A mother's devotion

Here we go: my first photographic story after my return to blogging!

In January of 2018, we headed to one of our favourite safari destinations: The Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park. This is where a great deal of our time in the bush is spent, and we have been making a tradition of returning every summer for the past few years.

This specific sighting unfolded in the perennial Auob riverbed, not too far south of the Mata-Mata campsite. After spending the better part of the morning with a large pride of lions who had occupied the Craig Lockhart waterhole, we came across this sight:

A springbok ewe had given birth, one of the first fawns dropping in this year's summer! Still frail and weak, the fawn was not able to get up yet. The mother was grazing close by, and eventually moved in closer to give some encouragement to get up. My little daughter of nearly 7 years old, who was in the vehicle with us, was very excited by seeing this for the very first time.

The little fawn did not even seem to want to try to get up. There were a couple of black-backed jackals milling about, and they are very opportunistic, eager to grab any easy meal. The next few minutes would determine whether this little springbok had a chance to live.

Mom would meander away and graze to divert attention away from the fawn when she saw the jackals watching from a distance. Every so often she would return to try and nudge it into action.

It did not take long for the jackals to notice that the little fawn was not making much effort to get up and start walking...and so the game of cat and mouse began...

The first jackal approached from behind the mother, and she turned to face him!

She was not going to let these scoundrels take her baby without a valiant fight...

The jackals were very sneaky, though, and it was apparent that they had a strategy to "outfox" (excuse the pun) the mother of the little one. While she was fending off once jackal, another would come from behind and grab the fawn.

But mom was doing her best to fight for her little fawn. She charged in again, and forced this jackal to also drop his bounty and scoot away...

The drama kept unfolding. With mom's attention now on the newest attacker, another subversive scavenger could sneak in from a different angle and try its luck...

Mom noticed, and gave a valiant chase...but alas, this was the end of the line. Just as she was catching up on the newest thief, the jackal dove into a thorny shrub to start consuming his prize. We surmised the fawn had succumbed at the bite of the first jackal already.

Needless to say the vehicle was silent for a while, and then my daughter burst into tears. She is not a fan of black-backed jackals to this day!

Let me know what you think. Not the nicest story, but part of the drama of being on safari for sure.

Morkel Erasmus

Death Dance

Sometimes you spend hours waiting for a specific photo, anticipating and watching for the decisive moment in sweltering heat...other times you just stumble into the right spot at the right time. 

I wish I could wax lyrical about the planning and preparation that went into capturing this moment, but I can't. It was a combination of right time/place and luck (we all need some luck in this thing called wildlife photography!). During our 2013 +Wild Eye Great Migration photo safari I hosted with +Marlon du Toit, we saw some lions lying in the grass next to the Mara river, and decided to head closer for some portrait photography. As we pulled to a stop, to our amazement a lone wildebeest scrambled up the riverbank (having just done a solo crossing we couldn't see from our vantage point), and the poor thing literally almost tripped over the lions. The largest female of the small pride wasted no time in pouncing on the unfortunate ungulate, and a lengthy struggle ensued during which we were privy to the emotional dance of death between these species that occurs during the Great Migration. 

This particular wildebeest didn't seem to want to give up and kept struggling to escape his attackers, but to no avail. We were very close to the action, and shooting with a 500mm lens forced me to compose a little out-of-the-box, but I liked how it came out!

Nikon D3s  |  Nikkor 500mm f4 VR-II  |  f8.0  |  1/1250 SS  |  ISO-1400

I also converted it to monochrome, and I like it better in that medium. What do you think??

Nikon D3s  |  Nikkor 500mm f4 VR-II  |  f8.0  |  1/1250 SS  |  ISO-1400

Let me know which you prefer by dropping a comment below.
Thanks for stopping by! I hope you have a great week...

If you would like to join us in the Mara Triangle this year for an awesome photographic adventure, then check out THIS page.

