Day 20 –Mala Mala Game Reserve, South Africa

Today was the last day of my second safari, and I was very sad to leave Mala Mala. Mala Mala is a very special place, and I plan on spending more time in the Sabi Sands in future years. For me the Sabi Sands area is all about high value photographic subjects in a short amount of time, and it makes for an excellent photographic destination for predators. For that reason I will be back in a few months to run my Leopards of the Sabi Sands trip in early November. I cannot wait to get back.

This morning’s game drive needed to be short, primarily due to the timing of our plane flight back to Johannesburg. We were out by 6:30am, and were back in camp by 8:45. In that short period of time we watched a herd of 36 elephants cross the airstrip, as well as watch the largest male leopard on the reserve, Emsagwen Male, go out on a patrol of his territory. What an awesome way to end the safari. Between our safari group we had 9 sightings of leopards in 4 days. That averages to more than 1 leopard per game drive. What surprised me was that a cold front blew in a few days ago, bringing along high winds, and that typically makes for difficult game viewing. When we have high winds it makes it difficult to hear bird calls, and those calls are one of the things that we rely on to identify and track predators. Additionally, the high winds and cold temperatures cause grazers and browsers to hunker down in the dense woodland, and your prey species are also difficult to locate. It is like somebody stole all of the wildlife. On this safari we relied on good old fashioned visual sightings, as well as using paw prints in the dirt and sand to locate our predators. Even looking for paw prints is difficult, as it is problematic to be able to tell the age of a print when the granules of sand have been swept into the paw print area in a short amount of time.

After our time with Emsagwen Male, we drove quickly back to camp for brunch. On the way back we followed a mother rhino with her baby that couldn’t have been more than 2 or 3 weeks old. A nice parting gift for us! But wait, there is more. It started to rain ever so slightly, and a rainbow appeared over the camp in the distance. And then it happened: a double rainbow. A double rainbow, but not the kind where I sound like I am going to cry and then ask “what does this mean?” as if I were stoned as in the YouTube video.

We departed camp by 11 and headed to the airstrip. We said goodbye to our ranger friends and boarded our plane for Johannesburg. The flight only took 1 hour, and after we arrived the whole group split off into different directions. I have to say that I am honored and privileged to have a business where my customers also turn out to be my friends. I am doing what I believe I was put on this earth to do, which is to share my love of photography, Africa and adventure with other people. I couldn’t be in a better profession for my skill sets, as well as my passions.

Note: All images in these daily blog postings are very very rough edits of the things we have seen, and I often omit the photographs that take too much time to process. I don’t take much time off during the day, as I am working with people with their photographic needs. All of my images in these posts will have to be re-processed when I get back home, and they are only included in these blog entries for illustration purposes only.

A herd of 36 elephants crossed the airstrip this morning. What a sight, but challenging to photograph

The Emsagwen Male leopard

Double Rainbow all the way. What does this mean?

Day 19 –Mala Mala Game Reserve, South Africa

Ok, today was the day of all days. Leopards, leopards and more leopards. I am overwhelmed, to say the least, and here is how my day went in the paragraphs below.

We left Rattray’s by 6:30am and worked the road that borders Londolozi to the west. Within 1km of camp we heard a commotion of francolins, and it was clear we had a leopard in our midst. We stopped the vehicle and noticed not one but two leopards in a tree: the Dudley Female and her subadult cub. The cub was working an imapala carcass, and the Dudley Female was too busy paying attention to the young hyaena on the ground. We didn’t have a clear view, unfortunately, and we couldn’t go any closer than about 125 feet. Londolozi and Mala Mala are different properties, and none shall go between them. It’s just how it is, unfortunately. We watched as the Dudley Female jumped down out of the tree towards the hyaena, which totally freaked me out. Typically you will never see a leopard do such a thing, however this time the hyaena was too young to be much of a threat, so she obviously felt comfortable enough to get near it.

