An ode to the Impala

The Impala

Stately and graceful…and plentiful…this third quality I listed probably contributes to its undervaluation as a wildlife sighting or photographic opportunity. 

In areas like the Greater Kruger Park I will give you a surety of 100 to 1 in odds that your first sighting upon entering the park will be impala. They just seem to be there in limitless numbers. Yet these populous antelopes can also provide some interesting moments, if one dares to sit with them a while and observe instead of the customary drive-by. 

I get that many overseas visitors to Africa want to move on to “bigger things” given their often limited time in the reserves…but those that have a passion for watching natural history unfold will do well to spend some time with them next time you are in the field.

Here are some images I have captured of these antelopes over the years...

The last rays of daylight kiss and envelope this stately buck’s profile. 

These two young males show separate stages of horn development. 

A young fawn receives much-needed nourishment from its vigilant mother.

Those who have seen impalas in rut will know that the males can really have at it. The intensity is visible in the eyes here!

An impressive ram in the Mara Triangle (Kenya) against an oncoming storm.

Dwarfed by the immense woodlands of Mana Pools, Zimbabwe.

Close-up study of this graceful antelope in the best kind of light. 

So that is my humble tribute to the Impala in the form of a photo essay.
Which image did you like the most?
Drop me a comment below.

God bless you

Morkel Erasmus

Sabi Sands: February 2010 (Part 1)

Some of you may recall that I have been posting some WAY overdue trip reports on my blog as well. I am still far behind, but I thought it best to get going again...my last report was a series of posts on a trip with my wife to the Kruger National Park in 2009 - you can read them HERE.

Let's kick this one off then - back in February of 2010, my wife and I were invited to spend 2 nights in the luxurious Leopard Hills Private Game Reserve within the Sabi Sands Game Reserve (part of the Greater Kruger ecosystem). It's one of the most prolific areas for leopard and lion viewing, and we were pretty excited to visit our friend Marius Coetzee who was at that time a full-time field guide at the lodge. We decided to latch a few nights in the Kruger National Park to the back-end of this trip, and we also left home VERY early on the morning of 18 February so as to be able to reach the Malelane gate and make our way through the southern section of Kruger before checking in to the Sabi Sands around lunchtime.

As always, clicking on the photos displays them at the best resolution and sharpness, against a nice dark backdrop :)

It was an overcast morning with a slight drizzle throughout. The animals didn't look overtly happy either. Our first find on our short drive through Kruger was a herd of impala rams. These two were nudging closer in the rain.

This white-backed vulture was also looking very sorry for himself...

We came across the remains of a kill. It was too far off to see what the carcass was - but the rain did not deter the spotted hyaenas and the vultures to contest each other for the remains...

Summer is also the time when beautiful migrant birds like the European Roller are "in town"!

The view from this famous lookout "kopje"/inselberg on the road between Malelane and Skukuza is always lovely - and even more so in the lush summer months.

It was a quiet drive, but nice nonetheless. There was one more obligatory stop before we would leave the Kruger Park through Kruger Gate and enter the Sabi Sands - the famous Lake Panic bird hide close to Skukuze...despite the rain.

A lovely Malachite Kingfisher was following his fishing pattern despite the drizzle. 

This was my first outing using the Nikon D3s (at that time the top of the range Nikon DSLR and the undisputed king of low light photography). It was this trip that convinced me that somehow I would have to get my hands on one of these cameras on a permanent basis (it was a loan unit from Nikon South Africa).

These photos below were taken at settings like ISO-4000, and they are also significant crops (the longest lens I had to use on this trip was the Nikkor 200-400mm VR which is not ideal for photographing small birds like these).

We arrived at Leopard Hills and checked into our rooms - what opulent luxury!!
This was the view from our bath...

After having our lunch and taking a nap, we prepared for our first afternoon drive...which was delayed due to a sudden heavy thunderstorm moving through the area. When we eventually did get out on our drive, we were met by the most wonderful scene...a herd of Cape Buffalo was lying in an open patch called the Ximungwe Clearing, and above them was a spectacular rainbow!

The rest of the afternoon was eventful - with an enjoyable sighting of the Hlaba N'kunzi leopardess and her cub feasting on a kill, albeit in a dense thicket which made photography nigh impossible. We eventually enjoyed a lovely sundowner somewhere out in the bush.

What would the next day hold??


Morkel Erasmus

Ode to the Impala

There are so many fantastic photographic subjects in the African bush, and so many of them are iconic and highly sought after by tourists...yet there's one gentle graceful little guy that often gets ignored, purely because of the sheer numbers in which you find them (think about how many you see in the Kruger National Park).

A couple of years ago I wrote a guest post for the Africa Geographic blog, which amounted to a photo essay to celebrate the Impala. You can read the entire essay HERE.

Thanks for taking the time to read and view my work, I appreciate every single view and comment. Feel free to share my blog with people who have an interest in African nature photography.

Morkel Erasmus

PhotoShare: Impala Portrait

A quick PhotoShare for you, folks!

This image was captured late one afternoon in the northern region of the Kruger National Park, South Africa. The sun was on the verge of disappearing over the horizon, and I loved the way the last rays of light kissed the outline of this Impala ram, particularly the horns.

Once again, the Nikon D3s has allowed me to capture amazing clarity and detail at a very high ISO setting.

(Nikon D3s & Nikkor 500mm f4 VR-II)  f5.6  |  1/1000 SS  |  ISO-4500

I am as busy as ever, and am looking forward to spending some time in the Kalahari at the end of this month...

Keep well!

Morkel Erasmus

PhotoShare: Impala Leap

Hi everyone! We are back from a wonderful trip to the Kruger National Park. I am so far behind on working through images of previous trips, but I have managed to work through some images from this recent trip already since there were quite a few special sightings. I will do a lengthy blog post about an awesome leopard sighting we had soon...but for now, here's an image for you to enjoy.

This young impala male was leaping very gracefully at the start of its run, and I was happy to be able to fit him into the frame and also to be at quite a low vantage point relative to the buck's position.

(Nikon D3s  |  Nikkor 500mm f4 VR-II)  f5.6  |  1/1600 SS  |  ISO-800

See you soon with a more lengthy post!

Morkel Erasmus