This week we thought we’d venture back in time, so you might see some of the browns of Winter coming through in the photos and wonder how they got there. I’ve rummaged around through some old photos of the big cats that I took before I began contributing to the blog and pulled them up to remember the Majingilane when they were younger, the cubs that never made it, and just some of the animals that may not have cracked the nod for that week’s photographic post for some reason or other.
Enjoy this week in almost-forgotten-pictures…
The Camp Pan male catches his breath after hoisting an impala kill that he had stolen from the Tamboti female. A small hyena had come into view and the leopard realised other bigger hyenas might be nearby, so thought it prudent to get the carcass to safety. f3.2, 1/500, ISO 1000
Does anyone know this male leopard? This was taken over a year ago at Shingalana Dam. While watching the Marthly male leopard on a kill, Mike Sithole heard the distant sound of leopards fighting. Rushing to the scene, we came upon this scared young individual who had just been chased by the Camp pan male. Most likely a nomadic leopard (he was relatively skittish around the vehicles), he hasn’t been seen since on Londolozi. It looks like he has a 2:1 spot pattern. If anyone knows his ID it’d be much appreciated. f4, 1/160, ISO 1600
The Mashaba female, back when she was still the Vomba Young Female, feeds on her impala kill high in the boughs of a marula tree. This was literally 50m from camp about 2 years ago. The kill was subsequently stolen by the Camp Pan male. He stole about 3 more kills from her in the following 2 weeks. f10, 1/1250, ISO 400
A miss is as good as a mile. Not anticipating their movements in time, I was too late to snap a much-coveted picture of the two Tsalala lionesses walking past one of the Londolozi signs. The sign looks great here, but the blurred lionesses in the background serve as a reminder to always think ahead! f4, 1/100, ISO 100
The Mhangeni male leopard, easily recognisable by his opaque blue right eye, watches a warthog burrow intently. No warthogs emerged, so he wandered off to seek more likely prey. f4, 1/500, ISO 200
The Mashaba young female wiles away the afternoon in the boughs of a Knobthorn Acacia. f3.2, 1/1000, ISO 320
The Mashaba female watches an impala herd from atop a termite mound. f2.8, 1/1250, ISO 640
The male cheetah, near the river east of camp. He was being followed at a distance by the young Tsalala lioness, so kept on having to glance behind him to see how close she was. He didn’t have a kill, and without the pride near her the lioness was not confident, so eventually she lost interest in the cheetah and settled down to sleep. f2.8, 1/2500, ISO 320
The male cheetah in a typical pose down in the Open Areas. f11, 1/1000, ISO 640
Him again, being closely watched by some Zebra. f4, 1/125, ISO 800
One of the Tsalala cubs gingerly paws at the water while it’s sibling looks on from atop a hippo carcass. f3.5, 1/1000, ISO 800
One of my favourite photos. This was of a young cub from the 2011 Tsalala litters. I love the photo for the innocent and curious expression in the cub’s eye. f5.6, 1/500, ISO 400
The Majingilane with the missing canine hesitates before approaching the Tsalala Pride, who were sleeping in the shade nearby. f5, 1/640, ISO 200
The Majingilane line up opposite Varty Camp. An important tip I can impart to people is to use the Auto setting when choosing your white balance. I used to shoot on the ‘cloudy’ setting, but looking back at my old photos I see now that the photos look far too warm and orange. You can always readjust the setting later in Photoshop. f8, 1/400, ISO 800
The Sparta pride had taken down a young giraffe near camp, early in 2011. Two of the Majingilane had killed the mother nearby. All full of giraffe meat, the lions settled down to groom themselves and each other. Here the scar nose male uses his rough, barbed tongue to lick the blood off his paw. f6.3, 1/400, ISO 400
Written and Photographed by James Tyrrell
As always, stunning photos Jamo! The Tsalala cub one is utterly delightful; also loved the Mashaba female, where her face is framed by the acacia twigs, a great shot. 🙂
Beautiful photos James! I especially like the one of the Tsalala cub and amazing to see how huge the paws are on the Majingilane!
As always–fantastic pictures. When the picture of the Camp Pan Male started downloading, I knew immediately as his ears appeared it was him. What a magnificent creature!
Wow!
A feast for the eyes! I never tire of seeing the life in your corner of paradise..
Thank you for sharing.
Please rummage some more? You do make it difficult most weeks to “select a favourite” but here you have excelled yourself once again, thank you James & Londolozi!
Beautiful photo…the scar nose lion licking its paw. How blessed are you to be there all the time. We will arrive there on 10 Jan 2014…. Can not wait.
Wonderful to hear Karenza, we look forward to welcoming you later on this week. Safe travels!