Mara Monster

I've seen many specimens of the famed Nile Crocodile in my life on various trips to various reserves and national parks. I've yet to encounter crocodiles as big as the ones I saw last month in the Mara river in Kenya.

They.
Are.
HUGE!

During the river crossings these massive Mara monsters have a field day among the wildebeest and zebra that cross the Mara and Talek rivers. This photo was captured during a relatively small crossing at a relatively "easy" crossing point in the Mara Triangle. It was quite an adrenaline rush watching the crocs hunt, and anticipating where they will strike next. Many a young animal was cheered on and applauded when it reached the other side without falling victim to these brutes.

Techs:
Nikon D3s
Nikkor 500mm f4 VR-II
f4.0  |  1/1000 SS  |  ISO-400

So that's another epic Mara moment shared! I've got many more photos to work through and not half the time that I need for that mammoth job - so please be patient. 

Cheers...

Morkel Erasmus

Jumpers

I suppose at some point it had to come...the obligatory photo of a wildebeest crossing, stock standard from every person who makes the pilgrimage to see this spectacle. I thought a lot about how to approach these scenes (from the comfort of my office chair) before the trip, but let me tell you - when the moment arrives, you just bore down to base photographic instinct and shoot. There's very little time to really think your composition through, very little time to compensate via settings for a specific mood and feel, and very little time for much more than just looking for an opportunity in this chaos to make an interesting image.

I hope this image is one you find interesting. This particular crossing had some precarious ledges and drops that the wildebeest had to negotiate. My guests and I played around with various shutter speed settings throughout the sighting to ensure good variety and a difference in how the chaos was portrayed. In this one I was using a faster shutter speed. Overcast conditions helped to tame the strong contrast and harsh shadows you normally see in these scenes.

Techs:
Nikon D3s
Nikkor 500mm f4 VR-II
f11  |  1/1250 SS  |  ISO-2000

click on the photo to display properly

If you would like to join us in the Mara Triangle with Wild Eye next year, you can add your name to the waiting list for the dates that go live on 1 November 2013.


Cheers!


Morkel Erasmus

Keeping your options open

I'm back from the most incredible experience in the Mara Triangle (Kenya)!! Between a million wildebeest (literally), lion kills and cheetah kills right in front of us and the mind-blowing expanse of the Mara landscape...it'll take me some time to find my bearings again (good luck to me for walking back into that office tomorrow!). I cannot think of a better base to spend a week exploring the Mara ecosystem than the Wild Eye camp set up on the banks of the Mara river and run by Maasai staff.

This is from a crossing we witnessed on our first full day in the field. There's much more drama from this scene to share, but upon importing my photos into Lightroom this one caught my eye. Processed quickly using my basic workflow and some splashes of Nik Color Efex for fun. 

This "monster croc" (they make'em BIG in the Mara) was hunting some of the animals crossing and made a number of kills in the space of 2-3 hours, stashing the victims below the surface before coming back for more hunting. Here he swims right into a bunch of crossing wildebeest...can imagine a number of words that would be uttered by these creatures as they see this guy in their midsts (none of which would be allowed by the forum auto-moderation haha).

I like it when a single image tells a striking story (or even multiple possible stories), like this one...don't you?

Techs:
Nikon D3s
Nikkor 500mm f4 VR-II
f5.6  | 1/1000 SS  |  ISO-220

Morkel Erasmus