If you would like to purchase this tone version as a limited edition fine art print for your office or home, mail me: morkel@morkelerasmus.com

Morkel Erasmus

Lions vs Giraffe - The Finale

We come to the final chapter in this dramatic moment of natural history.
If you've been following this tale closely - I thank you for sticking it out...
If you've been blissfully unaware and this is your first glance of this story, then please do get up to speed by reading PART 1 and PART 2  before continuing (a cup of coffee would be needed).

The old bull was clearly feeling the weight of the two male lions gripping his hind legs like steel. He was shuffling and shaking to try and break free from their lethal grip.
He was fighting valiantly, even though he was intensely tired and worn down.

And then, a mere 30 seconds after the first lion got a proper grip, he tumbled to the ground, a fallen giant, a defeated warrior, a vanquished fortress. 

(You don't have to worry about seeing gory photos, I posted photos without blood in this post!)

Nikon D800  |  Nikkor 70-200mm f2.8 VR-II  |  f4.0  |  1/250 SS  |   ISO-1800

I was taken aback - I had really thought that more of the pride members would be needed and they would be jumping into the fray by now. Not even the third young male was getting involved - and the rest of the pride was not even on the scene as I was viewing it. Yet, no sooner did he fall, and the pride suddenly appeared (they must have been waiting patiently in the bushes, all non-committal for some reason). The third male now made himself useful by going for the jugular of the giraffe immediately. It was over in a matter of a minute. The old guy didn't even struggle upon hitting the ground - relenting to his fate as it were.

And so, suddenly it was very quiet. Not just in front of me at the scene of the crime, but also in my head and heart. No more frantic camera setting decisions. No more wondering if this was actually going to play out to the end. Just a reverence and awe for the raw power of nature, the natural struggle and fight for survival that these creatures endure day after day - the dance of life and death. Sometimes, the prey has the best moves and gets away, leaving the predator hungry and desperate. At other times, the predator outmaneuvers the prey and sustenance is obtained by the sacrifice of another. Yet every time, it is something that leaves us reeling, reflective, and at odds with ourselves. It's a strange duality of the life of a wildlife photographer - finding joy and adrenaline at the chance of photographing these things, but also finding sadness and empathy with the victim (whether that's the fallen prey or the disappointed predator left hungry again). 

This duality makes it what it is:
a drama
a tragedy
a celebration
a mourning
a necessity...

I think often the reaction of wildlife photographers to getting shots like this gets misconstrued as glee or sadistic tendencies by the general public, when it's in fact the adrenaline and excitement of the age-old battle that excites us, not the actual kill. I think I would have been just as affected whether the giraffe fell or shook off his attackers. When the prey falls, we feel sorry for it, but glad for the predators who get to live another day. When the prey gets away, we feel glad for it but sorry for the predators who may go without a meal for perhaps the umpteenth time that week...

Nikon D3s  |  Nikkor 500mm f4 VR-II  |  f4.0  |  1/250 SS  |   ISO-1600

The rest of the pride were suddenly popping up as if they were part of the action the whole time. Confirming my suspicions that they had taken turns in running this old giraffe ragged all through the night, very few of them had the intention of tucking into their meal immediately. They all needed a rest, a moment of respite. But none more so than this female, who very poignantly sought a pillow for her head and ended up using the neck of her quarry for a moment's shut-eye. Yet, if taken as a snapshot in time, this moment can almost seem as if the predator is in fact taking a moment of silence and respect for her prey...paying thanks for being able to live a bit longer thanks to the sacrifice of this old and weary warrior that fell. 

Nikon D3s  |  Nikkor 500mm f4 VR-II  |  f5.6  |  1/320 SS  |   ISO-2000

Here's a photo showing even more of the pride members "paying their respects" as it were...

Nikon D3s  |  Nikkor 500mm f4 VR-II  |  f11  |  1/125 SS  |   ISO-2500

Lions have an interesting relationship with their prey. I showed this behaviour in my story about lions in the Kgalagadi taking down a young eland as well (you can read it HERE) - they usually tend to end up playing with their pray a bit before devouring it.

