Mara Mayhem

This photo was taken on a morning where we witnessed our first proper (and by that I mean sheer numbers) wildebeest crossing of the Mara river in Kenya. The herds were building on the Mara Triangle side and we knew that crossings were imminent. We had to drive around to the Masai Mara Reserve side to get them coming towards us, unfortunately. By the time we got to the opposite side one of the groups had already crossed halfway. Fortunately, we were in for 3 more crossings from these precarious banks.

Capturing this event on camera is nothing new. Many people have done so. We reminded our guests to also take in the scene without cameras - the sights, the smells, the sounds - so as not to get glued to the camera and miss the forest for the trees so to speak. Taking a "unique" photo of this dramatic event is hard, as so many great photographers have been here through the years. I merely tried to capture what I saw well. In this shot, I framed vertically to get the "lines" of wildebeest coming down to cross. I also used a very slow shutter speed to blur some of the movement and hopefully get other wildebeests still sharp enough. I think it worked - do you?

Techs:
Nikon D3s
Nikkor 500mm f4 VR-II
f16  |  1/80 SS  |  ISO-360

click on the photo to display properly

If you would like to join me in photographing this madness next year, you can check out our 2014 Wild Eye Migration packages HERE.

Thanks for viewing and reading! If you like my posts, please share my blog with your friends.

Morkel Erasmus