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

The Nutcracker Badger

It's 6 January 2016...early in the morning.

The sun has just risen, and we spent its rising with a lioness close to the Rooiputs waterhole in the Kalahari desert, more specifically, the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park that straddles the borders of South Africa and Botswana.

South Africa is experiencing a heat wave of sweaty proportions - normal summer temperatures here average around 45C, and this week it's been up to 54C most days...in the shade. As we drove out of camp it was already 26C, pre-dawn.

Suddenly I spot a dark shape moving purposefully along the dry Nossob riverbed.

Honey Badger!! If you don't know what honey badgers are, they are pretty much the roughest, toughest buggers in the African bush.

This video might enlighten you...

Anyhow, finding a honey badger on a trip to the Kalahari is a special treat, and this early in the morning! We follow him as he scrounges around, digging for grub in the loose Kalahari sand.

"Nothing here..."

"How about here? I smell something!"

Promptly the badger dug up a small leopard tortoise! Right next to our vehicle (and we were the only people there).

The prey in itself brought its own set of challenges - how to break through the shell?

A tough nut to crack...

What followed is a lengthy process of the dexterous badger working his prey until he was able to pierce the shell of the tortoise, and get to the good stuff inside. Yes, it's sad for the tortoise, but it's the circle of life and it was fascinating to get to watch this "nutcracker" at work.

Suffice to say that the badger eventually got through the carapace of the tortoise.

That wasn't the end of the morning's activity, though!
As we are watching the badger feeding, my wife notices that there are two lionesses and two lion cubs walking by behind the badger...talk about a Kalahari double whammy!

Let's leave the lions for another day - as they kept us busy for the rest of the morning.
I hope you enjoyed seeing these photos!
We have some video too - might edit and release it soon.

Keep well...

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

Just another Kalahari morning

I've been putting this off for too long...so here it is. The story of the hunting lions in the Kalahari. Fasten your seatbelts...

Date: 29 November 2012.
Location: Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park

It was a morning much like any other morning in the Kalahari. Yet it would turn out to be a morning so unlike any other morning in the Kalahari. Sure, this happens all the time...but rarely does it happen in a setting like this, in light like this and at close range like this...it all came together.

Let me start at the beginning...because there are a few key elements to the story which highlights why it all came together so nicely. We had stayed in Twee Rivieren (the main rest camp at the entrance to the Park) for the first 2 nights of our week-long stay, and had been blessed with very good sightings of Lion, Caracal and African Wild Cat. We then headed up the Auob river to stay in Mata-Mata for what should have been 4 nights before we had to return to Twee Rivieren for another 2 nights...but after 2 days we decided to swop out our nights there to return to Twee Rivieren earlier. Why? The Auob river was bone dry. Actually, drier than bone dry. There was very little activity up that way, and we felt our chances for good sightings would be better in the south...and boy would we be glad we returned when we did!

We arrived in Twee Rivieren on the afternoon of the 28th of November, and after doing a short afternoon drive up the Nossob river towards the Leeuwdril waterhole we came across a pride of 5 lions resting under a tree...3 females and 2 males. They were being generally lazy and besides moving up to the dune for sunset, didn't do much at all before we had to leave to make the camp gate closing time.

Nikon D3s, Nikkor 500mm f4 VR-II

Nikon D3s, Nikkor 500mm f4 VR-II

My friend Hendri Venter was also at the sighting, though he was camping at Rooiputs, a camp further up the Nossob from this spot. We actually expressed the hope that they would move south towards the Samevloeiing waterhole and make a kill there during the night. Samevloeiing is a waterhole at the confluence of the dry Auob and Nossob riverbeds, and is about 3km from Twee Rivieren. This spot where we saw the pride that afternoon was about 8km from Twee Rivieren along the Nossob riverbed.

Anyhow - it was evening and it was morning...we got up at the crack of dawn and rushed to get everything ready for our short morning drive. I was on holiday in the Kgalagadi with my wife, our nearly-2-year-old daughter and our 4-month old son...so our drives were never too long - just enough for me to get some photos in that glorious Kalahari light, before we usually returned to camp to swim, rest and play with the kids. Just as we were about to leave, I saw legendary Kalahari pro photographer and coffee-table book producer Hannes Lochner driving past us towards the gate. I jokingly told him that he needs to go round up the animals for us...

We were all packed and shot out of the gate - first of all the residents of Twee Rivieren - no mean feat considering we had to bundle 2 young kids and their packages of toys and blankets into the vehicle...

We drove out towards Samevloeiing...and boy were we in for a treat. I noticed Hannes' Land Rover parked right across the waterhole. As we drove up beside him, he showed me the pride lying on the open plains across from the waterhole...

Nikon D800, Nikkor 70-200mm f2.8

...one of the males was also lying down a little further away...with a Black-backed Jackal for company...

Nikon D3s, Nikkor 500mm f4 VR-II

At first I thought it was strange that Hannes had parked so far from where the pride was lying...and then I saw this lioness right on my 3 o'clock!

Nikon D3s, Nikkor 500mm f4 VR-II

What's more, I saw two measly-looking young Eland antelopes a little further to my right...

Nikon D3s, Nikkor 500mm f4 VR-II

At this point I just knew we were in for something special - whether they make the kill or not - just SEEING this unfold in front of us was a bucket-list experience for me...if things go well we could possibly watch lions plan a kill, stalk and execute it and feed all in the space of one morning!

