KALAHARI - PART 2
Apart from being one of the best places to see predators in action, the Kalahari is also know for it’s exceptional bird watching and ranks high on the list for any photographer who is interested in bird photography, specially birds of pray.
The first 4 images below, first one of an adult Pale Chanting Goshawk and the last 3 of a juvenile, were taken on a recent trip to the Kalahari Transfrontier Park. This might come as a surprise to some but not always does one need a huge telephoto lens to get good images of birds in flight. These were taken with a Canon EF 70-200mm f2/8L IS II USM, as the birds were so used to vehicles and allowed me to view them for the better part of an hour. The adults were in the process of teaching the youngsters the finer details and tricks to aerial acrobatics and hunting techniques while the youngsters used the time to try and perfect the art of swopping down from the tops of the trees, landing and taking off again, providing me with some excellent photographic opportunities. 
Camera: Canon 7D
Lens: Canon EF 70-200mm f2/8L IS II USM
Focal Length: 200 mm
Exposure: 1/3200 sec at f /5.6
ISO: 400
Camera: Canon 7D
Lens: Canon EF 70-200mm f2/8L IS II USM
Focal Length: 110 mm
Exposure: 1/3200 sec at f /5.0
ISO: 400
Camera: Canon 7D
Lens: Canon EF 70-200mm f2/8L IS II USM
Focal Length: 110 mm
Exposure: 1/3200 sec at f /5.0
ISO: 400
Camera: Canon 7D
Lens: Canon EF 70-200mm f2/8L IS II USM
Focal Length: 102 mm
Exposure: 1/3200 sec at f /4.5
ISO: 400
Secretary Bird on the hunt for snakes and rodents.
Kori Bustard
Immature Martial Eagle
Camera: Canon EOS-1D Mark III
Lens: Canon EF 600 mm f4L IS USM
Focal Length: 600 mm
Exposure: 1/1000 sec at f /8
ISO: 200
Camera: Canon EOS-1D Mark III
Lens: Canon EF 600 mm f4L IS USM
Focal Length: 600 mm
Exposure: 1/1000 sec at f /8
ISO: 200
KALAHARI - PART 1
The Kalahari is truly a special part of South Africa, not only can you be treated to wonderful game sighting, one can just sit back, relax and watching the world past by! Apart from being one of the best places too see predators in action, there is also so much more to the park, if you take the time to observe. Great photo opportunities exists and there is always something to photograph in between those sought after predators sightings.
TOO LATE
On an early morning game drive we found this male Lion staring intently off into the distance, not noticing us or rather was much more interested in something else. After spending some time with him we followed the direction of his stare and found this Brown Hyena feeding on the remains of a Wildebeest which was killed the night before. The male Lion could not have been part of the pride of lions that killed the wildebeest as by the look of his condition hasn’t fed in some time. When the Brown Hyena noticed the male he made a quick retreat but not without his meal.
BODDINGTON SAFARI
After spending the better part of the afternoon driving in circles, following tracks of a pride of lions we eventually caught up with they, while they were enjoying the last rays of sunlight. Was the perfect time to find them, again the light was great, only problem was that all of them were lying down in very long grass, NOT good but we decided to wait it out and see if they might get up and move around! As luck would have it, a female kudu come into view, about 200 yards away and this certainly got the attention of the females! We spend the rest of the afternoon with the pride as they tried to get close to the kudu but with no success. 
CIES SAFARI - Day 1
Seeing that the guests have been to Madikwe Game Reserve and in particular to Mateya Safari Lodge before we thought it a good idea to start the safari off by heading to the southern part of the reserve and spending a bit of time in the vicinity of the local water hole, an area the guest really enjoyed from their previous visit and little did we know that we would be in this area again 2 days later for a sighting of a life time. As we arrived at the pan we found this bull elephant having a ball of a time, using his tusks to loosen the soil around the water and creating in our minds a nice mess of things but for him this was heaven, using the mud to roll around and pack himself with! Later moving from the mud hole to some cleaner water, first by the looks of thing just enjoying himself by spraying himself and everything around him with water and eventually settling for a drink. We spend the better part of an hour with him, watching him as he went about his business which included him being in his element in the mud to drinking and then enjoying, I am sure a welcome mouth full to eat after all the energy spend loosening and playing in the mud!
