This is the last post from our Masai Mara trip with CNP Safaris in February. This is a period which is between the “small and big rains”, the latter coming in late March and April. The easiest way to get to the Mara is to fly by charter plane from Wilson airport in Nairobi . It is about a 45 minute flight. One lands on a gravel airstrip which is about a kilometre from the camp. If you are lucky there will be pride of lions lying under a tree near landing strip. You are also likely to be greeted by buffalo, zebra, eland, and Thompson’s gazelle. The next image is a view for the camp while driving from the airstrip.

“The life you have led doesn’t need to be the only life you have.” – Anna Quindlen

The Kichwa Tembo camp is sited on the edge of a riverine forest. It is cooler and there is rich birdlife in the forest.

The reception looking east toward the dining area and towards the pool.

Our tents were at the south end of the camp. From the front of the tent, the view beyond the electric fence was into thick elephant grass along the river. At night you could hear buffalo in the grass, hippos in the river and lions roaring. 

“Travel and change of place impart new vigour to the mind.” ~ Seneca

The inside of the tent was comfortable and perfect for our needs as we were out and about for most of the day. There was quite a voltage drop at the perimeter of the camp which complicated charging our camera and computer equipment. Nevertheless when you flop into bed at night, turn off the lights and just listen, you will hear a very busy nocturnal natural world outside. It is a wonderful feeling and even though it takes a night or so to adjust, by the last night you will waft to sleep comforted by all the bush sounds around you.

Above the bar area was an open air lounge. This was the view from that lounge looking down onto the boma where the Masai do their ceremonial dance around the fire at night. The pool looks out onto a large plain which stretches down to the Mara river. From the pool you can see everything from elephants, buffalo, zebra, giraffe and sometimes even lions during the day.

In the lounge above the bar is where we did some of our image editing and discussed the days sightings.

Looking out from the bar towards the boma and pool. This is a place of many stories and even taller tales are told. Discussions became animated over a few beers with faces illuminated by the light of the fire from the boma.

Signs of yesteryear travels.

At the start of each day we normally gathered at the dining area for a cup of coffee and a rusk with the aim to be out of the camp by 5h30. It took us about 45 minutes on the terribly rutted gravel road running on the outside of the reserve to get to the Mara North section. It was a very bumpy ride which was affectionately called an “African massage”. The aim was always to get the Masira gate by around 6h30. It was still dark at that time and once through the park gate we would start looking for the lion prides. Early morning was when the hot air balloons got going. Every morning we would see up to five hot air balloons drifting through the cool early Mara sunrise.

“And then there is the most dangerous risk of all — the risk of spending your life not doing what you want on the bet you can buy yourself the freedom to do it later.” ~ Randy Komisar

The guides from camps in the Mara North had radio contact and would tell each other where the predators were. This image was a guide taking his guests to see the latest predator sighting.

At lunch time we would stop in the “greenheart” forest next to the meandering Mara river. There were hippos and crocodiles in the river and in the afternoons the Olive baboons would scale down the steep river bank for a drink of water and to play.

This is CNP Safari’s specialised photographic vehicle. It can accommodate five photographers with long lenses on a customised camera support system with swiveling chairs which give the photographer wide views and an ability to photograph from both sides of the vehicle.

Late in the afternoon below the Oloololo escarpment, this was the view looking onto the Masai Mara plains.

Dawn in the Mara North section with a soft warm morning light backlighting a few zebra.

“Wherever you go, go with all your heart!” ~ Confucius

There were times at a predator sighting when there could be as many as 15 vehicles. It did not seem to bother the lions.

There were other times when we were the only ones at a lion sighting. This was a new coalition of four young male lions who looked to be moving into the area for a pride take over.

Lou Coetzer, our guide and professional photographer, and the owner of CNP Safaris, taking a few images of his guests in the specialised vehicle during a coffee break.

“The mediocre mentor tells. The good mentor explains. The superior mentor demonstrates. The greatest mentor inspires.” ~Lucia Ballas Traynor

Two nomads struggling in the heat late in the morning. There were no trees nearby to lie under so they chose the next best thing,  a large pool of water in a drainage gully.

Another image looking to the east as the sun was rising behind the horizon in the Mara North.

“All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware.” ~ Martin Buber

Two of my long-standing photo buddies, Duncan Blackburn and Les Penfold receiving some welcome mid-morning coffee from our guide and driver Akatch. Both are excellent and experienced wildlife photographers. While we were waiting for action at a sighting we would chat sharing camera settings, and we had many interesting discussions about life and the universe, sprinkled with wicked humour. 

“A journey is best measured in friends, rather than miles.” -Tim Cahill

Late in the morning when the sun had risen quite high, the lion pride would seek the shade offered by a balanite tree. Usually one lioness would keep watch while the others slept.

A very peaceful scene of elephants enjoying themselves in the “greenheart” forest. They would eventually move out of the forest  and make their way towards the swamp around midday.

February is a superb month for predator photography. The herds have passed so the predators have to work harder to feed themselves. There is still plenty of game and birdlife on the plains. This time of the year offers fewer vehicles and the grass is low so photography on the plains is much cleaner. 

“Be fearless in the pursuit of what sets your soul on fire.” ~ Jennifer Lee

A special thank you to Lou Coetzer and CNP Safaris for a wonderful photographic safari. We were privileged to have some exceptional wildlife photographic opportunities. This is one of the most remarkable and productive photographic destinations I have been privileged to wander through.

Explore, seek to understand, marvel at its inter-connectedness and let it be.

Have fun,

Mike

It was 7h00 and we had stopped on a rise in Mara North to watch the “double-crossing” lion pride. The pride comprised cubs and lionesses which were lying in the grass out in the open.  The sun was rising, and the light was soft and bright.  The lionesses moved closer to a thicket of bushes adjacent to a pool of water near the top of the rise. 

“The world is big and I want to have a good look at it before it gets dark.”~ John Muir

About thirty metres to the north of the lion pride was an adult Martial eagle sitting on the rock watching the lion pride.

We could not understand why this Martial eagle sat and intently watched the pride for what must have been half an hour. Just as unusual was that the lionesses ensured the cubs stayed close and did not wander too far from the cover of the bushes.

We sat silently watching this strange stand-off. Eventually we asked Akatch, our Mara guide, what was going on and he said the Martial was waiting and watching for an opportunity to snatch one of the smallest lion cubs.

I had never heard of this behaviour before – a Martial eagle snatching a lion cub. Akatch said he had actually seen this happen some years before. A little research corroborated this behaviour and lion cubs do get taken by Martial eagles in the Mara. While not common it has happened a number of times before.

“The strangeness is interpreted from our limited experience. This veil of inexperience falls away as nature reveals relationships which never thought possible. As strangeness turns to knowledge so we learn about the infinite intelligence which binds our natural world together.” ~Mike Haworth

Anyone who has waited for a large bird of prey to do something, knows only too well that they can sit and watch their surroundings intently for hours. Eventually the Martial figured that the lionesses had this situation too closely guarded and it took off. Interestingly, it flew off and circled some distance away probably watching to see if the lion cubs came out from the bushes and started to play.

This is Africa’s largest bird of prey, even bigger than a Crowned eagle. The Martial will hunt mainly on the wing, soaring above the bushveld. They have excellent eye sight and are known to be able to spot prey from up to six kilometres away. This eagle weighs around 6.5 Kg and has a wingspan of about 2.6 metres. 

Martial eagles’ diet consists of  birds such as  guineafowl, geese, francolins, storks and bustards, and have been known to take on a Kori bustard. Martials will also prey on hares, hyraxes, small antelope such as duiker and steenbok,  impala calves, some monkeys, mongooses and, on occasions, the young of serval,  civet and wild cats, jackals and lions. They will also go for snakes and monitor lizards.

