Sabi Sands Wildlife Photography Workshop

Nothing beats daybreak in the bush.

For the past few months we at Africa Unlocked have presented the very popular C4 Images and Safaris wildlife photographic courses in Hoedspruit in the Lowveld. This past weekend we have had the wonderful opportunity to host the course on a private concession in the Sabi Sand Game Reserve adjoining the Kruger National Park, an area encompassing more than 2 million hectares! This acclaimed region didn’t disappoint as within the first two game drives we managed to log up all of the big five!! Quite a feat considering the course only officially started on the Saturday morning, well after our second game drive!

A group of White Rhinos mud wallowing in perfect light.

It’s always such a pleasure hosting likeminded and very enthusiastic photographers and from my side a huge thank you to you all who made the stay in the “Sands” so enjoyable. In order to maintain our high level of personal attention all future courses will be limited to small groups only.

The apex of any safari - An elusive leopard only metres away from the vehicle.

Night drives creates the perfect platform to view the big cats in action.

Some comments from the participants:

The course was very educational and I found the subjects help full. The course material was also very use full afterwards.
The instructor has excellent knowledge of the subject. - David Bertram

The course was very educational and I found the subjects helpfull. The course material was also very use full afterwards and the instructor has excellent knowledge of the subject. - Christiaan Willemse

I can honestly say that the course was very helpful especially the following subjects:1. Light and types of light helped me a lot2. Different functions of the camera especially when shooting a fast moving subject3. I learnt a lot about the camera that I use, functions that I never knew exist or have never used before - Neels de Kock

We will be hosting another course during the first weekend of April. Click here for more details or contact us directly for more info and to secure your place.

Praying Mantis Eating Spider

Some birds are supposed to eat spiders and spiders eat insects, right? Well seems like they don’t always follow the rules. After witnessing a very unique scenario almost a year ago of a spider eating a bird I thought it was quite interesting yesterday to witness another instance of this spider in an example of predation. Unfortunately this time the poor arachnid was the one being scoffed by a very ambitious Praying Mantis. So there you, go another example albeit on a small scale, of the complete opportunism of predators.

Coypu. An alien in East Africa

Who has ever heard of a Coypu? I certainly haven’t. This water dwelling rodent originates from South America. It was introduced to Kenya for the fur trade in the 1050’s and, guess what, they escaped. Now they are digging up river bank and dams and eating away reedbeds and other aquatic vegetation. It is also thought that they may have been responsible for the periodic collapse of Lake Naivasha’s waterplants. It’s not only in Africa where feral populations exist but also in many other parts of the world. This is a habituated animal which I was able to get close enough to photograph with a wide angle. I wanted to capture, without sounding overly emotional or anthropomorphic, the essence of what so often happens. An almost sad looking creature just doing what it’s intended to do, yet with man’s influence it became unwanted in a foreign country far from its native home.

Make hay while the sun isn't shining

Intricate patterns in a tree frogs eye.

Here are a few pics from around my local patch, Mariepskop, in the Lowveld Drakensberg. Over the past few weeks it has been raining heavily, normally a time to put the camera away and, well, wait for better weather. But its also a time when numerous other creatures make an appearance. So I got out the camera to see what I could can find in the garden.

An excuisite Leaf Mantis in the forest undergrowth.

A painted Reed-Frog clambering about.

Perched on a branch, a Grey Tree-frog or Foam-nest frog.

Mashatu in Springtime

I cannot believe how much time flew. I was still thinking of putting these pics up about a month ago. Well in the meantime Christmas has come and gone and I already need to process the last Kenya pics. It has been almost a full year now since I have been guiding C4 Images and Safaris trips to Tuli and in the process have come to know the many and varied moods of this remarkable wilderness.

What striked me most of this last trip to Mashatu was how everything has come full circle since my first trip in April 2010. During April the area had excessive flooding and we almost got washed down the river.

On our last visit the last of some of the pools had dried up completely leaving the hundreds of Tilapia and Side striped Barbs stranded. .

A feast for the numerous storks, kingfishers and Herons. We even noticed tracks of Black backed Jackals frequenting these easy pickings

Velvet mites responded to the rains and could be seen scurrying about on the wet soil.

And when the rains kept us indoors, or at least camp bound, a stroll through camp revealed numerous other interesting inhabitants like this Lynx spider.

Fortunately the rains were not far and several millimetres fell during our stay bringing much needed respite, especially to the fish! The area transformed from dry dusty stubble to a parklike environment in a few days and I cannot wait to get there soon to witness the next stage of this ephemeral region.

The thought then came up that as photographers we are always so focussed in getting the ultimate shot that at times we miss the dramas in nature unfolding everywhere around us. And it is often only when you are really aware of the area when the decisive shots present themselves.

Chiefs Camp Okavango Delta.

Quintessential Okavango!!

It seems like the bars are continuously raised on the C4 safaris. Not even the heat of Chiefs Island could dampen anyone’s adventurous spirit as we disembarked the Cesna Caravan at Chiefs Camp’s bush airstrip in the middle of absolute supreme wilderness.

Nothing beats a sunrize with lion cub in the forground!

Birding is always phenomenal in the Delta. Slaty Egrets on every drive, Wattled Cranes and Black coucals to name but a few.

A Slaty Egret, rare in SA, on the hunt.


What better position to photograph this amazing place than from the frog's eye perspective of your Mokoro!

Once settled into our quite spectacular rooms it now feels like the adventure never stopped until our return to Jo’ies four days later. Everything from leopards carrying new born cubs to intricate painted reed frogs kept everyone busy with photographic opportunities jumping at you around every corner (if you’ll excuse the wisecrack).

The wish that came true.

Every photographer has a wish list, often not the easiest of subjects. But when Trevor wished for a leopard on a termite mound you can’t help smiling when one actually peer straight at the lens from atop one. Surreal stuff! The only real problem everyone had was not finding enough time to capture it all and unanimously everyone wished for more time in the Delta. Hopefully this will come in the not too distant future. All of you, who made our time so much fun, as always from Isak and me, thanks a mill!! It can never be fun without great guests and we are looking forward hosting you all soon when we catch up in the sticks.

Now for some arty black and white shots of familiar subjects.

A lion cub and his sibling staring at the motordrives going berzerk on our vehicle parked closeby!

If there's two things you'll see a lot of its water and elephants!

And then I made it a bit of a pet project to photograph the hundreds of reed frogs around camp.

Hyperolius forgotitsnameius? Slender reed frog or something?

Birds of the Mara

We all head for the Mara because of the fantastic predators and the legendary migration. But the excitement doesn't stop there. Here are just a quick selection of pics of the birds of the area, and believe me this doesn't even start to do justice to whats around.

The many kill sites creates the perfect area to observe the antics of up to five different species of cultures.

The enormous Kori Bustard strolling along the plains.

While a Saddle Billed stork puts up a display for the cameras.

A Highly unusual sighting of the normally forest dwelling and secretive Black Sparrowhawk out in the open with its kill.

And not to be outdone by the heavies, beauties such as the Purple Grenadier (above) and my personal favorite, the Brown-throated Watlle-eye (below) also put in regular appearances.