What we didn’t know was that the afternoon later would be known to us as “Day of Reflection”, as there was another bull elephant and a lone giraffe making there way down to the perfectly still water for a drink, treating us to an amazing sight of reflections.
When they all finished drinking we in turn went off searching for a suitable spot for our sundowners. Finding a nice open clearing, I was later to reflect on the wise choice of area we pick! As soon as we stopped and scanned the area for any signs of local wildlife and then decided that this was indeed the perfect sundowner spot, as I started unpacking the wines and snacks I heard my tracker behind me give off a giggle and as I looked up, there he was, obviously not satisfied with the drink he just had, the bull elephant thought it good to come and join us for a glass of wine! Luckily the bull changed direction and let us be, wandering of into the sunset with us watching in awe as he disappeared into the bush as quietly as he arrived!
CIES SAFARI - Day 2
This was the day meant for finding lions! We heard them roaring through out the night and I had a very good idea of which area they were to be found in, or so I thought! Heading directly to this area we found their tracks, one male and a female walking down the road, the tracks were fresh, no signs of insects walking across the tracks, no grass patterns and no loose grains of sand were on top of the imprints! I can still remember saying“They just made their way down the road, chances are very good that we will find them shortly!” or NOT!
An hour later we were still in hot pursuit, getting out of the vehicle every so often to double check the tracks, then, out of the blue, that dreaded call come in over the radio that one of the other rangers have found them, now-where close to where we were, 10 miles in the opposite direction! To this day I am convinced that the lions got to a road and jumped across it without leaving as much as a hair imprint! Extremely embarrassed I turned to the guests and explained the situation to them, we decided, instead of racing to the lions, rather to continue on our own and see what else was about.
Every heard the saying, “Early bird catches the worm?”. This Yellow-billed Hornbill might just have to disagree! He was sitting in the middle of the road, eyeing out a colony of red ants. A while later we watched him as he started picked them up one by one and throwing the ant into the air in order for him to get them down his throat. Was an amazing sighting as he allowed myself and my guest to get out of the vehicle, lay flat down on the ground not more than 5 meters from him and did he pose for photos, never mind the ants in our pants!!!
SHAPIRO SAFARI - Day 1
Leaving a bit later than normal on our first game drive, we decided to head out to the Madikwe Plains and give the guests a general idea of what to expect in the next few days on safari and of course, unbeknown to the guests, a plan was in the making! This “Plan of Action” involved spending some time on the plains with the general game species found there and then head over to the Brown Hyena den site, located just to the North, hopefully finding the youngsters out of the den! It is such a special sighting that I just had to go back!
I wasn’t sure if the den would still be active, as I haven’t been back to the site in some time. Brown Hyenas will normally give birth in one den and then move the cubs to a new site, the reason being their scent will build up over a period of time and this in turn can attract other predators such as lion, leopard and other hyenas, which will pose a threat to the youngsters. To my relief, they were still using the same den as before and even better, the cubs were out and about, up to their normal mischief, bullying each other!
SHAPIRO SAFARI - Day 2
Leaving on drive the next morning, after the normal “kick start of the day” in the form of coffee, the idea was to see if we could find a pride of lions that were seen the night before and as luck would have it, we found one of the big territorial males! Now, if you are a photographer or ever had the misfortune of talking to one you would have heard the dreaded term “GOLDEN LIGHT” being used, this refers to the perfect soft light conditions that we all are chasing, normally just after sunrise or before the sun sets for about a hour! The “GOLDEN LIGHT” was there, the lion was there, the camera on and ready, everything was in the making for the PERFECT photo, except that the lion thought it a good idea to go and rest up in the middle of a grass patch, he obviously didn’t like the idea of being the model for the day!
He did get up a bit later to make his way over to a waterhole but by this time the light conditions have changed to back and side lighting! Can’t get it our way every time!
Female Bennett’s Woodpecker looking for insects.
As we arrived back at camp there was a big journey of giraffe in the middle of the camp clearing, 14 in total. Spending some time viewing them we saw one of the males having a disagreement with the Red-billed Oxpeckers not wanting to let him be, running up and down the length of his neck and every so often one would settle on or in his ear, trying to rid the giraffe of ticks. Needless to say, even if it is a symbiotic relationship, it must be very annoying having a bird crawl into your ear! 