2 leopards by 6:45am.

We left the Dudley Female and her cub, and worked our way north and east towards the Sand River. We tracked and intercepted the Bicycle Crossing Male leopard by the river, and we had multiple attempts at photographing him as he walked down a game path. Our approach was to drive around and forward of him, turn around and photograph him as he walked towards us. We did this about 5 times, and I was happy with the photos from this session with him. I last saw him in 2008, and it was great to be near this great leopard again. His size and stature remind me of the late Tjololo, who made it to the cover of National Geographic a few years back. Kim Wolhuter photographed and shot video of Tjololo, and one should seek out some of Kim’s work if interested in beautiful leopard photography.

We followed the Bicycle Crossing Male offroad, and he came upon a skeleton of a wildebeest. He absolutely snuggled and caressed the bones, which was one of the more unusual acts I have seen a leopard engage in. After his intimacy with the dried remains, he then scent marked it as his own and then moved on. We lost track of him in the dense bush, and we had to backtrack to get back to the road.

3 leopards by 7:28am.

Above one of the picnic sites we found the Daughter of Ngoboswan Female, and boy was she a gorgeous leopard. She had a new impala carcass in the tree, and was happily munching away with an adult hyaena at the base of the tree. We were able to move the vehicle around to find some good vantage points, which explains some of the images down below.

4 leopards by 9:45am.

We were so chuffed when we got back to camp, that we decided to eat a quick brunch and head back to the Daughter of Ngoboswan Female to see what else we could yield photographically. Our other vehicles stayed with her when we ate, and when we got back to her the other vehicles moved on for brunch. Rotating vehicles is the only way to make sure that everybody gets good photographs, and I am a fan of this method.

After an amazing set of leopard sightings, we returned back to our mating pair of lions for some more ‘action shots’. J

Dinner was indoors, due to the high winds and cold temperature. It has really turned cold in the past 24 hours, and this morning was 40F with a colder morning forecasted for tomorrow. Time for winter gloves and a winter hat, for sure. It should be around 3C tomorrow morning. BRRRRRRRRR.

Note: All images in these daily blog postings are very very rough edits of the things we have seen, and I often omit the photographs that take too much time to process. I don’t take much time off during the day, as I am working with people with their photographic needs. All of my images in these posts will have to be re-processed when I get back home, and they are only included in these blog entries for illustration purposes.

The Dudley Female barely makes it into the open

The Dudley Female jumps from her tree in front of a hyaena

The Dudley Female

Bicycle Crossing Male

Bicycle Crossing Male

Bicycle Crossing Male

Bicycle Crossing Male

Daughter of Ngoboswan Female

Daughter of Ngoboswan Female

Daughter of Ngoboswan Female

Lone hyaena, looking for some scraps

Daughter of Ngoboswan Female

Dean, James, Filemon, LaWayne and George

Day 18 –Mala Mala Game Reserve, South Africa

I haven’t been spending much time with my diary in recent days, primarily because of the limited amount of time to keep on top of it all. My apologies if today’s dairy on the shorter end, but I will try to do a better job in future days.

Today we focused on mating lions, sub adult male lions, kudu, birds and a nice sunset. Not bad!

Note: All images in these daily blog postings are very very rough edits of the things we have seen, and I often omit the photographs that take too much time to process. I don’t take much time off during the day, as I am working with people with their photographic needs. All of my images in these posts will have to be re-processed when I get back home, and they are only included in these blog entries for illustration purposes.

Day 17 –Mala Mala Game Reserve, South Africa

Gosh, where do I begin? We had such a jam-packed day with so many rich photographic subjects. To put it bluntly, we had lions, lion cubs, leopards and rhino. Ok, so I said it. Now on to the day’s sightings.

