His Royal Highness

A safari trip to South Africa of course would not be complete without sightings of the undisputed king of the savannah: the Lion (Panthera leo, Leeuw). Mostly, we came across lone male Lions, only on one occasion did we see a larger pride. This pride had killed a huge Buffalo in the morning and when we found them, they had just finished lunch. A very interesting thing happened when the rest of the Buffalo herd came back to the scene, chased the Lions from their kill and took an hour to say goodbye to their deceased friend. The Lions did not dare to come anywhere near the carcass, except for one bold male. He approached the carcass, but some of the larger Buffalo immediately attacked and the Lion had to run for his life.

He ran right in front of our vehicle, a very memorable moment! He laid down on the other side of the road and kept a close look on the carcass. I captured several portraits of him staring to his trophy and rivals. Because the sun was setting behind the Lion, some of the warm light spilled through his manes. By underexposing about two full stops, I got a much more dramatic image than the straightforward portraits I had taken only seconds before.

Male Lion; Canon 5D Mark II w. 500/4L IS; 1/200s at F4 and ISO400; beanbag from vehicle 

Mr. Ferocious

When checking in for our stay at Tamboti tented camp, the staff told us there was a resident Honey Badger (Mellivora capensis, Honingdas) who visited the tents at night. We should just ignore it and everything would be fine.On the one hand, I looked forward to meeting the badger. They are mainly nocturnal and therefore are rarely seen, so this was to be a great opportunity to spot one. On the other hand, the Honey Badger is notorious for being one of the most ferocious animals in Africa. I mean, they bite off the head of a snake for breakfast and are immune to their venom! The first night, when already asleep, we were awoken by a lot of noise and it got closer and closer! The next morning, we found our dustbin on its side (and all the other dustbins in camp, that's why the noise came closer and closer).

Could have been the monkeys. The second evening, we were having diner on the small veranda when the Honey badger appeared. He ignored us, stood upright against the dustbin and turned it over. He threw the lid open (almost humanlike) and walked inside, took what was to his liking and only came out every now and then to check out if everything was safe. He returned several times that evening and night, much to our enjoyment. He did not seem to be bothered by our presence.

The third evening, I had the camera with a wide-angle lens and a wireless remote on a beanbag near the dustbin. As if on command, the Badger showed up and performed his act. He had a strong preference for pearbrine, not meat as we had expected. When he had turned over the dustbin, I had to change the composition so crawled behind the camera. I was 2 meters from Mr. Ferocious and he did not care at all! When I was back on the veranda, he took the stairs and came towards us. That was close enough and a small movement of my foot sent it back to the dustbin. He came back several times to see if something had been added to the pile of rubbish. An amazing experience and one of those surprises the bush has on offer!

Honey Badger; Canon 5D mark II w. 17-40/4 L; 1/30s (to include some ambient light) at F8 and ISO800; manual flash and beanbag

Got Pussy

Out of Africa again, unfortunately.

We had two wonderful weeks in the Kruger National Park and were lucky enough to see all of the Magnificent Seven (Elephant, Rhino, Buffalo, Lion, Leopard, Cheetah and Wild Dog).
Most memorable was the sighting of a Lion (Panthere leo, Leeuw) pride at a Buffalo (Syncerus caffer, Buffel) kill. A huge herd of about 70 Buffalo came back for the funeral and chased away the mighty Lions from the carcass. Only after an hour or so, when the herd had moved on, did the Lions dare to appear and feast again. Very interesting behavior and a privilege to be there and watch it from the front row!

Most meaningful to me was the sighting of two Leopards (Panthera pardus, Luipaard) in and near a sausage tree. I had craved for a daylight Leopard sighting since my first trip to Africa in 2002 and never got to see, let alone photograph, one. Slowly, the elusive Leopard had become the main frustration in life. I am happy that the frustration has finally come to an end and in addition, I am even happy with the photos I got. I like the backlit steam of breath coming from its powerful jaws. The only thing is, I now have a taste for more. Guess Africa will see me coming back again (and again, and again).

Leopard; Canon 5D Mark II w. 500/4 L IS and 1.4x; 1/160s af F5.6 and ISO800; beanbag from vehicle

Natural Zoomblur

Just to keep you busy during my stay in South Africa, here's an image of some time ago of a Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale, Paardenbloem). Considered by most people as just a weed, I think the Dandelion offers millions of possibilities for all kinds of interesting images. In the flowering phase, they are just flowers, but when they arrive in the fuzzy post-flowering phase, they are perfect for experimenting with abstracts.

This was taken from above, looking down into the flower. The out-of-focus seeds give this the look of a zoomblurred image, which I like a lot.


Best thing about Dandelions: whenever you cannot find a suitable subject for photography, Dandelions are always around somewhere in the vicinity, waiting to be photographed!

Dandelion; Canon 5D mark II w. 150/2.8 macro; 1/100s at F2.8 and ISO200; tripod and remote release