The Three Sentinels...

The best wildlife photographs are those that open a window, even if its a brief one,  into the lives of their subjects. In order to do this you have to have oodles of patience, an affinity for nature and its creatures and an ability to spends hours, days and weeks with a particular subject, often to catch just the briefest moment of action. 

Sometimes you can be lucky and stumble onto something amazing, thats "the right place at the right time" sort of luck that doesn't come around as often as you would think. For me and this particular shot of a trio of Three Banded Coursers in Zimbabwe's Mana Pools National Park I was lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time. Having seen the birds from a bit of a distance, just off the track, and having had no luck trying to photograph them earlier in the day I was determined not to waste this opportunity.

I approached the trio, ever so slowly and avoiding revving the engine, they gradually became accustomed to our presence and relaxed a little, thankfully not straying off the road into the long grass. Judging that I wasn't too close for my long prime lens I left the car idling and VERY cautiously climbed out of the car and with minimal movements lay down next to my open drivers door.

Thankful to now be at eye level with the birds, engaging portraits of animals are always better when you are at your subjects' eye level, I dared not breath too hard from fear of chasing them off. I started slowly snapping away, the sound of the shutter and my small movements obscured by the hum of the idling engine. 

The trio eventually cottoned on to what I was up to and scarpered around a little, not too frightened to head off indefinitely and possibly intrigued as to what this prone 'thing' on the ground was up to. The movements of the 3 birds ended up with me getting quite a few landscape and portrait options that were decent shots but didn't quite work for me. This shot happened just before my neck became permanently contorted and I was spasming with cramp.

What I love about the shot is the eye contact from all three birds, the golden light of the setting sun in the long yellow grass, and the standoffish, defensive gate of the  bird in the foreground, suggesting that he/she? is the boss and is going to defend the home turf!

Where: Mana Pools National park Zimbabwe

How: Lots of patience, lying flat on the floor and shooting under my landcruiser!

Camera info: Nikon D3 with 500mm F4 VR Nikkor prime, ISO 640 exposure 1/640th @ f5 

If you would like to learn more about photography why not join us on a course, you can then use your newly acquired knowledge in conjunction with some wildlife lenses that you can rent from us...

Fish Eagles are Bullies...

Last year Chris spent a few days exploring the advantages of an "armchair safari" at African Bush Camps Kanga Pan Lodge for an article for British Airways' Highlife Magazine. Published in the March edition, you can read the full story below...

Chris watched this feathered bully harass the patient Grey Heron for 3 full days.

Fish eagles are bullies. They wait atop a tall tree near the waterhole I am observing, ominously watching as a grey heron painstakingly inched closer to its unsuspecting prey. When the Heron has found the right spot, it stands motionless for an age until one of the surprisingly numerous catfish in the small waterhole swims within reach of its poised head, neck taught in readiness for a fast strike into the water. 

Only about 1 in every 10 attempts I observed was successful and when the heron finally managed a catch, it had the arduous task of turning the wriggly catfish around so it could swallow it head first, to avoid the catfish’s lethal dorsal barbs jamming in its throat. It was during the heron’s prolonged attempt to turn the catfish headfirst that the ‘waterhole mafia’ swooped in silently, bearing sharp talons aimed at its victims head. 

Inevitably the poor heron dropped its hard-won bounty while making a valiantly noisy but fruitless attempt to ward off the fish-thief as the fish eagle flapped nonchalantly off to its high branch to feast on its spoils. The seemingly crestfallen grey heron watched forlornly for a while, then seemed to shrug it off and continue its patient stalking routine and the whole drama would repeat itself.

I was watching this wilderness drama live from the deck of Kanga Camp in Zimbabwe’s Mana Pools National Park. Built astride Kanga Pan, the camp’s deck is only meters from the only source of water in the area, which in the dry season means it is a veritable hotspot of animal activity. Unique to Mana Pools, Kanga Camp is situated 15 kilometers inland from the Zambezi River on it own private concession, affording you exclusivity and intimacy with your surroundings. 

Expertly positioned to afford the best view of the action from the lower deck sits a deep, sturdy, invitingly pillowed whicker lounge suite. Bedecked with enough fluffy cushion to be envelopingly comfortable and spacious enough to accommodate me, several others and my vast array of camera equipment. The couch will serve as my observation post for the next few days, my throne of decadence if you would.

From my throne I was privy to all the comings and goings at the waterhole, and they were numerous and frequent. As I arrived in the camp, my luggage hadn't even touched the ground when I had my binoculars firmly planted on my face, observing 8 different species of raptors either drinking at the pan or hunting among the thick foliage of the towering African Ebony (Diospyros mespiliformis) and Nyala Berry (Xanthocercis zambesiaca) trees that provide thick shade to the camp’s public areas throughout the day. Once I was done ogling the birds of prey I turned my attention to the bustling waterhole, full swing into the mid-morning rush hundreds of green spotted, african mourning and cape turtle doves were noisily flapping down to the waters edge, often spooking the notoriously shy family of kudu. 

Taking no heed of the raucous birdlife was a pair of grumpy looking ‘daga boys’ - old buffalo bulls who have taken retirement from the larger herds in their advanced age and find solace in each others cantankerous company. A troop of 50 plus baboons complete the bustling scene with their inherent human like poses and expressions, adding a chaotic sense of humour to the otherwise peacefully industrious scene.