Eagles usually kill their prey with an elongated, sharp hind toe-claw, which is referred to as the hallux-claw. It is usually the largest talon in the eagle’s foot with three front  toes and one back one.  This hallux-claw can grow to 51mm, similar to the three largest eagles in the world, Philippines, Stellar’s Sea Eagle, and Harpy Eagle. The inner toe and claw on the front of the foot of the Martial eagle is longer than the other two and is almost the same size as the hallux-claw. This can be seen clearly in the next image as this Martial eagle takes off. The long large middle toes and claw is thought to be an adaptation for hunting in long grass.

Martial eagles are sexually dimorphic with the female being around 10 percent larger in body size and around 35 percent heavier than the male. The upper parts are dark brown as is its head, neck and chest. The belly is white and legs are white with black or dark brown spots. This eagle has menacing bright yellow eyes.

The Martial eagle can spend extended periods soaring looking for prey. This eagle is estimated to be able to see prey five kilometres away, with acuity 3 to 3.5 times that of a human being. The Martial is also known to sit for hours camouflaged in a bush or tree ready to ambush at any point.

“One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar” ~ Helen Keller

Once the Martial had flown off, the pride came out of the cover of the bushes to drink at the adjacent pool of water. The adults remained cautious and kept looking up to ensure their cubs were not about to be attacked by an avian predator.

The Martial eagle is diurnal and prefers open savannah, alongside woodlands and thorn bush habitats. I have only ever seen a solitary Martial in the bush but they obviously get together to breed.

“Named after Mars, the Roman god of war, this powerful hunter dominates with little need to fight. It uses spiraling thermals in the African skies to rule its domain from high above the plains, soaring effortlessly for hours on broad wings .”~ Mike Haworth

The Martial flew off and circled the area a few times before finding some bushes to perch in about 100 metres further away. The extra distance brought the lions out from their cover and they went down to the adjacent pool to drink. 

At birth lion cubs weigh only around three pounds and are completely helpless. They are usually born away from the pride for their safety and are united with the rest of the pride around three to four months later. In the Mara and Serengeti only one in five, or even less, make it to adulthood. Martial eagles being only one possible cause of the death rate.

After sating their thirst, the cubs followed the adults to lie in an outcrop of  rocks in the open. The Martial did not attempt an attack but the possibility certainly held our excitement for an extended period. We were reluctant to leave the scene but with nothing happening this meant investing time when the morning light was at its best. While no attack occurred the story caught our imagination and was worth the investment.

The Martial made one last swooping circle before catching a thermal to get high up to soar above the open grasslands of the Mara.

There is never a day in the bush when I do not learn something new. Superficially you would have thought that lions would have it all their own way on the open plains – not so!  Size and numbers play a critical role in “plain survival”.  It is very seldom you will see all lions lying down fast asleep unless there are no cubs in the pride. All the normal behavioural rules are continually being broken in the grass plains .

“If you don’t make the effort to get out you will never get to see nature’s magic which will surely surprise you, and fill you with wonder and humility.” ~ Mike Haworth

Explore, seek to understand, marvel at its inter-connectedness and let it be.

Have fun,

Mike

This post is about a hunt we watched in the Mara. For those who are particularly sensitive, please do not read further. Some of the images of the hunt and take-down are graphic.

We were lodged at &Beyond’s superb tented camp, Kichwa Tembo which is located on its own conservancy immediately north of the Mara triangle in the Maasai Mara. In was mid-February so sunrise was at 6h55 as this area is almost on the equator. Most of the game was in the Mara North which was the directly north  and the other side of the Mara river to Kichwa Tembo. The only bridge in that area across the Mara river is on the access road north of the National Reserve against the Oloololo escarpment. The road is in a terrible state which meant that every time we travelled on it, which was daily, we got what was politely called an “African massage”.  Each morning we were up at 4h45 to leave camp at 5h30 and travel the 50 minutes on the access road outside the National Reserve to get to the Mara North via the Musiara gate by 6h45.

“If you want people to to think, give them intent, not instruction.” ~ L. David Marquet

At 6h45 it was still dark but the skyline was undergoing a magical transformation from twilight blues to spectacular pinks, oranges and yellows. Dawn in the Mara has a beautiful yellowish hue to it which is unique to the Mara and Serengeti area. We do not see this yellowish hue to our sunrises in southern Africa.

“The universe doesn’t give you what you ask for with your thoughts – it gives you what you demand with your actions.” ~ Steve Maraboli

Once through the gate now it was a race against time to find our lion prides. The lions seemed to be active for about an hour or so after sunrise, thereafter they either became “flat cats” or retreated into the shade of a few glades of trees which followed various drainage lines. Lou Coetzer, our guide and mentor from CNP Safaris, had been photographing this area for the previous two weeks so had a good idea of where the prides were operating. The “double-crossing” pride worked in a localised section in Mara North so we knew the general area in which we might find them. The pride inevitably moved around and did most of its hunting at night so the chances of finding them where we left them the day before are low, especially if they were hungry when we left them the evening before.

“Next time a sunrise steals your breath or a meadow of flowers leaves you speechless, remain that way. Say nothing, and listen as Heaven whispers, do you like it? I did it just for you.“ ~  Max Lucado

The sun was now rising fast bathing the vast open grass plains of the Mara in a warm, soft clear early morning light, perfect for wildlife photography. Now all we had to do was find the lions. Next minute between Lou and our &beyond guide/driver Akatch things started to unfold quickly. Lou pointed out that the Topis had stopped and were staring at something. This usually meant they were staring at a predator. Akatch, who had incredible eyesight said that hyaenas, not lions, were in the process of catching what we thought at first was a wildebeest because of its dark colour. We quickly moved into position with the sun behind us and began to watch the drama unfold. As the entourage got closer we realised the victim was a buffalo calf, not a wildebeest. In my fifty years of going regularly into the bush, I had never seen this kind of drama.

“Intent reveals desire; action reveals commitment.” ~ Steve Maraboli,

We missed the first part of the hunt as this buffalo calf was on its own and the herd was nowhere to be seen, which in itself was unusual. Buffalo are known to protect their own. A pack of spotted hyaenas were chasing this calf biting at its tail, flanks and back legs.

At any point there were five to six hyaenas around the calf taking turns to bite it.

The calf just powered on.

“Let me tell you the secret that has led me to my goal: my strength lies solely in tenacity.” ~ Louis Pasteur

The hyaenas at no point tried to take on this calf from the front.

A human perspective does not add any value at this point.

A buffalo’s hide is thick and tough so even these hyaenas, with one of the strongest bite forces in the natural world, were struggling to stop and bring down this calf. All the cackling from the hyaenas attracted a few Black-backed jackals who skirted around the periphery of the action, never daring to get into the fray, being such lightweights.

The drama intensified as more hyaenas joined the biting and tugging frenzy. All of us in the photographic vehicle could hardly breathe and were dead quiet intently looking through our viewfinders.

The strength and tenacity of this buffalo calf are of what legends are made. Despite being mobbed by hyaenas and having chunks bitten out of its backside, hide legs and flanks, it carried on trying to get away from its attackers, dragging five or six hyaenas along at a time.

In my book, this buffalo calf was brave and strong beyond anything I would have expected. It just would not go down.

The calf pulled these hyaenas in wide circle three times, despite being progressively wounded and losing much blood, judging from the scarlet-pink faces, necks and forelegs of the hyaenas.

Slowly and progressively the hyaenas started to eat into the left side flank of this calf but undeterred the calf would not stop and carried on dragging these blood-frenzied hyaenas along.

From a human perspective, it was chilling scene and difficult to watch these hyaenas relentlessly overwhelm this tenacious calf. From nature’s perspective, this is a drama which unfolds time and again on these plains and has done so for centuries.

