Sunday, February 15, 2009

Wildlife in the Spot light

Gathering at dusk to board one of two large open trucks equipped with mounted and hand held spot lights we handed over our sign forms recognising that we did so at our own risk... Then a short talk about keeping arms in the truck - because lions like eating arms when they are hungry for a night of hunting!
The first sighting of the night drive at dusk was of a leopard completing the big five in one day - but too fleeting a sighting for me to manage to point my camera in the right direction. Then we followed a troop of baboons returning to spend the night on the tar - but not until after turning the road maintenance vehicles into a play ground.
Shortly after the sun had gone down the cause of an increase in the chatter on the radio and the driver's more purposeful speed was apparent. A group of six or seven young lions moving along the road, starting their night of hunting. The spotlights and high ISO of my camera came into their own - helped by the animals amazing lack of any attention to the two large trucks and multiple Jeeps shinning bright lights at them... The end of a great day - all of the big five in one day, and photographic evidence of four of them, would the next days bring images of the very elusive leopard?

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