Nikon D3s  |  Nikkor 500mm f4 VR-II  |  f8.0  |  1/320 SS  |   ISO-1100

 This guy was trying to figure out what the tail bush of the giraffe is for...

By the time they really got stuck into the giraffe, a couple of other vehicles had arrived, some from Namutoni and some from the lodges outside the Namutoni park gate. I decided that I would make way for them, and that I wouldn't get better photos than I already have with the light becoming harsh and the sighting becoming crowded. I had this memorable event all to myself for the most part of the crucial action. I could have had my wife with me, and a couple we'd met in Etosha on this trip who we'd become friends with - the Cunninghams - who are also keen wildlife photographers. My wife wasn't there because she chose to sleep in, given that our two young kids were also having an unusually drowsy morning I wouldn't blame her, she worked hard in playing with them in the back of the SUV while I drove around and stuck my lenses out the window. Our friends the Cunninhams, well their alarm wasn't set properly, and they literally arrived minutes after the giraffe was down. What's the lesson? No matter what - get up early and head out of the gate first when on safari!

I think I will conclude this story here. I hope that you could, like me, achieve a deeper understanding and appreciation for the complex relationship between predator and prey, and the delicate balance of the circle of life in the African bush. Viewing this first hand, taking a few photos and reflecting on it now, certainly has had that effect on me. Yes, from a photographic viewpoint I wish that more lions got involved, that they would have jumped on the giraffe's back and neck in dramatic fashion, and that the giraffe would perhaps have shaken them off and landed a kick or two, sending them flying - regardless of the outcome of his life. But I know I witnessed something very rarely seen from start to finish in the bush - and many of my friends who are full-time guides living and working in the bush for years on a day-to-day basis would attest to that. 

Having these experiences leaves one richer and makes you feel privileged to be a child of Africa...who knows how long we will have the chance of witnessing these struggles with the way things are changing on our continent???

What are your thoughts upon reading and seeing this story in word and photo? Feel free to drop me some of your musings in the comments below, I would love to hear from you.

Morkel Erasmus

Lions vs Giraffe - The Dance

I promised that I wouldn't let you wait too long before carrying on with the telling of this gripping event...

If you missed the first part (The Prelude) then click HERE first.
Again - click on the photos and scroll through them to view properly against a dark background.

UPDATE: the next episode has been posted by now
Part 3 - http://bit.ly/liongiraffe3

Once the stage was set and the players were assembled, it was time to start the dance.

The old giraffe bull had seen a lot over the years of his life. Over the decades of his life he had seen seasons of severe drought and seasons of plenty on the landscape of Etosha. He was a living testimony to the fact that this harsh yet beautiful environment produces survivors. Animals who brave the odds and the elements and come up trumps time and time again. Lions had tried to subdue him many times before, and he bore the scars to testify to that. Every time before this morning he had been able to outwit and outmeneuver and fight his way through the onslaught. I can't help but wondering if he felt confident or hopeless as the chase wound down and he found himself circled like this...

scars from a previous battle

Furthermore, he had lost one of his eyes ,which put him at an even bigger disadvantage as he could not see both of his attackers at once. Perhaps he lost the eye in a scrape with a thorn branch while evading lions years earlier? Who knows...

one eye was gouged out

Nevertheless, tired and old as he was, he wasn't going to merely lay down and let his assailants overcome him. He needed to try and scare these two young brigands off before the rest of the pride caught up. They had made turns in running him down all night long, and he had survived this far. This was the last stand, his Gettysburg.

Nikon D800  |  Nikkor 70-200mm f2.8 VR-II  |  f4.0  |  1/250 SS  |   ISO-1400

The lions started to move around him. Giraffes have immense hooves and muscular, long, powerful legs with which to fling those hooves at would-be assailants with enough force to deal out a lethal blow. This old guy was unfortunately just too tired to kick with this kind of ferocity - he did lash out a few kicks and swing around to meet his attackers a few times, but his kicks showed his fatigue. 