I settled down into my feathered throne to watch the myriad of fascinating encounters unfolding in front of me, just in time to observe a thirsty herd of elephants run the last 100 meters of dry, dusty plain to the waters edge, so grateful for the quenching coolth of the water that they visibly couldn't decide whether to drink deep or drench themselves from head to wrinkly toe.

I reveled for most of the morning in the diversity of bird and animal life congregating around the pan, until a polite call for brunch stirred me into action and I used musclesfor the first time in several hours to haul myself over to the delicious looking meal. Eating was no easy task though, as soon as I looked down to decide what tasty morsel to devour next there was some commotion from the waterhole, a juvenile African goshawk catching a green spotted dove or a large bull elephant noisily drinking from the borehole output just meters from where I sat. 

Brunch, delicious as it was, totally exhausted me and I was thankful to avoid the scorching midday hours in the sanctuary of my luxuriously appointed room. Even from the cool comfort of my bed I could keep half an eye on the action at the pan, all the rooms at Kanga Camp have their own unique view of the waterhole.

Back on my throne in the late afternoon, the manic activity of the morning seemed to have cooled along with the temperature and I was able to watch more intimate moments a bit more closely. A mother Zebra nuzzling its nervous young foal towards the water and a pair of saddle billed storks repeatedly probing the shallows. The subtle sounds of the bush enveloped me and all seemed well and at peace with the earth as it slowly turned a glowing orange then red as the sun slid rapidly towards the horizon. As I lazily contemplated the many salubrious advantages of my “Armchair Safari” I was jolted into action and a hasty grab for my camera by the sudden arrival of a pack of 11 Wild Dog and their 7 pups, eager for a drink they unknowingly provided the coup-d’etate to my day of quiet observance. 

Kanga Camp offers one of the best “Armchair Safari” experiences you are likely to find and should be on anyone’s list of things to do when visiting Mana Pools. The lush environment of Kanga Camp and laid back but fruitful wildlife watching provides the perfect way to ease into bush life, especially if you are hot off a long international flight and several bumpy domestic ones. Mana Pools offers some of the most diverse landscapes and unique game watching opportunities in Zimbabwe, so it would be wise not to halt your journey at Kanga Camp. African Bush Camps, who own and run Kanga also operate a mobile tented safari operation, Zambezi Life Styles, that will afford you the opportunity to see the Mana Pools floodplain in all its glory and in luxurious style. For more information contact African Bush Camps on info@africanbushcamps.com and see their website www.africanbushcamps.com

Streaky Star Trails...

As you can see from this photo you can create a lot of drama once the sun has gone down, and with the right equipment and a little bit of know-how its not as difficult as you may be imagining. What you are seeing is effectively a 3 hour exposure that has captured the movement of the stars as the Earth spins around it southern axis. However, for some reason or other, modern digital cameras just don't like very long exposures (hours not minutes) so we use another nifty menu option in the camera called the intervalometer timer. This basically allows us to tell the camera to take a picture every x number of minutes or hours for a certain period of time. This means that instead of doing a very long exposure we can lots of shorter ones and then stack them together in photoshop to create the same streaky or 'trail' effect.

In order for the stacking to be effective each picture needs to be exactly the same and as you are shooting a 30 second exposure it would make sense that a stable tripod is required for a successful star trail. As dramatic as the stars are on their own you will also need some form of foreground to tie the whole picture together and create a pleasing composition. The fantastic and prolific Albida trees on the Mana Pools floodplain provided the perfect foreground for this particular shot. So to the technicalities of shooting. Once you have found your foreground you need to point your camera just left of South, this will ensure you get the circle as appose to just streaks across the sky, and set your cameras ISO to 6400. Ideally you need to shoot with your widest lens as well as your fastest aperture (F2.8 is ideal) and set your focus on manual and then on infinity on the lens focus ring. Make sure you horizon is straight as you don't want to have to crop hundreds of pictures!

Once you are satisfied you have set up everything then find your cameras' intervalometer or interval timer shooting in the case of Nikon and see it to take 1 picture every 30 seconds for 2-3 hours. Be sure to shoot in RAW you you can tinker with the light balance afterwards and ensure that there is minimal ambient light (torches, camp lights etc) falling on your foreground. And also watch out, creating star trails can get addictive!

Backlighting can be the Best...

Its often difficult to capture dramatic environmental portraits of animals. So imagine my joy when one day in Mana Pools National Park I came around the corner and saw this small herd of Waterbuck watching me intently! Mana is renowned for scenes of the last rays of light filtering through the Albida forests and of course whenever this happens there is no game around to add some interest to the scene's foreground.

Thankfully not on this occasion as I managed to position myself at an angle that utilized the stunning golden backlight. Using backlight can sometimes be a tricky affair, you need to ensure that you are not directly in front of the sun as this will cause glare and refraction that will result in circles of confusion and rainbows all over your image (the result of the light bouncing around your lenses' glass as well as the lenses' end element coating). So its best to offset the sun at a bit of an angle. This as well as the background will then cause some tricky metering, the general rule for backlighting your subjects is to underexpose but you don't want to loose detail in your main subject so the amount will vary from scene to scene. In this instance I metered off the highlights but not directly off the sun and the light was soft enough to ensure I still maintained detail in the Waterbuck.

This must be one of my favorite recent shots from Mana Pools and goes to show how technical knowledge and its application goes a long way in creating that 'perfect image'!

Want to learn more about photography and wildlife techniques? Why not join Chris on a Photographic Safari Workshop in some of Southern and East Africa's best wildlife areas? See more info on the website here.