Ever
since we came back from Africa I have been looking at this group of photos and
trying to understand the feelings that I have about them and that I had while
making these pictures, those moments in the bush in the presence of this
animal.
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| Click to view it larger (I recommend it!) |
I
love going to the bush and on game drives.
The wide open spaces and an absence of the daily hustle and bustle is
very soothing and really helps me unwind and just completely switch off. At the same time I feel this edge, an excitement
for what the day potentially has in store.
I always want to come away from a trip to the bush having seen
cats. Big cats hold such an aura and
being around them can be a truly intoxicating experience. Recently, for reasons I cannot quite explain,
I have had a growing fascination with Africa’s large predators. Maybe it is because I now live in New Zealand
and my opportunities to get out and see them in their natural habitats are
limited to once every year or two….. I’m not entirely sure, all I knew was that
when we were in Kruger over September I wanted to see cats, hopefully lions but
top of the list was leopards.
For
three days we had no success. Saw lots
of spoor and sign but no physical sightings.
I know that these kind of things are down to chance, being in the right
place at the right time and a good dose of luck. It is nature and it dances to its’ own beat
and I get that so by the time our last full day arrived I had come to terms
with the fact we probably wouldn’t get lucky this time and I was ok with
that. These animals are so so elusive
and nothing is set in stone on a safari.
We
spent our last morning on a game drive with a guide out of Nkambeni Tented camp
called Clayton. He had mentioned the day
before he’d almost seen the full crazy eight, only missing out on Wild Dogs.
That means he saw Buffalo, Elephant, Hyena, Cheetah, Lion and Leopard all in
one day!! Luck obviously traveled with
this guy, that morning we saw Hyena and had a fleeting glimpse of lion. The best was saved for last though.
On
a lonely bush track, in the midday heat and only about two or so kilometers
from the Numbi gate we came across this gorgeous leopardess completely at ease.
I
remember feeling elated, we’d found probably one of the most difficult animals
in the bush to find – certainly the most difficult of the big cats and here we
were perched no more than 15 meters from her tree. The next little while was a blur as I clicked
away rapidly and fiddled with settings and dials to make sure I could record
this moment.
I
then remember feeling completely overwhelmed.
I was feeling that intoxication I alluded to earlier, it totally
consumed me and to be perfectly frank I felt like I was almost on the verge of
tears. They were not sad tears just tears
of utter joy. Joy to be able to share
the same space as this incredible, incredible animal.
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| Click to view it larger (I recommend it!) |
Reflecting
back on it now I think all that emotion stems from the realization of how lucky
I was to be in that situation. I know
that there are many people in the world who dream of being in a scenario just
like that but sadly can never be so and that is why I love photography because I
can record that moment in time and preserve it and then share it with whomever
wishes to look. That is a truly
wonderful thing and something I do not take lightly. These animals are so precious and it would be
such a sad state of affairs if we could no longer venture out there and be
consumed by their intoxicating beauty and elegance.
As
if to emphasis how lucky we had been, the following morning we took one last brief
drive through the park and a leopard (possibly the same one as this was not all
that far from the tree we saw the leopard in the previous day) slipped through
the scrub near the road and melted away…. A tantalizing tease that said “come
back again some time, you might get lucky again and see one of us”
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| Click to view it larger (I recommend it!) |
