African Wildlife Adventure

People often ask me do you still take photographs on your days off or on holiday. The short and simple answer is yes. In April I spent a couple of weeks on holiday in South Africa and the camera gear was duly packed. The trip took in the sights and tastes of the Cape (the Nederburg Wines were excellent)  to the urban landscape that is Johannesburg and onto the bush of the Kruger Park. The game reserve and the prospect of viewing the "Big Five" was a particular highlight. As press photographer I have photographed many animals over the years. Most are domestic pets or farm animals and some, just some even cooperate with the photographers wishes! Any wild animals I have photographed have only ever been in enclosures until now.

Our Tracker on foot looking for Leopard tracks 

After our travel plans were dealt a blow by the incompetent  South African Airways check-in staff at O R Tambo Airport Johannesburg we finally made it to the beautiful Pondoro Private Game Lodge in the Balule Game Reserve part of the better known Kruger Park. After an early wake up call at 5.00am and a quick coffee we were bumping our way along a track in an open topped Toyota in the half light of dawn. The work kit had been left at home and with the low light I was soon wishing the D3 had been packed but the 400mm f2.8 wouldn't have been very practical for a holiday trip of eight flights.

 Nikon D200 Nikon 80-400mm VR lens
1/250 sec f5.6 800 ISO

 I was travelling relatively light with my old Nikon D200 with two lenses a Nikon 80-400mm F5.6 and 28-105mm F3.5, Lowepro belt pack and plenty of memory cards. Our Ranger and Tracker had picked up lion tracks and then came across leopard tracks but lost both. After morning coffee in a clearing we were off the the trail again. Looking for animals through the thick scrub was difficult especially from a moving vehicle. As we made our way down a track we caught sight of a group of young lions relaxing in an area of thick scrub. We went off road to get closer to the group. The heart was now racing, here we are in an opened topped vehicle driving towards the King of the Jungle! The small group decided to move off as we approached. Trying shoot pictures from a moving vehicle is tough enough but it was made twice as hard as the terrain was pretty rough. One of the lions hung back from the group to investigate a zebra skin in a tree from an earlier kill. This lion then proceeded to climb the tree and have a look around just feet from our position.

Another young lion peers from behind a tree. Nikon D200 Nikon 80-400mm VR lens 1/180 sec f5.3 800 ISO

Still on a high after our Lion spot we came across a herd of Elephant making their way through the bush feeding as they went, passing close to the vehicles. I wanted to show just how close you got to the animals. As the herd of elephant moved through we were joined by another four-wheel-drive from another game lodge. This vehicle went really close to the animals and you can see from the picture below the lady recoiling into her seat as the elephant passed.

Eye to eye with the elephant. Nikon D200 Nikon 80-400mm VR lens. 1/200 sec f7.1 200 ISO

After making several tightly composed frames of the elephant I swapped onto a wider lens to capture a different view of the game drive experience and was rewarded with this impressive display of an elephant ripping up a small tree.

Feeding Elephant. Nikon D200 Nikon 28-105mm 1/640 sec f9.0 200ISO

On our second morning drive a call came over the radio to our Ranger that Rhino had been spotted. Making our way to the area we soon picked up the Rhino's trail. Our Ranger decided that the group of four Rhino could be safely tracked on foot. Making our way into the bush following close to the Ranger the adrenalin was starting to pump. The pressure was really on, I had to get sharp pictures of this one of the big five but due to the amazing hearing of Rhino it could have been a one shot deal, I couldn't "hose down" this one and risk spooking them. We were fairly close but I  was still out at 400mm and hand holding, no camera support. Thankfully it was about 8.20am and there was a bit more light in the sky which helped and gave me a faster shutter speed eliminate camera shake caused by the focal length and the adrenalin pumping through my veins. What an amazing experience to be so close to these animals.

A Rhino which we tracked on foot. Nikon D200 Nikon 80-400mm VR lens 1/400 sec f5.6 400 ISO

Zebra. Nikon D200 Nikon 80-400mm VR lens 1/250 sec f5.6 200 ISO

Grazing Giraffe. Nikon D200 Nikon 80-400mm VR lens 1/1000sec f5.0 400ISO