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.

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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