We stumbled upon two adult females of the Styx pride, and one of the adult females is quite the legend in the area at 14 years old. She is a different looking lion, in that her nose rides high on her face, and you always know who she is when you see her. She has a young cub at the moment, and it may be the last she will have due to her ‘old’ age. We sat and watched the two lionesses in the open grass opposite Mala Mala Main Camp on the other side of the Sand River, and after an hour we noticed the younger female was interested in a bush buck on the river’s edge. She stalked and eventually took off running after the bush buck, only to end in failure. I could see the excitement in the other photographers’ eyes, as any chase is a great thing to see.

We were back at camp at 10:30 for brunch, and then back out by 3:00. In the wintertime many camps offer breakfast before the morning game drive, however for the next few days were are going to eat brunch after the game drive. This will allow us to get a few more minutes of sleep, without foregoing the good light in the morning. It also helps out the camp staff.

We left camp by 3pm, and photographed more lions in and around the Sand River. We had 3 cubs and 2 adult females, and we had a very difficult time getting clear shots of the cubs in the tall reeds in the river. The mothers felt comfortable enough with us, and the cubs were heard growling for their mothers to provide milk for the hungry little guys. So we had intimate experiences with these gorgeous cats during their nursing activities. I just couldn’t get a clear photograph, due to the tall grass, but it was a great moment indeed. After their feeding, the cubs played in the sand on the water’s edge. We left them and headed towards the west street bridge to photograph white rhinos that had been seen.

Rhinos are funny creatures, and I get a good chuckle when I spend time with them. They are difficult to photograph past the obvious types of shots, so I always have to find new ways of interpreting gestures, moods and behavior. After my obligatory head shots, I noticed that some of them had good gatherings of oxpeckers on their backs, so I tried my best to get these emotional birds in my viewfinder. My biggest challenge was getting a good angle, good light and a good background, but the best I could muster was a background with the bridge in the background. GRRRR. Oh well.

On the way back to camp, we tracked down the son of Ngoboswan, one of my favorite male leopards in the reserve. There are only two others that I enjoy more, and that is the Bicycle Crossing Male and the massive Emsagwen Male, and it was good to see this beautiful guy before the sun went down. He was obviously hunting, so we kept our distance and watched as he tried to sneak up on a nyala in the forest. The nyala had already figured out what was going on, but it was fun to watch the game of cat and mouse until we could barely see in the moon’s light.

At dinner we all laughed about our good fortune, and added up that we had collectively kept Sandisk in business due to our appetite for flash memory.

Note: All images in these daily blog postings are very very rough edits of the things we have seen, and I often omit the photographs that take too much time to process. I don’t take much time off during the day, as I am working with people with their photographic needs. All of my images in these posts will have to be re-processed when I get back home, and they are only included in these blog entries for illustration purposes.

El Grupo

Oxpeckers on the back of a white rhino

Day 16 –Mashatu Main Camp / Rattray’s on Mala Mala, South Africa

This morning’s game drive was a short one, because we needed to get back to camp, pack, eat breakfast, drive to the airstrip and head for Mala Mala. I primarily photographed adult baboons with their young, and I have to be honest that it was a challenging task. I wanted to take advantage of a unique lighting situation, where the baboons were in the bright daylight and just behind them there was complete shadow. This was a great lighting situation, as it made it easier to highlight what the actual subject of the scene was. It was a near miss for me, as I could never seem to get all of the 3 adults and 3 young to look towards the camera, or at least near the camera.

We made our 12pm plane flights to Mala Mala, via Polokwane for immigration, and the flights and immigration took about 2.5 hours. When we arrived at Mala Mala, my friend and ranger Matt Meyer was waiting for us on the airstrip. Mala Mala has a wonderful airstrip that is paved, so light jets to bush planes can all service the camps here.

