Making the most of what you have.

We just returned from a 4 day safari in Samburu National Reserve in northern Kenya. Usually when we go on safari we choose the "self-drive" option. On this trip we decided to treat ourselves to a fly-in package - we flew from Wilson airport in Naiorbi to a small airstrip in Buffalo Springs National Reserve (adjacent to Samburu) and were collected by our lodge (Elephant Bedroom Camp). We were then treated to 2 game drives a day in an open sided (and open roofed) safari vehicle, and all meals (3 course lunch and 4 course dinner).

I will be writing a full "travel blog" about the safari itself over the next few days. For this posting I'd like to reflect on some curious behaviors and habits I observed amongst the wildlife over the last few days.

One of the biggest advantages of one of these "all-inclusive" safari packages is that you are provided with a vehicle AND a driver. In the self-drive version I am usually the driver which can really cramp my photography style, so having a large vehicle with open sides and top was a great aid to getting some good shots. In Samburu (as with most parks in Kenya) the proportion of people on "self-drive" safari's is very low, with most vehicles we encountered driven by professional safari guides. Many of these tourists were on photographic safari's - game viewing with the primary purpose of photographing the animals.

Elephant Bedroom Camp Landrover

On the morning of our third day we encountered a Southern Lesser Kudu doe with her calf. We also encountered 2 photo safari vehicles. The two safari vehicles each had 3 photographers, each person sporting a long lens of between 400 and 800mm of zoom. As we sat watching the buck (and as I tried to line up the best shot) amongst the sounds of nature I heard the click-click-click of shutters firing at 4 to 6 frames per second. I realized in that moment that we were Wildlife Paparazzi candidly capturing every movement the buck made.

Lens envy is defined (by me :-) as "a feeling of discontent or covetousness with regard to another's photographic lenses", and I for a few brief moments felt it! Many of the people were using the same lens that I have - Canon 100 - 400mm, but there were a few with even longer lenses - I saw 2 people with Canon 800mm lenses (they cost about USD 11,000). I could just imagine the images I could snap with a nice long lens like that in my camera bag (although a lens that long usually has its own bag :-)

Some of the lenses in question

Later in the day, when we encountered a small pride of lions and still later when I had a very close (photographic) encounter with a leopard I realized that the secret to good wildlife photography is not dreaming about the shots you could take with a better lens, but actually taking the best photo that you can when the opportunity presents itself. You might have the longest zoom and the best camera set-up, but you could be parked with a tree or bush in front of you!  

For all of the big cats, we had the best photographic spots - no obscuring trees or bushes and with the cats either looking at us or facing us! We were in the right place at the right time - something that money can't buy you.  

Happy Lionesses

Cheetah cub

Lounging Leopard