Nikon D800  |  Nikkor 70-200mm f2.8 VR-II  |  f4.0  |  1/250 SS  |   ISO-1600

Nikon D800  |  Nikkor 70-200mm f2.8 VR-II  |  f4.0  |  1/250 SS  |   ISO-1600

I kept cycling between taking a few shots and then removing my eye from the viewfinder to observe what was happening properly. I knew I would probably never see this play out in real-time again, but so often we stay glued to the viewfinder permanently in an epic sighting and never get to use both our eyes and our other senses to experience what was happening and burn it in our memories vividly for years to come. I had arrived with the D800 fitted with the 70-200mm lens and the D3s with the 500mm lens, and even though I wished for more frames-per-second and a bigger buffer I wasn't going to switch lenses in the midst of such a sighting and possibly miss out on the big moments. I was too close for using the 500mm properly - they were only 20 meters from my vehicle!

And then one of the young male lions found a grab-hold onto the buttocks of the giraffe - on his blind side...

Nikon D800  |  Nikkor 70-200mm f2.8 VR-II  |  f4.0  |  1/250 SS  |   ISO-1400

A fully grown male lion can exceed a weight of 250kg. These two weren't that bulky, but I would put them at least at 150kg each. Once both had a hold, the giraffe would need to content with about 300kg of weight dragging down his hind quarters, while trying to maintain his precarious balance.

Given the level of fatigue the old giraffe had displayed, I wasn't surprised that he could not shake the lion from his leg. He tried valiantly to keep the second attacker at bay...

Nikon D800  |  Nikkor 70-200mm f2.8 VR-II  |  f4.0  |  1/250 SS  |   ISO-1400

With his right leg bogged down, the giraffe could only do so much. His spirit was brave, but his body was weak. The inevitable happened - a second leg was grabbed...

Nikon D800  |  Nikkor 70-200mm f2.8 VR-II  |  f4.0  |  1/250 SS  |   ISO-1400

The third male lion you see peeping in here from the right, had arrived a minute or so earlier, but he was very non-committal. I was wondering if he would ever join the fray, as he seemed quite a bit more scared of the big giraffe than the other two were...

The battle was hanging in the balance now. Two strong, confident young males using all of their brute strength to bring down a prey that would feed their pride for days...a large and battle-hardy giraffe who wasn't giving up easily...and a third male lion who was a bit of a wuss.

Where were the rest of the lions?
How long could the giraffe stand?
How would this end?

I know it's not fair of me to leave you on another cliffhanger - but I am kind-of forced to do so. I had promised to post this edition today on my Facebook page, but a massive power disruption in our town that lasted from 8pm last night until this morning as I had to leave for the office forced my hand. I need to process a few more images from my main hard drive in order to fully tell the tale and show you the action as it went down. This will have to wait until our main electricity supply has been restored.

Please do stay tuned for the third and final episode of this saga - I should have it live on the weekend or by the latest on Monday morning.

Feel free to share these blogs with people who might want to be in on the action!

Have a great day, my friends...

Morkel Erasmus

Lions vs Giraffe - The Prelude

I've been putting off telling this story on my blog...but I feel that it's time. In November 2013 I went on a very long safari-roadtrip with my lovely wife and our 2 young children. The destinations were to be the Etosha National Park in Namibia and the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park in South Africa.

The story I want to tell played out in Etosha. We had come to the last few nights of the Etosha leg of our trip and were based in the Namutoni rest camp in the East of the park. On our first afternoon upon arriving in Namutoni, we took a short drive to scope out the nearby popular waterholes of Chudop and Klein Namutoni. We found the resident lion pride having a drink at the Klein Namutoni waterhole around sunset.