It was slightly overcast on the horizon, so we had nice soft light with a hint of dawn colours - I had to push the ISO on my cameras a bit though! Luckily my Nikon D3s and D800 can handle low light photography very well.

Slowly the antelopes started walking towards the road (where we were parked, obviously), not noticing the stalking lioness. Now they had caught the attention of the other lions...

Nikon D3s, Nikkor 500mm f4 VR-II

Nikon D3s, Nikkor 500mm f4 VR-II

They moved ever closer to us, and to the waiting lions...by this time I was thinking the hunt would not happen. Surely on an open plain like this, with nothing to hide behind, the Lions would be seen by the Eland and they would run away before the Lions could get close enough?

Ever closer they came...I saw the opportunity for some unique photos and braced myself to get the timing just right. Shallow depth-of-field, check!

Nikon D3s, Nikkor 500mm f4 VR-II

Nikon D3s, Nikkor 500mm f4 VR-II

As the two antelopes walked STILL closer to the lions without even blinking...I saw a chance for a split-second photo...

I turn my camera to portrait mode to try and capture something of the lovely dawn sky in the background...pre-focusing on the lioness I waited for the exact moment...

CLICK-CLICK-CLICK

I fire three shots off.
I just HAD to look at the viewfinder to see if I nailed it.
I did. Look at this...
I firmly believe a good photo needs no description, no explanation, it will tell the viewer the entire story, and if possible leave the viewer with more questions. This photo does that - and I view it as one of the best I have captured in my brief photographic career. I also included this photo in my "best of 2012" collection posted here on the blog.

Nikon D3s, Nikkor 500mm f4 VR-II

But doing a quick review of the image at this moment was a rookie mistake. Yes, I make rookie mistakes frequently, especially when I highly anticipate getting a specific shot. Ouch. At the moment I review my shot - the chase starts!! I quickly turn my camera around to landscape orientation and start tracking the running lioness...the D3s locking focus quickly and capturing a lovely sequence of running images...

My rookie mistake had cost me the "takeoff" or "launch" of the lioness...but there's no use in crying over spilt milk.

There's just something about a lion at full speed. I've captured photos of cheetahs sprinting and running with their lithe bodies, but a lion is different. There's a power and presence here that was missing with my running cheetah photos.

Nikon D3s, Nikkor 500mm f4 VR-II

Nikon D3s, Nikkor 500mm f4 VR-II

Nikon D3s, Nikkor 500mm f4 VR-II

The moment they were past us, I saw them jump on the unfortunate Eland behind our position...and then the white dust enveloped them in an impenetrable cloud...

I quickly swung the vehicle around and pulled into a position that would give me a head-on vantage point with a relatively low angle for the ensuing struggle. My eyes could see there was something in the white dust-cloud but I couldn't make it out, much less take a photo. Then the dust started clearing quickly. I eventually discerned something through the viewfinder and locked focus...

This is the scene that emerged...

Nikon D3s, Nikkor 500mm f4 VR-II

As usual the lionesses did all the work...but as soon as the buck was down, the males moved in (one of them was sleeping way at the back up to this point)...

Nikon D3s, Nikkor 500mm f4 VR-II

Lion dynamics seem so unfair...but it's been this way for a looooong time. The Eland was still alive and kicking at this point, the male moved in before the female had strangled it properly...but then he also didn't finish the job. Instead he proceeded to play with it like a housecat would with a mouse it had caught...it was fascinating to watch...

On a processing note: I found these dust-filled images tough to process so that it shows the correct colour and mood as I remember it. The natural contrast picked up by the camera was quite low so I tried not to boost it too much.

Nikon D3s, Nikkor 500mm f4 VR-II

One of the females decided to try her luck and came to "ask permission" to join the game...

Nikon D3s, Nikkor 500mm f4 VR-II

The answer was "NO"...

Nikon D3s, Nikkor 500mm f4 VR-II

The other male (the sleepy one) had strolled up by now and the two of them started finishing off the Eland. I know these images are upsetting to some, but I do like the fact that there's no real gore and guts involved here yet - just the playing out of one of Africa's oldest dramas.

Nikon D3s, Nikkor 500mm f4 VR-II

The morning sun started to break through the clouds now, providing some welcome light that added a different mood to the scene.

Nikon D3s, Nikkor 500mm f4 VR-II

I won't blabber much more. Most of these photos needed no explanation to begin with - but I do love telling the stories of these encounters almost as much as photographing them, so excuse my indulgence. I'll post some more photos and let them speak for themselves. Suffice it to say that the 2 males left very little for the females to eat, and thereafter the jackals took over. This pride made 2 more kills during the next 2 days but none of them were close to the roads and none of them provided such a sighting for those who were lucky to be there.

Nikon D3s, Nikkor 500mm f4 VR-II

Nikon D3s, Nikkor 500mm f4 VR-II

Nikon D3s, Nikkor 500mm f4 VR-II

Nikon D3s, Nikkor 500mm f4 VR-II

Nikon D3s, Nikkor 500mm f4 VR-II

There you have it! I hope you enjoyed reliving this sighting with me. I'm pretty sure I won't see something as great as this as thorough (start-to-finish) as this for a long time.

Morkel Erasmus