Welcome to the latest entry from Africa Live!
Our last afternoon drive at Mara camp and what I was praying for actually happened!
With all the cloud we have had, I was really hoping for some worse weather, yes worse! Particularly wishing for rain! I love working with animals in the rain, especially cats!! Their behavior changes and they often end up doing these marvelous head shakes when they stand up.
Well rain it did. Read on to see how we and the wildlife of the Masai Mara got on….
We started off early as always and made our way to where we roughly left off with the Lions previously.
Our luck was semi in as they were to be found, but in an area of thick bushes and in a mood to stay put. We waiting for a short while whilst we assessed their mood but soon realized they really were settled and made our way onwards into the conservancy.
The conservancy was actually very quiet that morning, still and peaceful but very hard to spot anything after a night’s rain (which is surprising as that often has the opposite effect!). We of course made a stop by our cubs on the way back to camp where mother still hadn’t returned from the night before…
Still very well hidden thankfully and with the smarts to stay that way as the Baboons were close by putting us all on edge.
Waiting for those precious moments when they would pop their heads up to see if mum was returning.
Altogether now. 1,2,3… “AHHHHH’
All these cub shots taken at ISO god knows what, really pushing the D800 in ways I didn’t imagine it could handle when I first heard about the 36 megapixels it has. A hugely versatile camera that has become my go to device for this trip.
After our lunch and rest we made our way back out to a more open area to see what we could find. As this image below shows, a storm was most certainly coming our way and I made the decision to stay with the sleeping pride (when they are like this I would normally move on) as I knew what we had in store should the storm pass over.
This was about all the effort seen for the first hour or so.
Soon the rain did creep in and this certainly altered the cats mood from totally relaxed to begrudging wet and unsettled (yet still tired as you can see..)
Some moved off to a more secluded area as the cold air and drizzle began to arrive.
As the rain drew in harder I started to try and spot yawns and shakes ahead of time for the group. Having worked with Lions many times in the rain before you (often, not always!) see the signs. It took a bit of persuasion to the group to stay put as the rain began to really lash down, but everyone was (mostly!) protected from the rains by our car’s covers and gear is surprisingly hardy to elements these days (or so I hoped!)
Well I am sure glad I insisted as everyone’s cameras survived and we ended up with a lovely sequence.
Wow! Quite a sequence if I do say so myself. My attempts at barking out suggested shutters, isos and pre shake timings seemed to mostly pay off as the gang delivered great images as well. I know a few in the car were very hesitant with their gear and the rain but moments like these really are worth the effort and discomfort. It’s why we are there and the cameras can handle it.
Well until next time! Hope you enjoyed, thanks for stopping by. Please do head over to facebook and/or twitter if you have any questions or just to say hi. I really do appreciate it!
Richard.
If you have been enjoying these posts please drop me a line on Facebook or twitter as I love getting your messages and it spurs me on to do more. Questions on any aspect of the trip welcome too! We also have ONE LAST tent on our September 2014 Safari if you fancy seeing it all for yourself and improving your own photography.
Below you can see all the current blog entries followed by an archive of past diaries made when running my photography workshops out in the bush!
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