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Le Flaneur de la Photographie
en Safari en Afrique du Sud The Wandering Photographer on Safari in South Africa
As we headed down a dirt path in our open land rover looking for more animals to photograph, the radio suddenly crackled to life with an incomprehensible mix of Afrikaans and local tribal language. I was on my second game drive in the Sabi Sands Private Game Reserve adjacent to Kruger Park. We had already had a good drive, with excellent images of wildebeest, kudu and impala--some literally in the front yard of the Nkorho Bush Lodge where I was staying - but the tone of the person on the radio indicated something special was up. When the message finished, Gowie, the ranger driving the vehicle, turned to me with a big smile and said, "You want to go photograph a leopard in a tree?" He knew the answer before he asked, and we were off into the bushveld, as the land the animals roam in South Africa is called, to where he had been told the big cat could be found. I have not had many opportunities to photograph animals in the wild, and capturing an image of a leopard in a tree was an unspoken dream. Now I was on my way to do just that. When we arrived there were two other land rovers already there. The rule here is that no more than three can be at a sighting at any one time. As we got closer, there the leopard was, straddling the tree limb like a big housecat draped over the arm of a living room sofa, sleeping the way all cats do. However, as I looked through the viewfinder, the poor light had the leopard deep in shadow. The images would be OK, but not what I had hoped.
Gowie told me this female leopard had been given the name 'Seshuana' by the native rangers, which means "little orphan girl," as her mother had been killed when she was very young. As a result, she was a bit small as leopards go. After a short time, to our delight, Seshuana decided to move to a different location and came down from her perch.
I snapped away as Seshuana walked through the velt, looking for a new place to relax in the shade before the day's heat started to build. Finally, she headed off into some really heavy velt where we could not follow. Capturing her images was the perfect end to this particular game drive. Each of my four game drives had its special moments. The previous evening's drive had been equally fascinating. Virtually as soon as we left the camp, we encountered a small herd of huge African buffalo grazing nearby. These massive animals did not seem to notice as I photographed them at very close quarters.
Leaving the lions, we headed off in search of new adventure. Quite soon we ran across a large herd of elephants, including babies, being led through the velt by a big female. It had become overcast and they were moving quite fast, so getting good shots proved difficult, but then the real complication arose.
To cap off the drive, we headed to where a young leopard had been spotted in a small tree awaiting his mother's return. He was about six months old, but the light had faded by this time and I could only get shots of him with the help of the vehicle's spotlight. However, not a bad drive, as we had seen four of the 'Big Five' animals everyone talks about (we missed a rhinoceros) in one afternoon. On the way back to Nkorho we stopped for the traditional 'sundowner' cocktail in the bush. Freeman, our tracker, produced a table from nowhere, and drinks were served. As I stood there enjoying my wine and savoring the experience, Freeman came up to Gowie and told him he had spotted a snake in a tree quite close to us - how, I have no idea. This was followed by several minutes of the rest of us saying "I don't see it; do you?" Finally, I did spot this smallish (3 foot or 80 cm), thin, green snake entwined on a tree branch.
At the lodge later that evening dinner was interrupted by the incredible roar of a lion as he prowled the camp's parameter. The rangers shined a spotlight on him and the nearby impala sounding their characteristic predator warning. Nkorho has no fence; just electric wires strung high to keep out elephants, who can be very destructive. They tell you not to leave your room after they turn the lights out in the evening - no kidding!
Prior to going to Sabi Sands, I had spent four days in the Kruger National Park on a safari organized by Safari Rangers, who also booked me into Nkorho as part of the same package. I had been picked up at my hotel in Johannesburg bright and early one morning by Wilhelm, the driver and guide from Safari Rangers. I had expected to tour in a minivan or even a bus, but was delighted to find an SUV with just April and Anthony, a delightful young couple from Tennessee, as the only others on the safari. The four of us headed off on the five hour drive to Kruger. Kruger is an immense National Park, stretching for over 200 miles (320 km) along South Africa's northeastern border with Mozambique. Visitors are allowed to drive through the park on their own, so it is quite different from Sabi Sands, where the land rovers can go cross country. Kruger's rules are quite strict. You cannot leave the roads or your vehicle. Apparently, a few years ago a Taiwanese visitor decided to get out of a vehicle and pose with some lion; as the South Africans say, "He got chomped!" Despite having to stay on the roads, the game viewing in Kruger was spectacular. Shortly after entering the park we saw our first game, including some rhinos lazing in a mud hole and looking a bit like big rocks. Further along, we noticed a number of vehicles pulled to the side of the road and stopped to see what the attraction was. Wilhelm spotted a rare wild dog in the grass not far from the vehicle and I started snapping away. Then, amazingly, April, who was sitting behind me, looked down by the side of the road and there, not 10 feet (3 meters) from us was a pack of about six wild dogs sleeping in a group. The need to be very observant to see wildlife became abundantly clear.
While the Kruger and Sabi Sands experiences were different, going to Kruger first enabled me, with Wilhelm's help, to become better acquainted with the wildlife at a more relaxed pace than was possible at Sabi Sands. Similarly, the photographic opportunities were different, but rewarding, each in its own special way.
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