D-Day: I arrived at Beirut
International Airport to catch my afternoon flight to Abu Dhabi. Finally, after
a tense 1-hour delay, I sprinted through the airport in a blur of people and
hallways until I barely felt the weight of my heavy 10 kilo camera gear load on
my shoulders. You could say I was overly excited about this trip!
From Abu Dhabi, the flight to
Johannesburg was smooth; after 8 hours, I arrived at O.R. Tambo Airport where I
was met by Simon, the taxi driver. Although
I had done my research on South Africa, what I saw was way beyond what I
expected. I was fascinated by the beauty of Johannesburg: the vast green open
spaces, the clean roads, nice compounds and malls. All along the way I harassed
Simon with questions until we made it to the Dark Chocolate hotel.
It had been raining for the past two
weeks and although it was 8:00 a.m., I snuck into my bed and get some sleep to
store some energy for the hectic shooting days to come. Five hours later, I was
up but Jason was out for lunch, so I spent a few hours reading in the garden
and surfing the internet.
I was anticipating Jason’s arrival
with mixed feelings; not having met him before, I didn’t know what to expect:
what if he turned out to be serious and bossy? My thoughts were interrupted
when he showed up with a big smile drawn on his face. It was a good way to
start. We got to know one another and I immediately liked his
straightforwardness. He sure talked a lot but he was funny as heck! We talked
long and well about his experiences in Africa - one of his favorite wildlife
destinations - as well as his insights about photography and equipment.
Jason heard there was a cyclone
coming, a big storm with heavy showers over Kruger National Park. Several areas
of the park were flooded and inaccessible. I shared his remark that a
photographer is always subject to such unexpected natural circumstances that
make his work more challenging. But that’s also part of the fun! We might end
up covering a different story such as villages affected by the floods; on the
other hand, we might also have higher chances to spot and film wild animals
huddled on high grounds – or not, we’d see.
Videographer Dan Freene and our Gap
Adventures guide Gerhard Swanepoel, aka “Guts” arrived in the afternoon and we
sat down to plan our trip. Since all but two bridges leading to Kruger were
closed, Guts recommended heading east to Entabeni Game Reserve Park. We then
spent the rest of the evening getting to know one another and sharing stories
over a tasty BBQ of steaks, chicken wings and the famous Boerewors sausages. I
reckon I refilled my plate 3 times and Jason remarked that, although I was less
than half his size, I still ate quite a lot.
