HIDDEN DANGER

Hidden Danger – I have refreshed the old blog on this image so that I can showcase it as one of my favourite images to date. It is not easy to choose from the great wildlife we have in Africa , but this images just does.

Hidden Danger

In May/June of  2011 a dream road trip became a reality and I journeyed through Namibia exploring and experiencing it’s true beauty. Part of my stay was 6 days in the south west of the Etosha National Park .

If you listen to all the experts they will tell you that it’s not the greatest time to go there and one must concentrate on the driest months to ensure that the game are all congregated around the waterholes and the predators are plentiful around this. I could not do this so I planned to be a little more creative and covered a large area during each day to find and enjoy the unique wildlife of Etosha .

This image was taken at about 4pm one afternoon after I had heard from excited tourists that there were 7 Lions lying out in the open earlier that day. I had seen all the tracks of vehicles in the dirt and assumed we were in the correct spot but could not see a single lion.

After an hour or so I had driven slowly up and down the 2km strip of track without spotting a thing. So much for being in the open 🙂 . I spotted an Overland vehicle stop suddenly in the distance and decided to go and investigate .

I could not see anything and upon questioning the driver he confirmed that there were lions a mere 40 m off the road lying sleeping . Well they looked like they were in the open from the 1st floor of the truck:) I positioned the vehicle and set up my lens in the general direction the lions were in and sat and waited…………..

After several sweaty and uncomfortable hours , I noticed a set of paws and a tail moving in the air and saw the first glimpse of these predators. Again I re-adjusted my position and focused through the viewfinder again ,nothing. To  be honest I had thought and re thought of various compositions I would attempt if and when these lazy beasts decided to arise from their siesta . I really enjoy a shallow DOF with wildlife images and set the aperture to F4 in anticipation. Finally a female lion slowly lifted her head to gaze over the open Etosha savannah in search of her next meal and I seized this opportunity to focus on her head as it cleared the long grass, took a deep breath and I tripped the shutter .

She kept her head up for less than a minute but as I had considered my options I managed to get various compositions before she disappeared below the grass line.My heart was pounding and emotions were on a high as I reviewed my images on the LCD of my trusted Canon 5 D MK 2 !

I eventually managed to breathe again and hoped that the other members of the pride would show themselves while we were still only 2 vehicles at the sighting but this was not to be. It all happened so fast and with a little luck I managed to capture a special image – Hidden Danger

Thanks for reading this and remember to find the light and capture it , one frame at a time

Peace and Light – AA