We drove the short drive to Rattray’s on Mala Mala, our camp for the next 4 nights, and quickly checked in. We were assigned our rooms, dropped off our bags and met back in the common area. Food was ready for us, but we had to respectfully pass and get into the Land Rovers for some wildlife. Mala Mala is one of my favorite locations in all of Africa for predators, specifically leopards and lions. Mala Mala is a well-run game reserve, and offroading is a necessary part of the experience here. The rangers are extremely professional, and many of them are avid photographers themselves. We are working with Matt, Donald, Gordon and Dean for the next 4 days, and all of them are great guys and photographers.

Upon leaving camp, we heard of an adult female leopard near Mala Mala Main Camp, so we knew exactly where to go. We met up with her and only had 10 minutes of shooting before we snapped something underneath our vehicle. It was our tie rod, which wasn’t a big deal at all, but we were disabled nonetheless.   We had driven over a really nasty iron wood stump, and we had to have another vehicle brought out to us. John loaned us his Rover for the afternoon, and by the time we moved our belongings the leopard had pretty much moved on into the dense brush. It wasn’t a big deal, because I knew that we would have more opportunities over the next 4 days.

On our way back to camp, we stopped for sparring giraffes and a pair of white rhino. Not bad for a 2 hour game drive, eh? J

Dinner was in the outdoor boma, and the fire tonight was absolutely stellar. Tonights’ dinner was made up of kudu, roasted veggies, roasted tomato & basil soup with ice cream for desert. Not exactly diet material, but I think I can cope.

Note: All images in these daily blog postings are very very rough edits of the things we have seen, and I often omit the photographs that take too much time to process. I don’t take much time off during the day, as I am working with people with their photographic needs. All of my images in these posts will have to be re-processed when I get back home, and they are only included in these blog entries for illustration purposes.

Overlook with the Sand River

Our first leopard at Mala Mala

Sparring Giraffes

..and our first rhino

Day 15 –Mashatu Main Camp, Botswana

This morning’s game drive was mostly filled with trying to focus on the more elusive subjects, such as red-billed quelea, eland and kudu. On the surface these subjects seem quite easy to photograph, however it is quite difficult to get unique and creative photos of them. My attempts didn’t really work, but good photographs with unique behavior takes time.

I often see safari vehicles passing by subjects that can yield excellent images, and all too often these vehicles move along in search of big cats. Heck, I love leopards, lions and cheetahs just like anybody else, however looking over plains game, birds and everything in between is a huge mistake. Another huge mistake is to be impatient at a sighting and wanting to move on. Good photographs are created, not captured by doing quick drive-by type shooting. One needs to take the time to capture images that stir the soul, and that is the biggest secret that will help any nature photographer.

After our mid-day lecture and critique session, we headed out of camp towards the river system that flows through Mashatu. As we arrived at the river, we immediately noticed a large elephant herd filling up their bellies with fresh water. Cha-ching! Each member of the herd made its way down towards the water, and after finishing you could see the happiness in all of them as they played and sparred along the water’s edge. We didn’t need to move the vehicle for a while, and just enjoyed watching all of the fun going on down below. We positioned the vehicle on a ridge above the river, which had a great view of the action down below.

When the light started to fade, we worked some of the open fields in search of paw prints, and we located a single female lioness within a few minutes. She was out on her own, and the light was fading quickly when we located her. As like most lions in the daytime, she was lying down and napping. As the setting sun went over a hill, we were able to at least grab a few shots of the warm light on her face. I absolutely love the last minutes of light in the day, which can be very warm and direct. This warm light is something that I always try to use to my advantage, however it isn’t always there when I need it, or I don’t have a good subject to photograph in the warm light.

Note: All images in these daily blog postings are very very rough edits of the things we have seen, and I often omit the photographs that take too much time to process. I don’t take much time off during the day, as I am working with people with their photographic needs. All of my images in these posts will have to be re-processed when I get back home, and they are only included in these blog entries for illustration purposes.

Our overlook for the elephants, before they arrived en masse

A more closeup view when the elephants arrived

Elephants drinking in the river

Elephants drinking in the river

Elephants drinking in the river

Frolicking and playing

A lioness to end the day...