“In the long history of humankind (and animal kind, too) those who learned to collaborate and improvise most effectively have prevailed.” ~Charles Darwin

Despite their strength in numbers the hyaenas never dared to try to tackle this calf from the front.

This method of hunting by hyaenas is effectively the only way they can bring down their prey. While they have claws, they cannot grip their prey with their paws so have to bite and grip it with their enormously strong jaws. A lion’s retractable claws are like grappling hooks which enable it to attack  and hold on so bring down their prey quite differently. At the first opportunity lions will go for their prey’s throat to suffocate it before feeding on it. Hyaenas cannot do this so effectively eat their prey alive.

Hyaenas are highly cooperative hunters and they execute a coordinated  relay of attacks to bring down their prey.

“The most critical time in any battle is not when I’m fatigued, it’s when I no longer care.”
~ Craig D. Lounsbrough

Eventually, the hyaenas managed to overwhelm the calf and it stopped. This was the first time a hyaena moved in front of the calf during the hunt and started to bite its front legs. By this time the calf’s eyes were wide and glaring, probably in deep shock.

The calf finally went down and within seconds the hyaenas were ripping furiously at its side stripping off large chucks of flesh. The hunt went on for about seemed to  be 15 to 20 minutes.

Within three or four minutes of the calf going down, the hyaenas had eaten all of its insides and about twenty percent of its muscle, such is the speed at which they eat.

The hyaenas knew only to well that the prolonged hunt accompanied by all the their cackling and whooping reinforced by the high-pitched barking by the jackals was bound to attract  attention, and it did.

The hyaenas were well aware of the eternal game played on the plains and never kept their heads down for long.

The hyaenas would dig in to their hard-won kill for a few mouthfulls before looking up to make sure  lions were not approaching.

All the while, the “double-crossing” pride had been watching the hyaenas taking down the buffalo calf from their vantage point on a rise. It seemed that the lions waited until the hyaenas had done all the work before moving in. Initially, the lionesses came down the hill toward the buffalo calf carcass. The lionesses did not rush in as they were outnumbered by hyaenas. This was very exciting because we were about to see an enactment of another epic tangle between eternal enemies.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a large blond maned male lion racing into the pack of hyaenas to steal the kill, with complete disregard for the lionesses or the number of hyaenas, such is the power and aura of a large male lion.

“I don’t follow dreams, I hunt goals!” ~Unknown

I was so focused on this male rushing in that I did not see the reaction from the lionesses, who I gather from animated discussion afterward were very annoyed by the insolence of these two young males rushing in to steal the kill. These young males were probably part of the pride at one point and were kicked out by the coalition of dominant males. Although effectively nomads they must have stayed in the area close to the pride. They saw the hyaenas taking down the calf and had not seen the dominant males about and  decided this was a perfect opportunity to barge in and steal a meal.

Emboldened by his size and strength this young male thundered in directly to the calf’s carcass, sending hyaenas scattering.

He was so intent on the carcass he did not go for any of the hyaenas and we know that large male lions make it their business to kill hyaenas.

“There is an eternal dance of life around death on the Mara stage, where cooperation and domination are choreographed to the natural rhythms of the dotted plains.” ~ Mike Haworth

One male lion versus nine hyaenas on the kill,  and they all scattered.

Not one of the twelve or thirteen hyaenas directly around the carcass tried to defend it.  That would have been a death sentence.

The hyaenas scattered to a safe distance but did not move too far away

The hyaenas together with the jackals  wandered around the periphery of the kill zone looking for scraps of meat which might have been dropped during the frenzy.

You can see from the openness of this area that any action on the plains could be seen from a distance. There was not another buffalo to be seen as far as the eye could see.

Initially, I did not see the second male but it looked like he worked in concert with the first male securing the carcass and the second male securing the periphery. 

The two nomads settled down to a hearty breakfast of buffalo calf at around 8h00 in the morning. They finished off the calf leaving nothing for the lionesses and their cubs.

For a wild life photographer watching this kind of predator interaction in early morning light is as good as it gets. Lion prides and hyaena clans have overlapping territories. Both are good hunters and both do most of their hunting at night. What makes the Mara predator behaviour different, is that there are few places to hide during the day and the grass in February was relative low, so both sets of predators could see each other. A hyaena clan  posts sentries all over the plains. A single hyaena will lie in a drainage line, a pool of water or large tuft of grass. Each hyaena waits and watches all the goings of the herbivores and other predators in their area. Both lions and hyaenas watch the vultures to see where prey has fallen. They will hunt at any time if the opportunity arises. If a good feeding opportunity arises, such as lions killing a buffalo, then the lone hyaena will whoop for reinforcements. Once enough sentries converge, and if there is no male lion around, then the hyaenas will mob the lionesses trying to force them off the kill.

“Your soul awakens your mind. Your mind makes your choices. Your choices manifest your life. Your life is your lesson. Your lessons create wisdom. Your wisdom enriches your soul.” ~ Karen A. Baquiran

Explore, seek to understand, marvel at its inter-connectedness and let it be.

Have fun,

Mike

In November last year, friends Neville and Sue Kelly invited Helen and I to their bush retreat in Mabalingwe, west of Bela Bela in the Limpopo province of South Africa. It is a wild life estate with plenty of space and a wonderful sense of the bush. 

“Time spent with friends in the bush who also love the wild wide open spaces is filled with interesting drives where knowledge is shared and new insights gained. Then later back at our base many stories are told around the campfire accompanied by trilling nightjars,  whistling Scops owls under a canopy of glittering stars.”

~Mike Haworth

One of the amazing aspects of this bush retreat is the plethora of bird life.  This area is cuckoo paradise. We were also in store for some unusual sightings of grey hornbills.

On the banks of the north side of the top dam, Neville and Sue knew where to find a hornbill’s nest. Early one morning we went down to the dam to see if there was any activity at the nest. The next image shows an African grey hornbill, having caught a chameleon, was busy ‘tenderising’ it to be able to push it into the nest’s entrance.

The opening to the nest was small and this grey hornbill had trouble getting the chameleon into the nest. The nest is usually made in the hollow of a tree where the female lays two to four white eggs. The female undergoes a full moult at the time of laying her eggs. The entrance to the nest is blocked off during incubation with a cement made of mud, droppings and fruit pulp. Once completed, the entrance to the nest has one narrow aperture, just big enough for the male to transfer food to the mother and the chicks. When the chicks and female outgrow the nest, the mother breaks out and rebuilds the wall at the entrance to the nest, after which both parents feed the chicks.

Time and time again this male flew up to the nest and hovered momentarily to try to place the chameleon into the nest entrance, but there seemed to be no takers. African grey hornbills eat insects, fruit and small reptiles.

The adults were very busy gathering insects and pushing them into the nest entrance. We must have watched them go back and forth for about three-quarters of an hour. The male has a black bill and the female has red on its mandibles. The next image shows a female with a grasshopper. She was ‘tenderising’ it before pushing it into the nest’s hole.

This adult male African grey hornbill was taking a break from its food gathering activities. The African grey hornbill has a unique somewhat melancholic piping “pee-o pee-o pee-o” call.

This image was taken in the afternoon when the light was shining directly onto the nest making the photography considerably easier.

“For the 99 percent of the time we’ve been on Earth, we were hunter and gatherers, our lives dependent on knowing the fine, small details of our world. Deep inside, we still have a longing to be reconnected with the nature that shaped our imagination, our language, our song and dance, our sense of the divine.”

~Janine M. Benyus

After watching the grey hornbill for quite a while we moved further down the valley to see what other animals and birds we could find. On the rocky slope next to the road we found a small family group of klipspingers. This female scent marking her territory with a secretion from the orbital gland just below her eye.

At one of the remaining waterholes we found a group of Nyala. The adult female on the right  and her offspring on the left were drinking from what looked to be a stagnant pool of water.

