Kalahari Wildlife:
South Africa
An arid land recently ravaged by a multi year drought which left the hostile terrain barren of dense shrubbery, but presented an unexpected opportunity to observe seldom seen mammals; the elusive 5. 2 members of the hyena family- aardwolf and brown hyena-, the bat eared fox, aardvark - the only “bear” in Africa- , and ground pangolin, the most poached animal in Africa, were the highlights of the “green” Kalahari. The drought cleared the sandy fields in recent years presented ample chances to view these rarely witnessed animals at dawn and dusk.
The drought ended a little over a year prior to my arrival. The low lying bushes returned and with it came rare sightings of this group, but it’s the Kalahari and the lodge had only one 3 night availability during the winter, the best viewing season. I had to play my chances as you never know what nature will offer.
Each room had its own safari jeep allowing great freedom in planning my shots. A significant advantage. The team consisted of a local Khoisan spotter, who sat ahead of the hood searching and tracking game footprints, a dapper ranger/naturalist, Gary, who was a keen photographer himself as well as a more than adequate conversationalist, and myself, the Big Bokeh Balls adventurer.
A colony of meerkats allowed for experimentation with the morning light. Once arrived we had to wait first for the sentinel to appear who surveyed the area for potential predators. Apparently he did not perceive us as a threat as more little beady eyes appeared from dozens of burrows to further assist. Once the coast was deemed clear the animals begun foraging for scorpions and other little snacks. During this I planned my shots. The rigid pose of them atop the burrows with the soft morning glow bathing them was the easiest. Adding a more artistic approach, a backlight perspective underexposed by 2/3 to 1 full stop produced silhouettes with glowing peripheral hairs. This, in addition with a wide f stop, obliterated the back and fore ground. Magnificent!
The dry winter desert skies presented clear nights. I brought my sky hunter to attempt to capture some Southern Hemisphere deep sky objects- the carina nebula specifically. Set up in the open sky shower I first had to polar align. No Polaris here so I used the Southern celestial pole: Sigma Octantis . Asiair all sky function made it a cinch, but the system wouldn’t auto-guide and instead of dso I shot a candelabra tree with the Milky Way in the background with the gfx 100s and 23mm.
As I was in complete control of the viewing operations, once I found an interesting subject I tended to stay with it. The first drive presented a small coalition of cheetahs feasting on a recently killed kudu which my Khoisan tracker found on foot. We drove to the site and sat for several hours. Late coming guests came and went as I waited for the perfect light. The cheetahs alternated in feasting and resting. Tearing off large chunks of sinuous flesh, bight red blood dripping their chins confirmed the freshness of the kill. I stayed until dust and took many shots at 800mm - head shots.
The elusive black rhino remained unseen as we tracked one every morning. The white rhinos too were hard to find, but we had a brief encounter through dense bushes for a fleeting shot. We mostly saw grazers and browsers which were pleasant in the Kalahari’s iron saturated orange dunes. The water holes offered ample opportunity for footage.
The highlight came on the last evening when we encountered the black maned lion. The sun was getting low and the lion was sleeping. We expected him to remain resting until after sunset, but we sat and enjoyed the cool weather and resting beast anyway. Within 5mins of us arriving it opened its eyes and observed its temporary neighbors engaged in naturalist relevant topics. It paid us no mind. As the minutes passed, the sun was at an ideal angle. The lion arose from its slumber and took in the surroundings. The warm Sun basking on its face as it sat squinting its eyes. I rattled off a couple shots with the 400mm 2.8. Incredibly sharp with smooth bokeh as I captured the beast as it contemplated why strange gangly beings sitting in a large impenetrable metal land rover were producing such an incessant clicking sound. Perhaps a mating call, it must have thought.
As the light dimmed he searched for the most comfortable positions in the bush. Once content it let off several minutes of thunderous roars. Heard for miles I grabbed my z7ii with 100-400 and recorded video as the angle of view wasn’t acceptable for photos.
No elusive 5, but the footage I had acquired was satisfactory. South Africa had always been my favorite country as it offers western hospitality with traditional African wildlife comparable to central Africa. The diverse landscapes range from the mountainous drakensburgs to the dry deserts of Karoo. Accompanied by excellent scuba diving and topside cetacean viewing the activities are endless. I’ll be back, but I just have to devise an itinerary to satisfy my wanderlust.
August 2022