This leopard was the star of many of my images one evening in the Okavango Delta. We stayed with him while he lounged in the tree, while another vehicle from the lodge was making its way over so some late arriving guests could spend some time with him as well. Since I had spent over an hour with him at sunset, this night image under spotlight was captured just an opportunity to play around later with editing.As soon as this young cheetah rested her head down, she was invisible in the grass. With the location she was in, I am still in awe of the tracker that spotted her.The king of the savannah heads off to patrol his territory (or find some shade for a nap). Given the amount of time lions sleep, it was probably the less glamorous sounding second option.
If you’d like to see more images like this, head over to my gallery to see some of my favourite. And remember, you can find beautiful textiles with my images on my Vida site.
Does this bring back memories of childhood for anyone else? Of the times when your sibling was being a complete jerk and Mom looked on and told you to sort it out for yourselves???
Happy Monday Everyone!
Got your tail! A pair of leopard cubs play under the watchful gaze of their Mom. Londolozi, May 2017.
The topic this week and last are very similar for me. Last week, I told you that I’d rather be on safari and this week I’m going to tell you that my favourite place is being amongst the elephants in the African bush. I must admit, I don’t really like the concept of a favourite place per se, because it feels like it discounts so many amazing experiences over the years. But, I have often said if I could only limit myself to traveling to one place the rest of my life (and even so far as if I had to choose only one animal to spend the rest of my days with) it would be in Africa amongst the elephants.
There is just something about being in the proximity of elephants, feeling their rumbles, listening to their calls, watching them interact and go about their days that fills me with such peace and joy.
I hope you enjoy my selection of images this week.
Elephants playing in the Boteti River in Botswana.A large bull elephant at Nxai Pan in Botswana.A pair of bull elephants at a small waterhole on Phinda Game Reserve in South Africa.An elephant family drinking at a broken water pipe on Londolozi in South Africa.Pushing on the tree to shake down fruits in the Okavango Delta.Part of a larger herd that I spent time with one morning on Phinda Game Reserve.A desert adapted elephant seen near the Skeleton Coast in Namibia.
I had a completely different image ready to go, but something about it just wasn’t sitting right with me. So I started scrolling through my photo catalogue, and came across the series of images I took of a pride of lions that had treed a leopard, seen during my safari in 2015. That sparked my creativity in a whole new direction.
I wish I would have thought of creating a composite image like this when I was originally editing the series and creating a blog post about it. I think this image captures the essence of the sighting in a way the individual images were unable to. If you didn’t catch the story of the lions versus a leopard the first time around, you can fid it here. There was definitely a lot going on that morning!
I hope you enjoy this last instalment of my multiple exposure project. Next month, on to something new.
There’s a simple answer to the question posed in this week’s photo challenge “Where would you rather be?”.
I’d rather be on safari!
I’d rather be watching the sun set over the bush with a glass of wine in hand, and great company to have a chat with.I’d rather be watching the birds from the shade of a lodge veranda.I’d rather be looking out at the vast expanse of the universe, listening to the sounds of the bush at night.I’d rather be taking the opportunity to discover new cultures.I’d rather be out learning and experiencing different ways of life.I’d rather be looking at this view over lunch, than working away on my computer. I’d rather be dealing with this type of traffic while out for a drive.And of course, I’d much rather be hanging around with elephants.
I was inspired to create something using local images this week. My multiple exposure composite image of the week is a red fox merged with a night sky image, both captured on my property.
I’ve only had a fleeting glimpse of one fox this winter; perhaps this will bring me luck to start seeing them more frequently again.