UPDATE: the next 2 episodes have been posted by now
Part 2 - http://bit.ly/liongiraffe2
Part 3 - http://bit.ly/liongiraffe3

(for the best view of the photos, you'll need to click on one and scroll through them using your arrow keys)

Nikon D800  |  Nikkor 500mm f4 VR-II  |  f4.0  |  1/500 SS  |   ISO-220

Nikon D800  |  Nikkor 500mm f4 VR-II  |  f7.1  |  1/800 SS  |   ISO-1100

The pride was clearly getting ready for their nightly foray of hunting. Their bellies weren't full or bulging at all, and with about 9 adult lions to cater for they would need to hunt regularly. The sun was just setting, and the tension was palpable. All the other animals that had come to drink could sense the lions were not just lying around...

Nikon D800  |  Nikkor 500mm f4 VR-II  |  f5.6  |  1/800 SS  |   ISO-1400

Much like on a morning only a year earlier (read THIS post for that story), my wife made the prediction that they would make a kill during the night. Boy, would she be right...but that's what you're reading this story for, so I will carry on.

Nikon D3s  |  Nikkor 70-200mm f2.8 VR-II  |  f2.8  |  1/200 SS  |   ISO-200

We eventually had to leave the pride where they were, as the camp gate time was beckoning. I have a gripe against Etosha gate times in general...as they work on the exact time of sunset and sunrise, and often the best light and sightings happen before sunrise or shortly after sunset. At least in the summer months in the Kalahari and Kruger you get some good leeway either side of sunrise and sunset for those epic moments!

Nikon D800  |  Nikkor 500mm f4 VR-II  |  f5.6  |  1/500 SS  |  ISO-800

The next morning, I was up early and ready to go out. My wife waved me on, as the kids were having a rare morning of still being asleep (usually they were up way before we want to leave for game drive), and she decided to rest a little too (she was minding them every day in the back of the vehicle, after all). I was first out the gate on a cloudy morning, and also the only one from Namutoni heading out for Klein Namutoni that morning, which is about 4km from camp. All the other vehicles going out on an early game drive seemed to turn right out of the camp towards the Chudop triangle...not a bad decision given the open setting and density of predators in this area...but it was a bad decision for them on this morning!

No sooner had I turned into the gravel road leading up to Klein Namutoni, when I spotted 2 of the young males of the pride we sat with the previous evening on a serious trot. Now, if you've spent any good amount of time observing the behaviour of lions, you'll know that they only ever run or trot like this for 2 main reasons - to get to food or to get to a competitor and fight. As I came around the next bend I saw the reason for their brisk pace: a large and old Giraffe bull was ambling up the main road, trying to run but obviously dog tired! The pride must have been chasing him for hours during the night, as his hind legs were dragging (but he was as yet not wounded). I kept a reasonable distance and allowed the chase to go its natural way. As always with these kinds of sightings, a part of you hopes the prey will find a way to escape, while another part of you (the avid action photographer) wants it all to go down in a spot where you can take some photos of it!

Anyway...soon the Giraffe seemed to realise that he would not escape, and he stopped just off the road (as you drive into Dik-Dik drive past the waterhole) and turned around to face his assailants...the tension was incredible, and my mouth was agape as I realised I would be the only person to witness this taking place only about 20 meters from me!!!

Nikon D800  |  Nikkor 79-200mm f2.8 VR-II  |  f5.6  |  1/320 SS  |   ISO-4000

Nikon D800  |  Nikkor 79-200mm f2.8 VR-II  |  f4.0  |  1/250 SS  |   ISO-1400

There were so many questions running through my mind as these 2 "Spartans" squared up against their behemoth prey...

Where were the other members of the pride?
Are 2 young males enough to take down such a big and muscular quarry?
Would one of them be hit by a deadly kick from the giraffe?
How long would this last?

And of course the photographic questions and challenges!
Low light meant high ISO settings, shallow depth-of-field (considering I was trying to photograph multiple subjects none of which were small), slow shutter speed...

