Back in Africa 12/11 #3

Hello to everyone. This has been one of my best weeks for seeing wildlife. A couple of days ago I saw four rhinoceros in the morning...then four more that afternoon. What was interesting was the four I saw in the afternoon were grazing in a large field when all of a sudden a herd of 29 elephants starting walking out of the bush into the field.  The rhinoceros immediately got together in a defensive posture facing the elephants. As the elephants started coming through one of the younger bulls charged the rhinos...and one of the rhinos then charged the elephant.  They never actually clashed together, but they did charge a dozen times each.  Although rhinos are very large, they look small compared to an elephant.  Elephants have been known to kill rhinos.  

Also, about a hundred impala were leading the elephants into the field...and I saw a baby elephant chasing an impala.  Very cute, but unfortunately it was getting too dark for me to get any images.

So lets talk photography "bummers". Bummer #1 is that you see something awesome but it's too dark to get a decent image. Bummer #2 is that many times you will see an animal that you want to get an image of...but the animal immediately runs into the woods and I am too slow on getting my camera up-and-focused in time to take the shot. Bummer #3 is that you get to an area just as something spectular happens, but the vehicle hasn't stopped and you can't get a shot off before the action is over. Bummer #4 is that you happen on a once-in-a-lifetime scene...but it happens just out of your line of vision or the action is hidden by the vegetation. And Bummer #5...you have a scene that would make a great image...but you didn't bring the right lens with you. I'm sure there are more "bummers"...but these 5 are the ones I deal with most of the time.

Bummer #4 happened to me just the other day. We were just driving up to a large waterhole when two Egypian geese flew up from their nest...then almost immediately an eagle swooped down and grabbed one of their chicks...the geese immediately flew back at the eagle...crying an alarm...and chased the eagle...trying to get the eagle to drop their chick.  In some ways this was very sad to witness...but I know that here in Africa everything has to eat...so I assume the eagle had just caught lunch for her chicks. But what I would have given to have been there just a few minutes earlier...and at an angle nearer to the nest so that I could have gotten the shot of the eagle grabbing the chick just as the geese returned to fight the eagle...who knows, it might have been one of those "Photographer of the Year" type of images.

Earlier this morning when I started writting this blog one of the rangers ran in and said to jump in the vehicle. I stopped writting...jumped into the vehicle...and after a short drive saw 13 lions (5 on a kill)...and then 35 elephants that all came to one of the watering holes. They splashed around, took mud baths, and bugled at the lions. It was amazing...of course I have images that I will share with you in just a moment.

I saw so many animals this week that I thought I would just put as many as I can in this blog...and then will try to put out a second blog of just animals shots.

First off, here's a couple of images of the first four rhinos I saw this week.

 This little guy is just playing with his older brother

I was told that "butts don't sell"...but I liked this particular image.  How about you?

I saw these two cheetahs...they are brothers and causing a lot of problems here at Makalali because they are killing the other cheetahs on the reserve. If they don't stop...and quickly...then the Makalali management will capture them and send them off to a different game reserve.

Here's a few elephants I saw this week...

There were about 6 babies in this particular herd of elephants. This one is probably less that two months old.

 This will give you a good idea of what some of this reserve looks like. This is a good example of "Bummer #5". That is, had I brought my wide-angle lens with me, I could have captured an image with 20+ elephants.

I just love taking "eye shots" of elephants.

This bull came over to our vehicle to tell us that he wasn't pleased by out being so close to his herd.

I was also able to get some more lion shots this week...here's just a few:



These cubs are part of a large pride of 17 lions

My Favorite Image of the week

How's that for some images? I'm going to send this blog out now...but will spend the next 30 minutes of so putting together another blog with some other animal creatures I saw this week.  I'm wishing everyone the best.  Smile...John.