That afternoon, after enjoying a delicious “High Tea” we left for the southern part of the reserve, on the way finding a herd of elephants with this teenage bull showing off and half heartedly mock charging us, not being very impressed with the fact that the vehicle didn’t move an inch! Might have had something to do with the fact that he still had some of his lunch in his month and not being too serious about the whole affair!
Later that afternoon, we were in for a treat! This time of year we don’t normally get very dramatic sunsets but as there were big bush fires burning in Botswana, the wind pushed the smoke south towards Madikwe and with this creating a natural filter for landscape photography, all and all a stunning scene!
As we rounded a corner, on the way back to camp, we found two Wildebeests running directly towards the vehicle, not thinking twice about this and knowing the state of mind that Wildebeests are in normally, right there with ostriches, I told the guests that they were just “fooling” around! How wrong was I? Not more than a mere 30 meters down the road popped out a lioness from behind a bush and another and another! We stumbled upon what was an unsuccessful hunt and what a surprise this was to us all! We followed the females to where they settled down for the night just as the two big males of the area made their way back to the pride.
SHAPIRO SAFARI - Day 3
We received a call over the radio from one of the other rangers driving in the area, asking us to make our way over to where he was! As we joined him a little while later we must have had very confusing expressions on our faces as we just couldn’t make out what he was seeing, surly he didn’t call us for nothing, one would hope! Then scanning the area again, looking behind every blade of grass, through every bush, knowing that something must be about and then our eyes opened, AN IMPALA KILL in a tree and by the looks of things the male impala must have been killed not more than two hours earlier! Only the rump area has been feed on and one could still smell the fresh blood, but no LEOPARD was in sight, we decided to sit in silence and wait, maybe by chance and a lot of luck the leopard would return!
Ever heard the saying“Patience is a virtue”? This leopard did and thought it good to put us to the test! Half an hour later we were still looking at a tree with an impala in it! Time was running out and one can only sit that long looking at, well nothing, with just hearing a group of lions off in the distance! We drove down the road, had a brief word with the other ranger and decided to continue the drive. Now we all know that leopards are very secretive and the ultimate stealth hunters, using a tuft of grass to hide behind and blending into nothing, but who would have thought that not more than 10 meters behind the other vehicle she would have crossed the open road, while we were sitting waiting for her and no-one saw her! Her tracks were clearly visible, so fresh that you could still see the imprints on the ground of the fine hair around her paws, over the other vehicles tracks! Needless to say, we never saw her, not due to lack of trying as we kept re-visiting the kill, every time noting that she had been back to feed until ultimately she succeeded to finish her meal without anyone even having a glimpse of her!
Down the road, about 300 meters from the leopard kill, we found the big territorial male lion, not hiding behind grass as was the case the previous day and in the most perfect “GOLDEN LIGHT” you could wish for! Lazing around, having a half hearted attempt at roaring but thought it to much trouble. 
There was a slight breeze and coming directly from the direction of the leopard kill, even though we couldn’t smell it, the big male must have, he kept on lifting his head, smelling at the wind. 
Eventually getting up and moving off, not going to the kill but rather off into the bush to join the rest of his pride.
The rest of the drive we had very good viewing of general game with this zebra joining us for a welcome cup of warm coffee!
For the afternoon drive we headed to the western part of the reserve, wanting to end up at a big waterhole and hopefully finding a herd of elephants drinking just as the sun was setting. On the way we found a dazzle of zebra that was amazingly relax with us viewing them, even moving closer and closer to the vehicle, feeding not giving us a second glance. 
As we arrived at the waterhole the elephants were already making their way down to the water but as they were moving in we could see that they were not too relaxed, it couldn’t have been us as we were positioned high on the dam wall at the other side of the water. Ears were pushed out, heads held high and nervous rumbles were given, after scanning the area around the dam we saw two white rhinos close by, this had to be the reason! On any given day elephants are very possessive over their water, not wanting to share with any other animal or bird for that matter, I have even seen an elephant chasing a poor warthog round and round a dam! 
They did, in the end after a long Mexican stand off, made peace with the fact that the rhinos weren’t going to move off!
The end to a perfect day in the bush!
SHAPIRO SAFARI - Day 4
The last morning drive before the guests left, started off a bit slow, with all the animals hiding from the wind, and cold wind it was! Even in Madikwe, tucked away on the border of Botswana in a semi-arid area we felt the effects of the cold front that had to whole country in it’s grip! The wind was affecting game viewing in a big way and the highlight of the morning drive was this Yellow-billed Hornbill joining us for our mandatory coffee stop, not that anyone complained about having that nice warm cup of coffee on such a cold windy morning!