Day 14 –Mashatu Main Camp, Botswana

Today was a bit colder than the past two weeks, and I needed to bundle up a bit to stay warm. It was the first day that the gloves and winter hat came out, and I suspect it was the first time that the temperature flirted with the 30’sF. It felt good, actually, as I have been suffering through the Texas summer heat for the past few months, and the cool morning really makes me forget about 100F days.

We took a different approach to game viewing this morning, in that we relied on sounds that we had heard when we were having our morning coffee. There were a few lion roars in the distance, and we trained on where they were coming from and when we jumped into the rovers we drove in that direction. The approach paid off about an hour or so later, and we found a large male lion and a younger female lion who appeared to be in their mating period. Within 15 minutes their mating ritual began, and I felt like I could hear Barry White singing in the background. J But seriously, mating lions are often a challenge to photograph, primarily because you can never know ahead of time where their two bodies will face, and you never have enough time to reposition a vehicle for a head-on shot. It takes patience and perseverance to nail that kind of shot.

The rest of the morning game drive consisted of photographing running and jumping impala, and we worked with different shutter speeds to try and get either tack sharp photos or blurred photos. Unfortunately all of my favorite jumping shots happened above a vehicle path, and I just cannot reconcile what I wanted to see with the actual results. Oh well. I will try harder next time.

The afternoon game drive was filled with driving along the Majale river bed, which yielded amazing elephants and bee-eaters who were nesting.

Our Mashatu guides and trackers offer some comedy relief

Day 13 –Mashatu Main Camp, Botswana

Ok, I must say it in advance that today was all about elephants. Yes, there is excellent general game here at Mashatu, but today was all about elephants. The elephants here are extremely relaxed, and this makes for excellent photography. We spent a great amount of time with one family of elephants, and they were so relaxed around us that they actually fell asleep. Half of the herd fell asleep while standing up, and the other half actually laid down on the ground and started to slumber. One male stood only 5 feet from my lens and started sleeping within minutes of our arrival. It was just amazing to witness such large animals in such a relaxed state.

I took the opportunity to use my 200-400mm and isolate parts of this male, and this was a fun exercise to try and compose intimate compositions. I am not confident that many of the photographs worked out, but it was fun to at least try to get out of my normal way of shooting. I am trying to photograph in a different way on this trip, as I need to get out my shell a bit. My photographs haven’t been up to my standards in a while, and I need to try and break out a bit. Jessica Mitford once wrote a book on writing, and she talked about how writers need to ‘murder their darlings’. Writers have pet phrases that they try and fit into their writings, and they actually hold writers back from growing in their craft. As a photographer I am trying to learn this approach, and I am trying to murder my own darlings on this safari. I may not be successful, but I am hoping that I will at least learn more about creativity in the process. Since I am here in Africa often, I have the luxury of being able to try new things. Let’s hope I both learn something as well as come home with some newer looking images.

This afternoon we tracked two leopards, a mother and her sub adult son. Only 1 vehicle had shots of the mother, however most everybody else was able to shoot the male up in a tree. I didn’t take any photographs this afternoon, and spent the time working with my vehicle mates on exposure and composition. I also took the time to just think about my own compositions, and have come up with some new ideas that I will put into practice on future game drives.

After a nice sundowner drink, we all headed back to camp, cleaned up and met at the bar before dinner. Dinner was under the stars in the boma, set amongst a roaring fire in the middle of the enclosure. The Mashatu staff sang a few joyous songs for us, and many in the group retired back to their rooms by 9:00. Jet lag really hits hard for the first few days, and I was tired for other reasons.

Note: All images in these daily blog postings are very very rough edits of the things we have seen, and I often omit the photographs that take too much time to process. I don’t take much time off during the day, as I am working with people with their photographic needs. All of my images in these posts will have to be re-processed when I get back home, and they are only included in these blog entries for illustration purposes.