I know that by now you are probably extremely curious and anxious to see what unfolded.
You will have to wait for the next edition in this series - I'll post it soon, don't fret!
Suffice to say it is one of my most dramatic sightings ever...and I didn't even take that many photos, since I was so spellbound just watching it.

Thanks for stopping by. Stay tuned for more soon!

Morkel Erasmus

Moments of Marvel in 2013

It's that time of the year again, friends...when we all look back and take stock (in many areas of life). As I've done in the past few years, I am again going to post a collection of my favourite images from my travels this year. This year was quite busy for me (nothing new there), both on a personal level and photographically. For the past 2 years I ended up selecting photos grouped into Top 5 landscape, Top 5 birds and Top 10 wildlife. This year, I will attempt to do so, but as I type this I'm not sure if it will end up being "10" or "20" or somewhere in between. Let's do this, then...

You can see my previous similar posts here:
2010
2011
2012

The photos are not arranged in order of personal preference/significance, but chronologically - as the year went by and the various trips/safaris were taken. I will relate a little bit of the story behind the shot every time, just because I like to ramble a bit and I know there are people who might be interested.

As always, the photos will display at ideal resolution and sharpness if clicked on!

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TOP 5 LANDSCAPES

I enjoy photographing landscapes and the fall of light on the earth very much, though I probably should try and make more time for it in 2014. It's those dang animals that get in the way of my landscape photography, eh!

1. "Chobe River Sunset"

This has to count on one of my all-time most epic sunset skies ever witnessed. Unfortunately I wasn't able to capture it decently with a tripod until it had already started to fade (we were on a small boat prior to me getting out and setting up for this shot). Keeping watch for stray hippos, crocs and elephants while shooting a sunset is also usually exciting!

Nikon D800  |  Nikkor 14-24mm f2.8  |  f16  |  ISO-200  |  Blend of 3 exposures

2. "Crystal Lake"

I was on holiday with my wife and kids in the southern Drakensberg region of South Africa, and this is the main lake of the Castleburn resort where we were staying. I captured this photo as a single exposure, handheld, after a storm had passed through. There's just a crispness and tranquility to this that resonates deep within my soul.

Nikon D800  |  Nikkor 14-24mm f2.8  |  f5.6  |  1/200 SS  |  ISO-64

3. "Cotton Candy Clouds"

This photo is from the same family holiday. Most sunrise and sunset skies during this week were overcast and colourless, but on this one morning I was glad I did get up early and trudge (I was unfit and huffing quite a bit afterwards, LOL) up the mountainside to capture these amazing skies. The various tones in the clouds here make it for me, even with the "lack" of a close foreground anchor.

Nikon D800  |  Nikkor 14-24mm f2.8  |  f11  |  ISO-200  |  Blend of 2 exposures

4. "Death under the Stars"

This photo was taken at a remote research waterhole in Etosha, Namibia. I posted a blog about this one not too long ago - you can read up on it HERE. The thrill of elephants and rhinos walking past not too far from us in the dark will always stay with me.

Nikon D800  |  Nikkor 14-24mm f2.8  |  f2.8  |  30 seconds  |  ISO-3200

5. "What's lion in that tree?"

This is not a landscape photo in the traditional sense. There's also no magical display of light going on here. This does, however, reflect something that's a big part of my style of shooting - showing animals in their environment. This was taken during the safari I led for +Wild Eye to the Masai Mara in Kenya. Can you spot the lion?

Nikon D800  |  Nikkor 70-200mm f2.8  |  f8.0  |  1/400 SS  |  ISO-640

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TOP 5 BIRDS

I didn't focus as much on bird photography (yes, it's an intended pun) during 2013 as I normally would have. Still, there were some moments that stood out...

1. "Flight of the Fish Eagle"

This iconic bird has long been my favourite African raptor. Wait, rather, it's my favourite bird period. The only other bird I find as enthralling is its cousin, the American Bald Eagle. This photo was taken from the specialised Wild Eye photographic boat on the Chobe river in Botswana.

