Another week at Londolozi is coming to an end and still without much-deserved Summer rain. The dry spell brings on new challenges countrywide.
Survival of the fittest is never more relevant than at a time like this, as particularly dry conditions act as a natural purge, allowing only the strongest to survive.
For the past week the grass has shortened and there is great visibility through the bush, making it easier to see deeper into the heart of the catena. The Sand River has started flowing due to rain further west in the catchment area, and the last waterholes draw in those needing quench their thirst.
This all creates great opportunities for some exceptional game viewing to materialize.
Enjoy this Week in Pictures…
A water monitor lizard crosses the road as we leave camp for afternoon game-drive. (ISO 500 f/5.6 at 1/1600 sec)
Grey clouds covering the western sky gave the golden light breaking through a beautiful colour contrast to a white backed vulture in flight. (ISO 640 f/5.3 at 1/3200 sec)
A silhouette of an African Openbill, fairly widespread in Southern African yet uncommon at Londolozi. (ISO 640 f/5.6 at 1/500 sec)
The Ndzanzeni female peers through a small gap of a tree, I feel this picture is an apt representation of her name. Ndzanzeni simply translates to “something so beautiful but out of reach” (ISO320 f/5.6 at 1/1250 sec).
Two becomes four. I have been experimenting with different photographic techniques; multiple exposure can be very tricky when it comes to wildlife photography. It is always fun to play around, push boundaries and break photographic “rules”. (ISO 320 f/5.6 at 1/1000 sec)
We were fortunate to get an out-of-the-ordinary low angle perspective in a drainage line while following one of the omnipresent and tremendously powerful Matimba males. (ISO 1600 f/5.3 at 1/640 sec)
The Piva male peering over his shoulder at the Tamboti female. They had been mating for the past week. (ISO 640 f/5.6 at 1/1600 sec)
Attack of the flies. (ISO 640 f/5.6 at 1/640 sec)
A single hippo bull and his companions. (ISO 250 f/5.6 at 1/2600 sec)
Three hyenas readily took to the water to try to cope with the afternoon heat. (ISO 640 f/2.8 at 1/400 sec)
The fact that they are ectothermic creatures often allows one to see crocodiles sun bathing near the water’s edge. This large crocodile had its mouth open to prevent overheating by allowing heat to escape by evaporative cooling from the moist inner parts of its mouth. (ISO 200 f/5.0 at 1/4000 sec)
A well-fed male cheetah showed a great deal of opportunism by stalking a one week old waterbuck calf that was left hidden in the ever shortening grass by its mother. (ISO 500 f/5.6 at 1/2000 sec)
I have found motion blur is more trial and error than anything else. A bunch of Red-billed Oxpeckers drinking gave us the opportunity to practice this deliberately imperfect technique using the shutter priority setting. (ISO 800 f/40 at 1/20 sec)
“Ground lion”. This is the meaning of the word chameleon. Very rarely do we get to see chameleons during the day. This sighting was the result of an incredible spot from tracker Lucky Shabangu. (ISO 400 f/5.6 at 1/2500 sec)
With or without rain we have been having some incredible sunsets and there’s no better place to have a safari sun downer then on top of a crest while an young elephant bull passes through. (ISO 500 f/4.8 at 1/1200 sec)
Stunning images Don! Works of art every time!
More beautiful pictures. The lion shot was my favorite!
Great pictures Don! I especially like the images of the Matimba and the Chameleon, but they’re all great shots. Lucky is an outstanding Tracker and I was very fortunate to have him as my Tracker when I was at Londolozi for 5 days in 2013. There were two different times in the 5 days that he saw a Chameleon on a tree leaf, in the dark, while driving on our way back to camp from afternoon game drive. Absolutely amazing!