As we arrived the male in the group of Nyala was walking away having already sated his thirst. It always amazes me that evolution has resulted in these antelope having such long hair in the thick bush and in areas where it can be very hot.

A male blue headed agama busy feeding on insects on the bough of a tree. The bright blue colour of its head suggests that it was breeding season. We only saw one male but they usually congregate in small groups.

A Striped cuckoo perched in the shade some distance away from the road. Mabalingwe has the densest seasonal population of cuckoos I have ever seen and heard. 

We drove down a gravel road to have a look at the busy bird activity at dam further down the valley. While we were parked watching the European Bee-eaters bathing in the dam, I looked around and in the tree next to us saw this little Pearl Spotted owlet.

It seemed quite relaxed and its mate was in the opposite tree about 20 metres away. After about a half an hour the pair eventually flew off.

The Red-chested cuckoo is one you so often hear, with its characteristic “Piet my vrou” call, but rarely see. This was the first and only time I have ever seen a Red-chested cuckoo out in the open.

It was calling away and in plain sight.  I have spent many hours in the past trying to just see this species of cuckoo. After about two minutes it was gone. This species like all the other cuckoos is a summer migrant. The red-chested cuckoo is polygamous and parasitises about fifteen others birds nests, mainly wagtails and robins. 

We stopped at the the top dam on the opposite side to the grey hornbill’s nest to have a cup of coffee. Before I had time for a sip of coffee I heard a Diederik cuckoo. I stealthily crept around a cluster of bushes to get a better view of the cuckoo only to find a Great Spotted cuckoo in the same tree. The only other place I have every seen this cuckoo species was in Mashatu in Botswana.

The great spotted cuckoo feeds on insects, spiders, small reptiles and hairy caterpillars which other birds avoid. They are known to parasitise crow and starling nests. The female cuckoo adds one of her own eggs to the host’s clutch. 

On the other side of the dead tree was a Diederik cuckoo. This was an adult given its mostly green and white plumage. It is an exquisitely beautiful cuckoo with a distinctive red-eye ring. Adult males are glossy green above with copper-sheened areas on the back and whitish underparts. They have a broken white eye-stripe and a short, green malar stripe.

The Diederik cuckoo usually lays one egg in the nests of weavers, bishops and widowbirds. This cuckoo has an onomatopoeic call which is a loud and persistent “deed-deed-deed-deed-er-ick”.

“Nature is man’s teacher.
She unfolds her treasure to his search,
unseals his eye, illumes his mind,
and purifies his heart;
an influence breathes from all the sights and sounds
of her existence.”

~Alfred Billings Street

In late spring before the rains had started in earnest, the top dam attracts a variety of wildlife which we watched moving through a tapestry of colours.

After a wonderful day’s game and bird watching this was the scene of the sun setting in the west. 

A big thank you to Neville and Sue for a wonderful weekend. They are both accomplished birders with an excellent knowledge of trees. They also love the bush so it was great fun sharing stories and learning new things with them.

“Your deepest roots are in nature. No matter who you are, where you live, or what kind of life you lead, you remain irrevocably linked with the rest of creation.”

~Charles Cook

Explore, seek to understand, marvel at its inter-connectedness and let it be.

Have fun,

Mike

I wish you a Merry Christmas filled with fun, laughter, joy and goodwill.

If you do not celebrate Christmas,  I wish you fun, laughter, joy and goodwill.

We live in an exceptional world filled with colour, movement and wonder; cherish it look after it. It is there with us, not for us. If we take care of it now, our grandchildren will learn to appreciate it too!

May your Christmas bring you much joy and laughter with friends and family. May it bring you a sense of abundance which you cherish all your life.

Christmas is a magical time as people are gentler, kinder and more generous. There is sense greater harmony and goodwill at this time of the year. It is a magical time for children where fantasies are cherished, gifts wrapped and given with huge smiles.  It is a time of gathering, and a time to celebrate family bonds and friendship ties. 

While Christmas is a time of joy, celebrating humanity, it is also a time to treasure the abundance, diversity and beauty our natural world around us. There are vast libraries of  natural knowledge, experience and laws, much of which we have yet to fathom. 

“When we remember a special Christmas, it is not the presents that made it special, but the laughter, the feeling of love, and the togetherness of friends and family that made that Christmas special.”

~Catherine Pulsifer

“December days . . . as Christmas time draws near; brings family warmth, and friendship’s joyful cheer, from memory’s store so many days to bless and cherish so in quiet thankfulness.”

~John McLeod  

For me, Christmas is also a time to stop and think back on those sublime moments in the wild when the world stopped, everything in the bush seemed to hold its breath, spellbound by the scene ahead.

“What is Christmas? It is tenderness for the past, courage for the present, hope for the future. It is a fervent wish that every cup may overflow with blessings rich and eternal, and that every path may lead to peace.”

~Agnes M. Pharo

Wishing you peace and goodwill, and I hope your 2018 is filled with friendship, special moments, serendipity and insights.

Explore, seek to understand, marvel at its inter-connectedness and let it be.

“There is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good humour.”

~Charles Dickens

Merry Christmas,

Mike

Apart from the diversity of wildlife, one thing which will strike you when game driving around Mashatu is the different landscapes you will come across. One unique area is Shalimpo. This post shows a few images I took on our trip down to Shalimpo, a conjoined name from Shashi and Limpopo. It is the point at which the Shashi and the Limpopo rivers join. It is also the confluence of Botswana, Zimbabwe and South Africa. There are no fences in this area so the game can move freely between Zimbabwe and Mashatu – SA is fenced.

“Humankind has not woven the web of life .
We are but one thread within it.
Whatever we do to the web we do to ourselves.
All things are bound together.
All things connect.”
~Chief Seattle ( letter to President Franklin Pearce)

While the lack of fences is preferred from a wildlife point of view, when people get involved then there are problems. The Zimbabweans drive their cattle, goats and donkeys across the Shashi to graze in Shalimpo. In some respects this is understandable as sections of the Limpopo, around Shalimpo, offer the only available water for miles around in winter. Needless to say, the wildlife experience becomes like an over sized farmyard or so it seemed during our last visit to Shalimpo. The infiltration of Zimbabwean livestock has become an issue which has increased political tensions and with it security problems.

“The use of traveling is to regulate imagination with reality, and instead of thinking of how things may be, see them as they are.”

~ Samuel Johnson
If we look at nature and forget about the human intrusion, then the journey to Shalimpo is an worthwhile experience. From our camp it took about two hours driving time to get there as there are many stops on the way for wildlife. From Mashatu, we have to cross the Charter reserve to get to Shalimpo. On this occasion we came across many elephant. We had wondered where they were because we had only seen a few in Mashatu. They seemed to have spread out looking for food in winter.

“The highest realms of thought are impossible to reach without first attaining an understanding of compassion.”

~ Socrates

Elephants breed all year round so it was not unusual to see a few youngsters among this breeding herd.

The flora changes dramatically as you drive through Charter reserve into the Shalimpo area. Down near Shalimpo, the trees get bigger, there are more Lala palms and the bush becomes more dense. Once at Shalimpo, you drive to the end of the Botswana peninsula and it opens up onto a sea of sand. As we drove across from the peninsula onto an island we passed these three large Ana trees. The elephants love their seed pods.  The Ana trees were rooted in this sea of sand which was where the Shashi and Limpopo rivers meet. In the dry season, it looks like a vast stretch of sand. In the wet season this entire area of sand can be covered in flood waters – an impressive sight. These Ana trees must be deeply rooted in the sand to survive annual  flood waters.

Looking through two of the Ana trees out across this vast tract of sand riverbed.

“We’re certainly a dominant species, but that’s not the same as a keystone species. A keystone species is one that, when you remove it, the diversity collapses; we’re a species that when you add us, the diversity collapses. We can change everything, dictate everything and destroy everything.”