Nikon D3s  |  Nikkor 500mm f4 VR-II  |  f7.1  |  1/2500 SS  |  ISO-640

2. "Angel Wings"

There is a spot close to my home where you can get amazing opportunities to photograph the elusive Marsh Owl in the last hours of daylight in the winter months. I just couldn't get there in 2012, and made a plan to go there in 2013. I got lucky one afternoon with this owl flying against the setting sun.

Nikon D3s  |  Nikkor 500mm f4 VR-II  |  1.4x teleconverter  |  f7.1  |  1/1600 SS  |  ISO-1250

3. "Mahem in the Mara"

The Crowned Crane (or Mahem Crane) is a quirky but beautiful bird. We had some great sightings of them in the Mara Triangle. You can read more about this photo in THIS blog post as well.

Nikon D3s  |  Nikkor 500mm f4 VR-II  |  f4.0  |  1/320 SS  |  ISO-800

4. "Landing for Lunch"

I love how certain sightings can deliver multiple keeper photos of varying subjects. After photographing a Cheetah taking down a Thomson's Gazelle and devouring it, the ensuing squabble between the various species of vultures that inhabit the Mara-Serengeti ecosystem provided many photographic opportunities.

Nikon D3s  |  Nikkor 500mm f4 VR-II  |  f11  |  1/1000 SS  |  ISO-1250

5. "Pharaoh's Chicken"

One of the most elusive species of vulture in Africa is the Egyptian Vulture. We were fortunate to spend a good deal of time with this one who was feeding on a wildebeest carcass in the Masai Mara National Reserve. This surely isn't the most spectacular avian photo I've ever taken, but the sighting is right up there and the photo(s) serve as a reminder of it.

Nikon D3s  |  Nikkor 500mm f4 VR-II  |  f8.0  |  1/1250 SS  |  ISO-400

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TOP 10 WILDLIFE

It was again a spectacular year for me in terms of great sightings and fruitful photographic opportunities. Trying to whittle them down to only 10 is a tough task. I think what is represented here is a list of favourite moments - whereas some of the sightings might have delivered many photos that could potentially "make the cut", I kept it to one photo per sighting in this list. Much of wildlife photographic success hinges on an element of "luck" - being at the right spot at the right time, but once you are there, which settings you opt for in the camera and how you compose/frame the story is what really determines your success. Preparation, knowledge of your gear, knowledge of animal behaviour/habits and luck all come together in these instances.

1. "Chobe Clash"

This was nothing more than a playful hullabaloo between two juveniles, but it was interesting seeing the Elephant behind the Hippos standing as if refereeing a boxing match. Taken from the Wild Eye photographic boat as well.

Nikon D3s  |  Nikkor 500mm f4 VR-II  |  f4.0  |  1/400 SS |  ISO-4000

2. "Chums on the Chobe"

We had many interesting moments on the Chobe river...but this one stood out for me due to the magnificence of seeing Africa's largest land mammal dwarfed by the immense skies and the broad river.

Nikon D800  |  Nikkor 70-200mm f2.8 VR-II  |  f8.0  |  1/640 SS  |  ISO-320

3. "Proud Rhino"

Up to the start of this year, my portfolio was severely lacking in any noteworthy photos of the enigmatic and endangered Black Rhino. I can happily say that situation has now been remedied! This old bull was snorting and kicking up dust as he smelled us - this image was taken after sunset in that lovely post-dusk glow of Africa.

Nikon D3s  |  Nikkor 500mm f4 VR-II  |  f4.0  |  1/60 SS  |  ISO-5000

4. "Dawn Patrol"

I like to get as low as possible of a shooting angle when working with wildlife. It's not always easy when you are confined to a vehicle (though there are ways to achieve it in that setting), but it's much easier when you are sitting in an underground concrete bunker next to a remote waterhole in Etosha National Park, Namibia. This young male lion came right up to my position. I used exposure blending techniques to get the sky looking like I remember it (the camera was set to expose for the lion and that made the sky a bit bright).

