Wide Angle Croc

As I am stuck in the office at the moment and do not see myself getting out for at least a few days I thought to go through some pics in our library and share the info on how it was taken and some other interesting snippets over the next few days. A while ago I met up with fellow photographers in the Limpopo province for a short photography trip. One of the most interesting subjects we encountered was this 1.5 meter crocodile. Initially we just snapped away and got the usual portrait shots that one expects when normally photographing a dangerous animal at a distance. Unlike every crocodile I encountered before, this one however didn’t seemed too worried with our presence and allowed a very close approach. Swapping the longer lenses for wide angles resulted in great pics of the animal in its environment. The cold temperatures might have had something to do with its lethargic responses as it slowed down the reptiles movements and at 1.5 meters the reptile looks much bigger through the wide angle than it really is. I never approve of gung ho attitudes where guides endanger the lives of animals, themselves or his guests yet the combination of all the above circumstances played in our favour that day.

Change of scenery

The Swadini dam and Blyde River Canyon

We have recently relocated from the west of Limpopo to the east and are now settling into a great village on the edge of the foothills of the Northern Drakensberg. With the Blyde River Canyon, the third biggest of its kind in the world in our back yard and the expansive lowveld stretching out in front of us as far as the eye can see, I get a distinct “kid in a candy store” sensation when it comes to the potential for adventure and wildlife. Work is keeping us quite busy at the moment but whenever time allows I am hoping to explore our own home patch. So hopefully as time goes by we will be able to post all the updates of any interesting adventures in the canyon.

Shrike Strike

A grey headed Bush shrike lands near its prey in the leaf litter.

Bush Shrikes are undoubtably one of the most exciting and sought after bird families. Surprisingly they are not closely related to “real shrikes” and are a retiring group of birds. For this reason they are highly sought after by bird watchers and indeed some of the most enigmatic of birds in Africa such as the Bulo Burti bush shrike for instance are known from only a single specimen caught and released in Somalia. The Grey headed Bush shrike on the other hand is probably one of the easiest of the species to see but nevertheless still remain a very exciting bird whenever encountered in the wild. Chances for photographing these birds are even less likely. Imagine our luck when we stumbled upon this scene of it struggling with its oversized chameleon prey. The shrikes killed the reptile early on a winters morning but due to the large size they could not manage to remain in control of their prey and repeatedly dropped in onto the ground. A perfect arena to place a portable hide, set up camera and flash and photograph this seldom seen spectacle.

It locates its reptilian prey and briefly scans the surroundings.

It then proceeds to peck at an open wound...

...gripps it by the neck and disappears into the tangle above.

Mountain Magic

Scanning the mountains for the magnificent Black Eagles.

Marekele National Park in South Africa’s Limpopo province to me must rate as one of the most scenically beautiful National Parks in the country. Except for the wonderful mountainous terrain and the largest Cape Vulture breeding colonies in the world of 800 birds, it is also home to the big Five and refuge for the rare Black Rhinoceros. Our aim wasn’t to seek out the big game of the area however but rather a trip to the top of the mountain to view the Vultures and other interesting birdlife occurring up here.

An unusual sight of four Klipspringer together.

The trip up was punctuated by regular sighting of the remarkable Klipspringer antelope which, in order to survive in its rocky domain have evolved to walk on the tips of its hoofs, enabling it to negotiate the stony terrain. These otherwise skittish antelope are used to the traffic in the park and allows wonderful photographic opportunities. It was quite a treat viewing up to four individuals at a time, They normally occur in pairs and the reason we were seeing four together was the fact that the previous seasons youngsters of almost adult size were accompanying their parents. Soon they would seek out a companion and leave their parents. The vultures were present by the dozen albeit at a distance, not allowing any decent photography and a pair of Black eagles glided past on rapier wings. Other interesting birds were the Buff streaked chat, a South African endemic and a Gurney’s sugarbird, a genus confined to Southern Africa.

Southern African Endemic Gurney's Sugarbird (left and SA endemic Buff Streaked Chat (right)

Hippo Rush

Welcome to this, the first blog post at Africa Unlocked where you will get to share in some of our adventures.



Juvenile Hippo cuddling up to a companion

Even though Hippos are one of the largest land mammals around, the only parts of their bodies ever visible are their nostrils and ears sticking out of the water. They do at times lounge around on sandbanks during the day but during this time their inert bodies do not make for the most exciting viewing. . If you do not know when and where to look for them, you might be excused for considering them a bit of a disappointment. They emerge from the water at night to feed on the adjacent grass and re-enter the water early the next morning. That is the best time to view these behemoths in action and to capture some great images. Take note however that even though these animals look so immobile, they easily outrun humans, are very dangerous and should never be approached without an experienced guide present. Before the break of day we scampered down the Olifants river bank, cameras in hand, to the spot where we viewed them the day before.



After the Hippo caught our smell they made a mad dash for the safety of deeper water.

A slight embankment allowed a safe and close approach and with a slight wind in our faces knew that they wouldn’t smell us which would send them into the water. There were twelve of them with two youngsters present and the pod was frolicking in knee deep water. We all got into position and started getting our camera exposure right while we waited for the rising sun to filter though the huge Sycamore figs to cast its golden light onto our quarry. You can’t get everything right, every time and with everything set in place for stunning photographs, the Hippos caught smell of us and they started their dash to the safety of the water. Shutters started clicking over the noise of water rushing over two ton bodies and some amazing images were captured of these animals. Even though they reacted before the golden light painted them, the action photography of a few seconds had all of us excited and more than happy with wonderful and unusual images.