As the morning drive was coming to an end, we bumped into a female pride of lions on the way back to the warmth of the fire places and breakfast at the lodge. We immediately noticed that something were upsetting the females! They weren’t walking in the normal oblivious way to the world, they were sniffing at the ground every so often and crossing the road from one side to the other, stopping every so often, starring of into the distance with a worried frown upon their faces! The cubs must have also realized that something were about to happen, hanging back from the females and following them at a safe distance. Amazing how they sensed the change in the females behavior, no grow or warning was given by the adults, but the cubs just knew and must have picked up on the change in body language.
A female following the scent with the cub hanging not too far back.
In the end the cubs had to break the tension for everyone and decided that this was a good time for a quick play and stretching of the legs! We never could figure out what had the females so upset, just one more of the unsolved mysteries of the place we call AFRICA and home!
A BRILLIANT few days well spend in the bush!
SAFARI TIME AGAIN
It’s been same time since I have posted new photos! This one was taken on the same day as the previous post titled “Brown Hyena Den Sighting”. Starting a 3 day Safari today, so keep checking in to have a look at some of the new photo and hear all about the sightings!
BECKHAM FAMILY SAFARI - Day 1
As we headed out for the first of many game drive we came across this Brown Hyena, he come walking down the road as we turned the corner and continued to walk straight past us with some very good side light from he west.
What an excellent way to experience your first sundowner in the bush!
We stopped just before sunset, in the middle of the Madikwe plains, got out and as we started to enjoy a well deserved drink while the sun was setting this brown hyena come into view.
BECKHAM FAMILY SAFARI - Day 2
We had very good sightings over the course of the next 5 days, in the end we saw all of the “Big 5” and some excellent general sighting, from the small Steenbuck to the bigger antelope species and brilliant bird life. The guests also had their first glimpse, at first then later a much better view, after we negotiated our way through some of the thickest bush I have been in for some time, of a mating pair of lion. Unfortunately I didn’t get any photos of them, you just gonna have to trust me on that...... I was sure that, the next morning when we went out on drive we will have a few punctures, but as luck would have it....... not one! 
Early afternoon on the second day we were on our way to the Southern part of the reserve and come across these 3 juvenile Black-Shouldered Kite.
As on cue they started a arial display, showing of and swooping in on each other, first one then all of them joined in the fun. 
BECKHAM FAMILY SAFARI - Day 3
When we reach the waterhole in the south of the reserve, this White Rhino was on his way in to drink and later this, one of three bull elephants also found some water.
BECKHAM FAMILY SAFARI - Day 4
Then, on the third afternoon, the lions showed themselves and were we in for a treat over the next few days, with lions, lions and then some more lions being the order of every drive! This female was lying up next to one of the waterholes and late afternoon they started to stir, with her sister getting up and walking down the road, she decided it was time for a drink and then later we followed her to where her sister was. We took a quick break for a sundowner and after we met up with the two females again, only to be pleasantly surprised to see that the whole pride managed to find each other, 1 big male, 3 females and 2 eight month old cubs in total. We followed them well into the night and after about 30 minutes we pointed the vehicle back home, as a cold beer was calling after a hard days work!
The next morning, after a quick “GOOD MORNING” and cup of coffee and loads of sweaters, jackets, gloves and beanies, we braced ourselves for the cold, as we had a mission, “FIND THE PRIDE AGAIN”! Heading out my tracker told me that we should go not to where we left them but more east and work our way west. That did pay off, we rounded a corner in the road and there they were, the whole pride! Walking directly towards us, low level, soft, golden morning light from behind us lighting the pride up as you would read about in “Photography 101 - THE LIGHT YOU WANT”. Still remember thinking “This is perfect”, well not for long, there it was, that dreaded flat tire, the reward from a few days before of driving off road. Waiting for the lions to clear off, we changed the tire and went after the pride again. It turn out to be a brilliant morning, we spend a good hour with them and return back to camp with a felling of achievement .
Take it they have right of way!
The 8 month old male already walking with attitude, “LIKE FATHER, LIKE THE SON”!
BECKHAM FAMILY SAFARI - Day 5
Over the next few drives we continued to find the pride, follow them and share a bit of their lives! 
At the end of the day, last light and pushed the ISO up to 500.