A loud banging at my door finally
got me out of bed at 5:00 a.m. I don’t know how Jason does it, but a mere 3-4
hours of sleep mean I’ll be dozing off behind the shutter while waiting for a
good shot. Still, I know that photography’s Golden Hours are paramount. We made
it to the park around sunrise and we soon faced a diversity of animals: a
wildebeest uninterruptedly grazing; a kudu breastfeeding its calf; zebras
staring at us with bewildered eyes; and storks stretching their wings close to
a small pond. A pregnant giraffe also stood in our path to show off its
majestic height and beauty, as if modeling for us; I made sure she had her
share of shots, and we got good footage of animal behavior.
We continued our trip through a
narrow road leading down to the other side of the reserve and stopped as Jason
caught sight of a narrow stream running down the hill. I was impressed by
Jason’s photographic vision, his eagle eye capable of scanning every scene and
finding a frame – that comes with experience, I guess. This side of the park
offered beautiful landscapes but limited wildlife except for lazy hippos
swimming in the pond; the elusive cheetah that we knew to be around was nowhere
to be “spotted”!
After 5 hours, the sun was getting
hotter so we returned to the lodge for a late brunch and some rest before the
evening drive. We talked about arranging an evening helicopter to take some
aerial shots and headed back to the park, all the way to Namboomspruit Golf Course
but unfortunately it was getting late and Jason thought we’d better postpone
until the following morning as the weather was a bit cloudy.
We
continued driving around the park for the next 3 hours. We didn’t spot anything
new, until we finally came across a herd of elephants in a field of tall grass.
It was close to sunset. Accompanied by “Guts” and an armed tracker, Jason
decided to follow the herd on foot. Dan and I saw his bulky figure disappearing
in the field and we were supposed to meet up with them at the other side of the
road but after 15 minutes there was still no sign of them and it was getting
dark. We remained cool and I helped our driver hold the spotlight and direct it
all over the place. I admit I was worried and I didn’t know whether I was on
the lookout for more wildlife or Jason’s trampled body! We finally saw him and
his party walking towards us safe and sound.
It
was almost midnight, and we were still on the search, I was cold, tired and
disappointed. Lions, hyenas, cheetahs and other wild animals were not around! I
think I began dozing off a bit in the back seat when - out of the blue - the
driver spotted a lion walking past our vehicle; that was enough to wake me up
from my lethargy. Finally! There he was, the king of the jungle, the famous
hunter and largest of the wild cats, walking his land freely and proudly. We
approached him slowly and noticed he was limping as if from a recent fight. We
tried not to bother him much while he rested. As I was shooting a few pictures
from the vehicle, I heard Jason say something about stepping out and taking a
ground photo at a closer distance. Yeah, right! But he wasn’t joking! He
actually climbed down the vehicle to get closer to the lion. Our sights were
locked on the lion resting with its eyes closed while Jason was taking his
shots. Suddenly glimpsing Jason, the lion moved his brown hairy mane; his
piercing eyes glittered in the spotlight’s beam and he quickly stood up
stretching his tasseled tail then growled with an eardrum-bursting roar. I was
close to wetting my pants as Jason sprinted back to the vehicle. Jason’s eyes
told me that if the lion hadn’t been tired, his advice to other photographers
would be to think twice before trying such a stunt. We left the lion in peace
and went back to the lodge. On the way, I dozed off for a few minutes but I
woke up just in time to foil Dan and Jason’s plot to film me snoring. I dragged
myself after 19 hours of wildlife tracking to my lodge for just two and a half
hours of rest before the next day.