Nikon D800  |  Nikkor 70-200mm f2.8 VR-II  |  f4.0  |  1/200 SS  |  ISO-400

5. "Shake it Off"

Nothing quite emphasises the size of a big African Elephant like shooting at and extremely low angle at close range. This big boy was in a state of musth, causing his hormones and temper to get the better of him. The way the dust puffs from his face immediately made this a favourite.

6. "Forest Light"
I don't think I will ever get enough of the light that filters through the forests of Mana Pools in Zimbabwe. Nor will I ever get enough of the amazing beauty of said forests - where massive albida trees make even elephants look small, it's a place that has to be seen and relished. This photo was taken as the sun was setting and the light was creating shafts through the canopy. The impala just walked right into my shot (I was just busy photographing the light and scene).

7.  "I bless the rains down in Africa"
Yes, I just pulled a line from the famous Toto song. I would really have thought that an image from one of the massive Wildebeest crossings we saw in the Mara Triangle this year would make it into this selection - but this image stands out more for me - it captures something of the mood and magic of driving on these plains where a grand spectacle has been churning out year after year, long before we had the means of observing and reveling in it. It's gonna take a lot to drag me away from the Mara...(yes, I did it again!)

8. "Lockdown"
Many people don't like to observe and photograph the life-and-death struggle that plays out in the African bush day by day...and I get it. I personally don't have a penchant for seeing gory images of predators on kills - but there's something primal to the actual struggle, the tussle, the clash of survival-driven will that I find absolutely fascinating. On the one hand, the drive to obtain food and make it through another day or week, and on the other the drive to escape the impending doom and make it through another day. The expression on the face of this poor young Wildebeest says it all. We literally stopped to photograph these lions in the grass on the banks of the Mara river when their unfortunate victim scrambled up the bank after crossing the river solo. It was all too easy.

9. "Riding Bareback"
I apologise upfront - it's another image depicting the struggle between predator and prey in Africa...this one was covered on my blog previously, and you can read more about it HERE. I am obviously disappointed about the horn of the Thomson's Gazelle being clipped at the edge of my frame, but other than that I am very pleased with capturing an image of this quality at the speed at which this happened.

10. "The chase was relentless"
My last wildlife image shows another aspect of the predator-prey dynamic. On our last full day in Etosha during November 2013 I was the only person to witness lions taking down a fully grown giraffe bull right next to my vehicle. It was an amazing sighting, and surprisingly "un-gory", which made the photography much easier. I've got many action shots of the process of taking down the giraffe, but one of the frames that stood out the most to me was this one. It seemed the pride had been running down the massive ungulate for at least 3 to 4 hours during the night/early morning, as the giraffe was utterly spent by the time he turned around to face his attackers, and the lions all took a long rest before even starting to feed on their quarry once the big bull had fallen. This lioness taking a short nap on her new "pillow" really made for a unique moment in my documentation of natural history.

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There you go. I have many images from this year that I haven't even processed yet, and some of them may even be "better" (for what that term is worth) than the ones I opted to publish here, but you can't please everybody all the time. Some images are being kept "back" for use in competitions in 2014 - so hold thumbs for me!

For those of you who are also budding nature photographers: I hope you also had a great photographic year in 2013. I hope that you grew in your craft, your understanding of nature and the role of nature photography in conservation and raising awareness, and in your appreciation of the wild places that still exist as the human encroachment spreads wider and wider every year. I hope that you will continue to grow in 2014, that you will be able to travel to some of your bucket-list destinations and that you will find even more joy in spending time in God's glorious creation.

A last thought - if you would like to join me in creating images in some of these iconic locations in 2014, you can check out the safaris I host with Wild Eye HERE. 

Keep well, until I write again!

Morkel Erasmus