~Michael Soule

At the end of the Shalimpo peninsula there is a sand bar which you can walk across to get to a smaller island. As you cross the sand bar, looking to the south, you look across the Limpopo into the Mapungubwe reserve in South Africa.

Down at the end of the peninsula is an avenue of giants. These are mostly Mashatu trees, leadwoods and figtrees. There is something very serene and permanent about this avenue of giants.

“Lets take our hearts for a walk in the woods and listen to the magic whispers of old trees….”

~Unknown

On the Shalimpo island, is a lone large iconic Baobab tree. This specimen has hardly been touched by elephants.

There is something about this scene which warms my Zimbabwean roots. I think it is absolutely beautiful in an African way. Double click on these panorama images to get a better  look at the view.

A view looking south down the Limpopo river as it travels toward Messina and the north part of Kruger Park on its way down to Mozambique and the Indian ocean.

“The possession of knowledge does not kill the sense of wonder and mystery.
There is always more mystery.”

~Anais Nin

This is the scene looking north up the Shashi and up the Limpopo. I took this panorama standing next to the beacon on the Shalimpo island.

Looking down from the island beacon onto the last pools of water in the Limpopo river and across to Mapangubwe in South Africa.

“There is something bigger than fact: the underlying spirit, all it stands for, the mood, the vastness, the wildness.”

~Emily Carr

At the edge of the Shalimpo island. These large sandstone outcrops create an eternal aura about the place.

Standing next to the Limpopo river looking north west. It was mid-winter but there was still a reasonable amount of water in the river. In winter this river looks so tame. In summer when flooding it is a massive raging torrent. 

The rock outcrops on the Shalimpo island create a desert feel about the place. There are a few massive Baobab trees on the island. They call this “the upside down tree” because it looks like its roots are stretching out to the sky. This Baobab had been damaged by elephants digging their tusks into the trunk to dislodge the bark which they eat.

“Listen to the wind, it talks.
Listen to the silence, it speaks.
Listen to your heart, it knows.”

~Native American Proverb

Once out of Shalimpo and back in Mashatu we were traveling back to camp when our guide, Graphite, stopped the vehicle and said there was a leopard under that small acacia bush. This image was taken with a 200mm telephoto lens. How he saw this leopard I will never know. Once you become attuned to the subtleties in the bush. Your senses sharpen to the point where slightly unusual shapes and colours become more evident.  

There is no doubt that you need time in the bush to tune in. We come out of a so-called civilised society where the overloading of our five senses dulls them. A weekend in the bush is always good but to get the full benefit, especially as a wildlife photographer, you need at least five days to tune in enough to start seeing.

” I go to nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my sense put in tune more more.”

~John Burroughs

Explore, seek to understand, marvel at its interconnectedness and let it be.

Have fun,

Mike

Giant’s Castle Reserve is in the middle of the crescent-shaped Drakensberg Mountains in South Africa. This range forms the eastern boundary of Lesotho. We spent a wonderful four days there in mid-winter in July.

“Chasing angels or fleeing demons, go to the mountains.”

~Jeffrey Rasley

The majestic and dramatic backdrop that these mountains provide is spellbinding, whether viewed from the valleys or the higher reaches of the “upper berg”.

The “Dragon Mountain” range is the castle for giants, soaring ones.

“Great things are done when men and mountains meet; This is not done by jostling in the street.”

~William Blake

The steepness of the slopes of the ridge in the “middle berg”. Can you imagine what fun it would be if they were snow-covered.

The panorama in front of the vulture’s hide. (Double click on the panorama images to see a larger view)

Scarlet splashes of the Glossy Mountain Bottlebrush.

The mountains become very moody depending on the light and clouds.

These mountainous ridges have abundant wildlife.

After being in the vulture’s hide for two days, the following day we got up before sunrise and went to the ridge behind the hide to photograph the mountain peaks as the first rays of the morning sun struck them. The horizontal rays of light and the colour of the light early in the morning provided an exquisite picture.

As the sun began to rise the colours and the mood began to change.

As the sun was rising a large bank of cloud rolled in again altering the mood and colours.

“Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out going to the mountains is going home; that wilderness is a necessity…”

~John Muir

As the bank of cloud moved past so the sunlight started to illuminate the middle ground bringing out the pinks and apricots, with a hint of yellow.

First thing in the morning, the Bearded Vultures were already on the wing – ever watching.

Thick but broken cloud rolled through and created some dramatic light. If you do not get up before sunrise in the middle of winter and get out there you will never experience this majesty.

“May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds.”

~Edward Abbey

Once the sun was up, we decided to go back to the lodge for breakfast. This was the scene as we started to make our way down from the vulture’s hide ridge.

No photographer can resist playing with the layers of blues and shadows created by the mountains in the distance.

“It’s not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves.”

~Sir Edmund Hillary

That afternoon we decided to walk, south from Giant’s Castle lodge, upstream along the Bushman’s river to watch the sun setting.

Ever watching eyes of the giants.

“This mountain, the arched back of the earth risen before us, it made me feel humble, like a beggar, just lucky to be here at all, even briefly.”

~Bridget Asher

The valley in front of Giant’s Castle lodge has wonderful depth, emphasised by the shadows cast by the setting sun.

Scarlet charm

The sandstone cliffs behind Giant’s Castle lodge. You can hear the Speckled Pigeons calling and the baboons barking from the cliffs.

Along the path looking back toward Giant’s Castle lodge in the late afternoon.

“Each stone, each bend cries welcome to him. He identifies with the mountains and the streams, he sees something of his own soul in the plants and the animals and the birds of the field.”
~ Paulo Coelho

On our last morning, we got up before sunrise to photograph the unfolding morning panorama.

The colours before sunrise were soft pinks and mauves. The wind was blowing quite hard and it was very cold, but you feel alive when you are submersed in such beauty.

“How glorious a greeting the sun gives the mountains!”

~John Muir

The first rays of sun hit the “upper berg”,  painting wonderful colours on its massive cliffs.

“No matter how sophisticated you may be, a large granite mountain cannot be denied – it speaks in silence to the very core of your being.”

~Ansel Adams

Another panorama looking up the Bushman’s River valley- changing colours,  changing moods.

On our way back to the lodge to pack up and make our way home, we saw this lone Eland grazing on the side of the ridge.

We expected it to be cold and possibly see snow on the higher reaches as it was mid-winter. We could not have been more wrong. It was warm during the day and ablaze with colour. The Vulture’s Hide at Giant’s Castle was very productive. Being immersed in such grandeur and colour was soul soothing!

“Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop away from you like the leaves of Autumn.”
~ John Muir

Explore, seek to understand, marvel at its inter-connectedness and let it be.

Have fun,

Mike

This is the first post from my trip to Giant’s Castle in the uKhahlamba Drakensberg park in mid-July. Apart from the breath-taking beauty, a key attraction at Giant’s Castle was its vulture hide.

“uKhahlamba – the basalt comprising most of the ‘High Berg’, is a brittle rock and its relative softness has resulted in jagged, vertical spines. These spines reminded the Zulu people of an impenetrable barrier often implemented on the battlefield. This is the Drakensberg, a barrier of spears.”

~Erwin and Nicoleen Niemand

The uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park has Africa’s highest mountain range south of Kilimanjaro. It presents a formidable horizon of massive basalt cliffs in its northern reaches stretching to soaring sandstone buttresses in the south.  When standing on one of the high points in the ‘Upper Berg’ looking down onto a boiling brew of clouds you will see jagged mountain spines rising above that boiling brew in what looks like the spines of a dragon’s back, giving them the Afrikaans name Drakensberg – Dragon Mountains. Those spines were seen by the ancient Zulus as spears and they called this mountain range uKhahlamba – the Zulu name for the barrier of spears.

