun on safari. Only a handful of places offer you the ultimate experience and C4 Safaris’ location provided the perfect platform to view our “own” crossings. Yet how does one capture this well photographed phenomenon in a unique way. Here is my latest take on it.

A nice new angle of a familiar scene

The most difficult large animal to see and photograph is Black Rhino. The first two weeks produced not a single sighting and only on the last morning of guests stay they were fortunate so see this animal out on the open plains. 

The highly threatened and endangered Black Rhino

So thats it for now. For those interested in joining us on Safari next year, contact us by clicking on the below links for a wide variety of trips. Cheers Albie 

Private Photographic Safaris throughout East and Southern Africa



Lowveld Private Safari

This past weekend (7 – 9 Sept) I had the privilege to host a private photographic safari right on my own doorstep in the South African Lowveld. And what a treat. Friday afternoon strarted somewhat wet. Ok we got totally drenched on our first drive and basically made piece with the fact that we will be photographing frogs in the lodge gardens for the remainder of the weekend. It all turned for the better on Saturday morning though and soon we were raking in the sightings which just kept coming right till we had to leave Sunday morning. Four fo the big five plus cheetah and wilddogs put in an appearance as well as the countless other inhabitants if this region. Below a few pics from the weekend

 

Our first sighting was of this female and her large cub. Serendipitously the cub came to lie down right next to mom from where they posed for us photographers.



We found no less than six individual Cheetah, all of which were in very photogenic positions. Here one stalks towards the vehicle.




Remarkably we also found Africas second most endangered carnivore, African Wilddogs and to top that a litter of nine pups.



A portrait of the ubiquitous White Rhino.

Resting the shutter fingers. Manus and Ursula, who made it such a pleasurable weekend. It was a pleasure sharing this all with people not only interested in photography but who also has a keen love for their subject. Looking forward to many more

Wilddogs Crossing Flooding River

 

Its been the third year running that I have been visiting Sosian Lodge on the Laikipia plateau in the rainshadow of mount Kenya in northern Kenya. What grabbed me at first, three years ago, was the unique wildlife, anything from birds and mammals to reptiles and amphibians unique to the area. But after photographing most of it I am still fascinated by what the area delivers. The most rewarding part however is that one gets involved in the daily life of the wildlife you follow. And it’s no mystery that the African Wilddogs of the region is incredible and certainly my favourites. I had one shot in mind this trip though. In order to access their entire territory the dogs are forced to cross often flooding rivers. And it was exactly that high drama I wished to photograph. Although I had photographed Wilddog crossings before it has always been from a steep bank and the intenseness of the scene was lost. What I wanted was eye level action. Normally an anticipated shot only happens weeks into a shoot after days of fruitless pursuit, yet this time on only the third day after my arrival the whole pack crossed as one unit in a flooded section of the river. As soon as I dashed down to the rivers edge the first dog had started crossing. Within seconds the action was finished but at least some pics were in the bag.    

The most daring or experienced takes the first plunge and start for the opposite bank.

 



Intensity of crossing a flooded river.