Difficult terrain and unpredictable weather is the habitat for an array of unusual wildlife in this mountain region. This post shows images of one of its rarest South African wildlife members, the Bearded Vulture. According to International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), in southern Africa the population of Bearded Vultures is estimated at circa 100 breeding pairs. Separate research by Ezemvelo puts the population at around 145 pairs. We were privileged to see four juveniles and two adults soaring above the hide for two days.

“You’re off to Great Places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting,
So… get on your way!”
~ Dr. Seuss

The juvenile Bearded Vulture is much darker than the adult and it has a mostly black face but its black beard grows with age. The next image is of a fully fledged, sub-adult bird. The colouring on the breast feathers is a gorgeous mottled mix of browns and beiges. The juvenile also looks less thick set than the adult.

A juvenile Bearded Vulture soaring against a dry winter, but colourful background. It was mid-winter but there was no snow on the mountains. The weather forecast was for sunny skies and clear nights and a maximum temperature of one degree centigrade and minimum of minus six centigrade. The reality was a cool two degrees as a minimum and 19 degrees maximum – idyllic winter weather with sunny skies.

We have been to the Vulture hide above Giant’s Castle rest camp three times, but this  was the first time in winter. Bearded Vultures in southern Africa breed in winter and are more likely to land in front of the hide to pick up the bones provided by the park.

To encourage these magnificent vultures to land we put out bones the park provides. While this is baiting, it has a conservation bias as these vultures are endangered in South Africa and their habitat loss requires food substitution. The Bearded Vulture, like other vultures is a scavenger but it does not compete on a carcass like other vultures. Its diet consists mainly of bones (80-90 percent). This vulture has stomach acid with a pH of about one so can digest the bone fragments in about 24 hours.

“One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar.”

~Helen Keller

These Bearded Vultures seem to be very wary birds. The six vultures we saw made numerous fly byes looking at the bones on the rocks in front of the hide but only two individuals landed on separate occasions on the first day. These vultures showed no aggression towards other birds such as ravens. The White-necked Ravens were also not fussed by their large rival – perhaps because of safety in numbers. This adult Bearded Vulture did not manage to fly off with a bone. The dinner table was probably too busy and noisy for this normally solitary wind rider.

Unlike most vultures, the Bearded Vulture does not have a bald head which suggests a very different feeding method to the White-backed or Cape Vulture. This species is relatively small headed, but has a powerful and thick set neck and shoulders. It is a big but stocky raptor with baggy leggings. This raptor’s thick plumage is presumably an adaption for the cold mountain air.  It appears bulkier than other vultures and waddles when on the ground. Its feet are large and powerful but are used for picking up big bones rather than killing.

“This mountain, the arched back of the earth risen before us, it made me feel humble, like a beggar, just lucky to be here at all, even briefly.”

~Bridget Asher

To watch this huge vulture gliding with such freedom in a huge open space with the imposing mountainous backdrop is inspiring. Bearded Vulture are thought to spend 80 percent of their daylight hours soaring on the updrafts along mountain ridges.

The image below is of a sub-adult but it is an older bird as seen by its beard even though it has not yet taken on its adult plumage, which only  comes through after about seven years. 

“To soar, we must leave anything that weighs us down.”

~Saru Singhal

Although dissimilar, the Egyptian and Bearded Vulture each have a lozenge-shaped tail — unusual among birds of prey. The tail varies in length from 43 to 52 centimetres and is presumably shaped to provide additional lateral control in the turbulent mountain air upthrusts.

You will very rarely see these vultures flapping their wings and when they do it is mostly from the “hand wing”. It is the most spellbinding sight to watch this majestic bird glide across a two kilometre valley in a matter of seconds without any apparent movement of its wings other than control adjustments.

This adult Bearded Vulture landed on the rock about 50 metres below the hide. The adult is mostly dark gray, rusty and whitish in colour. Its back is grey-blue to grey-black. The creamy-coloured forehead contrasts against a black band across the eyes and lores and bristles under the chin, which form a black beard that give the species its English name. Adult Bearded Vultures are variably orange or rust of plumage on their head, breast and leg feathers but this is actually cosmetic. Adults rub iron oxide rich soil into their feathers. After dust-bathing they preen their breast feathers with their feet. The richness of the colour of the breast feathers is thought to intensify with age.

The Bearded Vulture has an elliptical wing shape with a low aspect ratio. The aspect ratio is the ratio of wing length to wing depth. This low aspect ratio shape is ideal for soaring and also helps this large bird to take off without the need for a long taxi run to get airborne.

The threats these vultures face are direct and indirect poisoning, shooting, power-line collision and electrocution and habitat loss. Threats that have emerged and may be impacting on the species include food shortage, disturbance at nests by climbers and helicopters, indirect poisoning of carcasses with veterinary drugs and harvesting living birds for use in traditional medicine. 

“No matter how sophisticated you may be, a large granite mountain cannot be denied – it speaks in silence to the very core of your being.”
~ Ansel Adams

Like other vultures, the Bearded is a scavenger, feeding mostly on the remains of dead animals. It does not usually feed on carcass meat but around 70 to 90 percent of its diet is bones, getting its nutrition from bone marrow. The Bearded Vulture has learned to crack bones too large to be swallowed by carrying them in flight to a height of 50–150 metres above the ground and then dropping them onto flat rocks below, called ossuaries. The impact on the ossuary smashes the bone into smaller pieces and exposes the nutritious marrow.

This is a big vulture with a wingspan of around 2.7 metres and is about 1.1 metres tall when standing.

This was one of the younger sub-adults ‘on finals’ and coming in to land. Only one juvenile landed in two days and it was on the ground for about thirty seconds.

As this juvenile was coming in to land it flared its wings and had its alulas out to maintain control at slowing airspeeds. The alula is a bastard wing located between the arm wing and the hand wing. It is assumed to function similarly to a leading-edge slat that increases lift and delays stall.

“If you jump to conclusions, you make terrible landings.”

~Terry McMillan

This juvenile landed to pick up a bones we had put out for these vultures. It picked a point where there were no ravens to harass it.

These Bearded Vultures are very wary and will fly passed their food source many times waiting for hassle free landing.

These vultures have to compete with White-necked Ravens, Cape Vultures and Black-backed Jackals for their food at the hide.

This sub-adult managed to take off without incident. It will take this bone to an ossuary and drop it to fragment it into swallowable pieces. 

These huge raptors do not get it all their own way. As in any situation where man interferes there are distortions. By leaving bones out for the vultures there are many other birds attracted by the marrow and fat on the bones. The White-necked Ravens are protective of their turf and on occasions prevent a Bearded Vulture from landing to pick up a bone. This juvenile successfully landed and picked up its cargo, but even in flight the ravens harassed this cargo carrier for some distance.

“Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out going to the mountains is going home; that wilderness is a necessity…”

~John Muir

The Bearded Vulture is monogamous. In Southern Africa it mates and lays its eggs in winter and raises it young in summer. Normally, siblicide ensures one chick survives.

Modern jetliners have adopted the same wingtip design as seen on the wings of this Bearded Vulture. The winglet is upturned at the end of the wing. This upturned winglet shape reduces the drag across the wing by partial recovery of the tip vortex energy, improve handling and increase the effective aspect ratio of the wing.

“Biomimicry is … the conscious emulation of life’s genius.”
~Janine Benyus

The Bearded Vulture is classified as near-threatened internationally in the IUCN Red List as assessed by Birdlife International. There are an estimated up to  10,000 individuals found in Asia, Africa and Europe. The bearded vulture is only found in the Drakensberg in South Africa/Lesotho and is classified as locally threatened.

Under normal circumstances we would never feed the wildlife and would never be allowed to feed the wildlife in a national park. In the case of the vulture hide at Giant’s Castle, the park provides bones to ensure these endangered giants have supplemented food. The hide is also a photographers paradise. Being up on the side of the mountain in dead quiet but for the wind and the sound of Red-winged Starlings and ravens is perfect.

“I would rather own little and see the world, than own the world and see little of it.”

~Alexander Sattler

Explore, seek to understand, marvel at its inter-connectedness and let it be.

Have fun,

Mike

By the time you are looking at this post I will be up in the “barrier of spears” , the Drakensberg mountain range in South Africa. Hopefully I will be able to bring back some interesting landscapes and images of Bearded vultures and a variety of other birds from the “vulture’s hide” at Giant’s Castle.

Until then, I have converted some of my images, taken this year, into black and white to get a sense of how colouration or the simplification of it can alter the mood and texture of the photographic message and hopefully that mood, texture and contrast triggers an emotional reaction. Some things in life aren’t quite as black and white as you’d think…

As a wildlife photographer, I am very interested in the essence of things. The artistic essence – form, shape and pattern  – helps you to focus on composition. When you take away colour from an image you are left with contents; strong colours draw your attention to certain elements in the image.

Black and white images create mood, atmosphere and feelings, and so the light illuminates and shadows define.

“One important difference between colour and monochromatic photography is that in black and white is that you suggest, in colour you state. Much can be implied by suggestion, but statement demands certainty….”

~ Paul Outerbridge

I was particularly intrigued by this image. It was taken in the morning with the sun behind me. The moon was sinking towards the horizon and it was partly cloudy. By taking the colour to black and white and darkening the scene, it gave a sense of being out in the bush on a bright moonlit night. Not implausible, the moon is so bright at full moon that it cast shadows on the ground.

A Lesser Spotted Eagle fixed with a laser stare on potential prey. The removal of colour in the feathers shows how well aligned they are –  aerodynamically preened

“Colour is descriptive, black and white is interpretive.”

~Elliot Erwitt

This matriarch was coming out of a croton grove in Mashatu in Botswana. It was early morning so the shadows in the vegetation behind her were dark. I thought darkening the background further gave this female elephant a more imposing approach.

No disguising the bright morning sunlight in a bed of yellow devil thorn flowers in high summer. This lioness had cubs behind her and was watching a family group of giraffe ahead. The background, although beautiful, was of little consequence to her, as her attention was drawn elsewhere.

This cub was watching its mother intently. It was wet from the heavy morning dew and every now and then turned to look and see what we were doing. The sun was in the right direction, it was just about waiting for the cub to turn towards us – timing is all.

“Light and subject are inseparable. But when it is well integrated, they become a fine masterpiece.”

~ Paul Chong

One snoozy cub lying on the cool stoney sandbank of a riverbed at around 9h00  with a dark Croton forest in the background.

Along the Majale river in Mashatu, a few family groups of elephant had come down to drink. It was cloudy but not hot that morning. In black and white, the cloudy sky provides a wonderfully moody backdrop.

“I think it’s because it was an emotional story, and emotions come through much stronger in black and white. Color is distracting in a way, it pleases the eye but it doesn’t necessarily reach the heart.” 

~ Kim Hunter

On another occasion, also in the Majale river, this herd of elephant came rushing out of the Jackalberry and Croton tree line on the river bank. Something must have spooked them. They did not take any notice of us and just rushed past. The dust stirred up by their feet was more apparent in black and white.

“To see colour is a delight for the eye, to see in black and white is a delight for the soul.”

~Andri Caldwell

This Steenbok female (no horns) was lying in an eroded sand gully. She was very well camouflaged. Only by taking the colour out of the scene could you see her more clearly. There is no question that colouration plays a key role in camouflage. This is why the armed forces in the second world war used people who were colour-blind to fly in spotter aircraft to be able to see enemy armaments under the camouflage nets.

A Darter, the snake bird, so called because of its long flexible neck, sunning itself and drying its wings in the late afternoon sun on the Chobe river in northern Botswana. The golden sheen on its wings added to the contrast.

This elephant was having such fun splashing around in the Chobe river. You seldom ever see the mouth of an elephant from below its trunk. Those canines are a remarkable evolutionary adaption.

This giraffe was drinking from the Chobe river in the late afternoon, which is why its was well illuminated. There was thick vegetation behind it which enabled me to darken the background. It is unusual for a giraffe to  drink at the river with such thick ambush potential right behind it.

In April along the Chobe, the weather was variable with storm clouds brewing on a few afternoons. There is something very special about an African thunderstorm. The late afternoon light illumes the river while the sky grows dark and threatening, giving a sense of an impending unleashing of African wildness. The cumulonimbus clouds get heavy with moisture, generating massive upthrusts of air rising well over 5000 foot into the sky. The colours in the sky vary from blues and whites to dark grey, then out of nowhere, Zeus sends down a huge bolt of lightning followed by an almighty clap of thunder. You can measure how far the storm is away from the number of seconds between the lighting bolt and the thunder-clap, which is approximately equal to the distance away – one second equals one kilometre.

The full moon in April is impala rutting time. I was quite surprised how well-defined these two sparring impala rams were against the background. The black and white treatment showed off their form and texture against a very different textured background.

This very young Vervet Monkey was part of a troop which had been trying to find/steal food from the lodge dining room next to the Chobe river. This little imp was empty-handed so had to make do with the fruit from the tree above.

“Black and white photography is truly quite a ‘departure from reality’, and the transition from one aspect of visual magic to another was not as complete as many imagine.”

A family of Kudu standing on top of the Shilthave dam wall in Kruger Park. The elevation of the dam wall gives them a good visual on the surrounding area. The wind was blowing which always makes them nervous. The wind mixes up the smell and sound and makes it difficult for them to get a sense of  any animals in the surrounding area.

This was a very pretty, somewhat coy but engaging  young waterbuck doe.

Almost a silhouette, this male Klipspringer was sitting on top of a granite boulder at the foot of a kopje along the Waterbuck road in south-western section of Kruger Park. I liked the different tones and textures.

The dark side of the bush. Whether in colour or black and white you do not want to come across an “old dagga boy” like this in the bush on foot. A “dagga boy” is an old buffalo bull which has been kicked out of the herd. Sometimes you find them on their own and they can be unpredictable and very dangerous. His textured boss is what does the work. A buffalo bull can easily pick up an adult lion with those grappling hooks and throw it high into the air and cause real damage.

“Light is meaningful only in relation to darkness, and truth presupposes error. It is these mingled opposites which people our life, which make it pungent, intoxicating. We only exist in terms of this conflict, in the zone where black and white clash.”

~ Louis Aragon

Explore, seek to understand, marvel at its inter-connectedness and let it be.

Have fun,

Mike

This post is about colour. I am inbetween wildlife trips so I thought it would be interesting to play around with the colour in some of my wildlife images. Rather than change the colour of the subject, I wanted to see what effect it would create if I removed the background colour. Presumably, it would be more effective on some forms and colors than others. While playing, a number of fascinating insights emerged. You will not learn about this sort of thing from books or websites, once has to play to get a sense of what works and what does not!

“We must draw our standards from the natural world. … We must honour with the humility of the wise the bounds of that natural world and the mystery which lies beyond them, admitting that there is something in the order of being which evidently exceeds all our competence.”

~ Václav Havel

One of the first things professional photographers will ask you when they are looking at your image is what are you trying to say – what is the message your photograph is supposed to communicate.  If it is just a record of what you saw that is one thing, but if you are trying to show something more, the message needs to be clear. You will quickly realise how important the focus and colour of the background, or negative space, in the image is and whether it emphasises the subject, or disguises it.

I am an amateur wildlife photographer so this is a journey of exploration, physically, intellectually and spiritually. Physically, I do not want to let the grass grow under my feet, and my camera is my passport to travel. Intellectually, I have a deep need to communicate the beauty, inter-connectedness and innate intelligence in nature at a time when humanity is expanding and destroying most natural things in its path. Spiritually, I am becoming increasingly aware of the innate intelligence of nature and that we are the ones that need to learn her ways with considerably more humility than we are showing, currently.

“Have more humility. Remember you don’t know the limits of your own abilities. Successful or not, if you keep pushing beyond yourself, you will enrich your own life–and maybe even please a few strangers.”

~A.L. Kennedy

I have been privileged enough to go to Mashatu in Botswana, on the Chobe river in Botswana and the Kruger Park in South Africa in the first half of 2017. This post shows a selection of images from those trips, in which I have modified the saturation and sharpness of the background using Adobe’s Lightroom. The purpose of the modification is to reduce the distracting background colour in order to emphasize a key feature of the animal or bird. Removing the background colour enables the viewer to focus on the true colours of your subject.

“The picture will have charm when each colour is very unlike the one next to it.”

~Leon Battista Alberti

Water lilies on the Chobe river, painted with sunlight but without the blues of the water in the background .

A scene of a buffalo bull munching on water lily stems with a Cattle Egret on his back. The Cattle Egret normally walks along side (him) but with the buffalo being in the water the Cattle Egret just has to wait it out. Green hippo grass in the buffalo’s mouth, pink tongue and the yellow beak and legs of the Cattle Egret

A water lily standing tall in the water showing off its greens, whites and yellows without the distraction of the blue in the water.

A juvenile Bateleur Eagle standing on the bow of a dead tree. Without the background colour, the browns and blacks stand out as does the distinctive facial skin colour. The colour of the facial skin is an indication that this is an older juvenile. The younger ones have a green tinge to their facial skin.

“Every time you shift to a different color or different hue you are creating interest. It’s a subtle thing but it builds content.”

~ Clyde Aspevig

A Purple pod Terminalia with the sun behind it. The background colour and the greens are removed which emphasizes the colour of the seedpods.

A summer migrant looking for insects. This is a Lesser Spotted Eagle.

“It is a wholesome and necessary thing for us to turn again to the earth and in the contemplation of her beauties to know the sense of wonder and humility.”

~ Rachel Carson

This lion cub must have been bitten by an insect and began to lick the itchy area on its paw. Just the yellows, browns and oranges showing.

A Diederick’s Cuckoo in Mashatu. The de-saturated background emphasises the emerald greens on the wings back and tail, and that red skin around its eye.

A Plum-coloured Starling, now called Violet-backed Starling, playing with a leaf in Mashatu.

Cobalt blue, blood-red and archeological brown – woodland colours.

The Pied Kingfisher is so-called for obvious reasons. This next image needed some colour in the perch to show it was not a black and white photo. Somehow the colour in the perch gives it an improved three dimension effect.

The blue facial shield on the African Jacana got lost in the blue water background. Removing the blue in the background emphasizes the blue shield and the complementary rich ochre colour on the back and body feathers and the golden necklace.

A juvenile African Jacana foraging on the water-lily pad for insects and snails. Taking the colour out of the water gives the lily pad  a greater floating effect.

“Real genius is nothing else but the supernatural virtue of humility in the domain of thought.”

~Simone Weil

This female hippo decided we had got too close.  When this happens it can be extremely dangerous so you need a competent boat driver and guide. In all the excitement you do not see the colour of the water, just those eyes and the brown-pink colour around the eyes and nostrils.

In Mashatu in summer, we found a pride a lion which included a few cubs. It was mid-morning so nearly sleep time for these youngsters. Just allowing the yellows and oranges of the cubs to come through. Desaturating – the background colour improved the image.

“Colour is uncontainable. It effortlessly reveals the limits of language and evades our best attempts to impose a rational order on it… To work with colour is to become acutely aware of the insufficiency of language and theory – which is both disturbing and pleasurable.”

~David Batchelor

One of the lioness in the pride was watching the goings on attentively. The darkened background emphasised the colours on her face.

These cubs were lying on a gravel sandbank. It was cool in the summer morning heat. The background was a dark croton grove.

I took the green out of the bush and blue out of the sky to emphasize the reds and browns of this old male Swainson’s Spurfowl. The red facial skin is a key diagnostic when identifying this species of spurfowl. You could see it was an old male from its worn down and broken spurs on the back of his legs.

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A Pearl-spotted Owlet was sitting in a tree close to where we had been watching the coalition of three male cheetahs lying in a field of yellow devil thorn flowers. Taking out the blue in the background removes the complementary blues and seems to reduce the colours competing for attention and emphasised the colour of the owlet. It also gave a sense of how well camouflaged this owlet was in the tree in direct sunlight.

“When infinite colors exist between the dark and the light, who among us would choose to see only black and white? “

~Gene Bertsche

In summer in Mashatu, you will see many Carmine Bee-eaters. They are incredibly beautiful bee-eaters, which hawk insects from a perch. By taking out the background colour, you can see its bejewelled colours

The Blue Wildebeest is a grey-black colour in the bush. They do have colouration on their bosses and their youngsters are brownish in colour.

One of the many avian summer migrants from the northern climes. A White Stork taking a break from its foraging in the grasslands in Mashatu.

The removal of background colour helped show off this Yellow-billed Hornbill. Interestingly, bird identification would probably be much easier if the key characteristic colours were emphasised and background desaturated.

 desatru

“You put down one colour and it calls for an answer. You have to look at it like a melody.”

~Romare Bearden

A water-lily floating on the Chobe river with a pollinating visitor. Without the blues from the water, the tips of the petals seem more pink.

A juvenile African Jacana chick searching for insects on a bed of old water lilies. The background was naturally dark which showed off the subject well.

“The objects in front of you are flowers, but the subject is colour.”

~Michele Cooper

A water lily in full summer bloom in the Chobe river. I really liked the colours reflected in the water in the foreground .

A Great White Egret with its distinctive yellow bill, yellow eye and black legs and feet.

A Banded Mongoose mother with her youngsters. Without competing colours, the the colour bands on their backs really stood out.

Another Diederick’s Cuckoo with its favourite food, a caterpillar. 

“Colour is a powerful physical, biological, and psychological force. When less color and less intense color is present, trace amounts and subtle differences become highly significant and are strongly felt.”

~John Paul Caponigro

A young shoot embraced in the fork of this syringa tree. The green leaves signify hope, youth and a new start.

You don’t usually notice the browns in a juvenile Martial Eagle, but they stand out in front of a desaturated sky.

Again desaturating the background colour from the water helped bring out the greens, yellows and pinks in this water lily.

“In order to change a colour, it is enough to change the colour of its background.”

~Michel Eugene Chevreul

An adult African Jacana alighting on a water lily flower. Somehow the colours of both the lily and Jacana looked looked more intense with the color of the water desaturated. The contrast gives the image more definition.

An adult Egyptian Goose bathing. The water just running off its back. By taking the blue of the water out of the image gives it a cold feel which was in stark contrast to the very hot morning when this image was taken.

Regal, powerful and striking avian predator, this fish eagle was surveying its territory along the Chobe river.

The use of colour in a wildlife image is intriguing. The negative space around the subject is a powerful compositional component. There are occasions when complementary colours work well together and other times when removing the cooler colours really emphasise the warmer ones. This is a journey of discovery for me. I readily embrace colour in my wildlife photography but at times it can be distracting. This is another example of learning to see. 

“Nature is more depth than surface. Hence the need to introduce into our light vibrations represented by the reds and yellows, a sufficient amount of blue to give the impression of air.”

~Paul Cezanne

I remain ever grateful to be able to visit and photograph wildlife in some of the most beautiful wild settings in Africa.

Explore, seek to understand, marvel at its inter-connectedness and let it be.

Have fun,

Mike