My South African Photo Safari
- Thread starter Lawrence
- Start date
I can honestly say that the members here were hugely instrumental in the development of my photography. A big help was doing a 365 back in 2014 or '15
Thanks Brad. I have so many leopard photos.
No Brad at this point we are on the first day of the safari with the hide now behind us (I thought I would move on for the sake of peeps getting bored with birds but I still have a lot I can sho)
We were in an open vehicle and about 8-10 meters away from the leopard. She was on an anthill so was elevated from our position and as one of the team commented it felt as if she could quite easily get up and jump into our vehicle if she so wanted.
read the next post and I will explain how these animals are introduced to vehicles.
Brad @Ironwood mentioned that we appeared very close to the leopard above - let me explain how they become accustomed to the vehicles and the people o them.
The Sabi Sands area is quite unique and large at 650 square kilometres. The entire area has a number of private game farms (known as lodges) on it - I think about 60 in all.
The individual lodges have concessions with each other and make arrangements as to who can traverse their property. So one lodge owner may have concessions with 5 or 6 other lodges - each being allowed to traverse and follow game into the other's property. You cannot follow game or enter into a property with a lodge that you don't have a concession with. It is all based on honesty but with every lodge having at least two game vehicles out with guides and trackers on them there really is no way you would not be found out and slapped on the wrist.
There are no fences between the properties and the the entire area shares a 50 km unfenced border with Kruger national Park. Hence the animals are free to come and go as they please but Sabi sands vehicles are not permitted into Kruger. The outer border of Sabi Sands is fenced effectively keeping all the animals within the area as well as kruger park.
As large as the area is there are some 100 odd trackers and and 100 guides wh serve a different function and are very knowledgeable about all things bush related. As such between them all they are very familiar with individual animals - be they cats or any of the larger game. All the cats are named virtually from birth. And all have their specific areas so identifying them and being aware of their movements is pretty easy for the trackers and guides.
One of the most amazing rules of the sabi sands concessions is that no more than 3 vehicles are allowed at any one sighting. You will not come across a kill and have 40 tourist vehicles around the sight - in fact no tourist vehicles are allowed as all must be in lodge game drive vehicles. So no more than three at a time but on most occasions there are more than 3 groups of people who want to share in sightings.
This is easily catered for on a "first in, first out" basis. What this means in practice is the first person to arrive will radio other in the area and say what has been found - for example a leopard. Unless there is some other attraction at that time other vehicles will express an interest in joining the sighting and make their way to it. Once there are three vehicles on site no more are allowed in at this point but that does not entirely exclude them.
What it means is that the 4th and subsequent vehicles have to wait at lest 15 minutes. So once a 4th group notifies the 3 on site that he is in position, usually about 2 minutes away, and waiting then the vehicle that was first on scene has 15 minutes viewing left before they move out and number 4 comes into position. #2 now becomes #1 (and will be the next to move out should another vehicle join the out of sight queue). Fifteen minutes later one moves out and one moves in.
What this means is every one gets a fair chance, the animals aren't unduly stressed and everyone is happy. The down side to it is you may have to leave as something exciting is about to happen but then on the plus side you may arrive at the perfect time. It works.
When a cub is born the animals are given much more space and for a wee while no vehicles are allowed anywhere near mother and cub. But not too long. As soon as the guides decide that the mother is relaxed enough they (the lodges) will allow 1 vehicle to approach at any one time using the same rules as outlined above. This practice is continued until the cubs are a certain age (I think 2 months) after which a second vehicle will be introduced. After 6 months (again subject to approval by the lodges) the full allotment of 3 vehicles are allowed per sighting of the cub.
Its all very civilised and very very cool. The whole thing is very well handled with the animals comfort and welfare always foremost in mind.
Any questions - please feel free to ask.
The Sabi Sands area is quite unique and large at 650 square kilometres. The entire area has a number of private game farms (known as lodges) on it - I think about 60 in all.
The individual lodges have concessions with each other and make arrangements as to who can traverse their property. So one lodge owner may have concessions with 5 or 6 other lodges - each being allowed to traverse and follow game into the other's property. You cannot follow game or enter into a property with a lodge that you don't have a concession with. It is all based on honesty but with every lodge having at least two game vehicles out with guides and trackers on them there really is no way you would not be found out and slapped on the wrist.
There are no fences between the properties and the the entire area shares a 50 km unfenced border with Kruger national Park. Hence the animals are free to come and go as they please but Sabi sands vehicles are not permitted into Kruger. The outer border of Sabi Sands is fenced effectively keeping all the animals within the area as well as kruger park.
As large as the area is there are some 100 odd trackers and and 100 guides wh serve a different function and are very knowledgeable about all things bush related. As such between them all they are very familiar with individual animals - be they cats or any of the larger game. All the cats are named virtually from birth. And all have their specific areas so identifying them and being aware of their movements is pretty easy for the trackers and guides.
One of the most amazing rules of the sabi sands concessions is that no more than 3 vehicles are allowed at any one sighting. You will not come across a kill and have 40 tourist vehicles around the sight - in fact no tourist vehicles are allowed as all must be in lodge game drive vehicles. So no more than three at a time but on most occasions there are more than 3 groups of people who want to share in sightings.
This is easily catered for on a "first in, first out" basis. What this means in practice is the first person to arrive will radio other in the area and say what has been found - for example a leopard. Unless there is some other attraction at that time other vehicles will express an interest in joining the sighting and make their way to it. Once there are three vehicles on site no more are allowed in at this point but that does not entirely exclude them.
What it means is that the 4th and subsequent vehicles have to wait at lest 15 minutes. So once a 4th group notifies the 3 on site that he is in position, usually about 2 minutes away, and waiting then the vehicle that was first on scene has 15 minutes viewing left before they move out and number 4 comes into position. #2 now becomes #1 (and will be the next to move out should another vehicle join the out of sight queue). Fifteen minutes later one moves out and one moves in.
What this means is every one gets a fair chance, the animals aren't unduly stressed and everyone is happy. The down side to it is you may have to leave as something exciting is about to happen but then on the plus side you may arrive at the perfect time. It works.
When a cub is born the animals are given much more space and for a wee while no vehicles are allowed anywhere near mother and cub. But not too long. As soon as the guides decide that the mother is relaxed enough they (the lodges) will allow 1 vehicle to approach at any one time using the same rules as outlined above. This practice is continued until the cubs are a certain age (I think 2 months) after which a second vehicle will be introduced. After 6 months (again subject to approval by the lodges) the full allotment of 3 vehicles are allowed per sighting of the cub.
Its all very civilised and very very cool. The whole thing is very well handled with the animals comfort and welfare always foremost in mind.
Any questions - please feel free to ask.
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@Ironwood here's an un-cropped photo showing exactly how close we got to the animals. In this case a lion and you can see that it wouldn't be too difficult for her to take out the tracker.
Interestingly enough the tracker's profile on these vehicles is one of the things that the Sabi Sands animals become used to and not fussed about. On the second last day of the safari a pride of 5 lionesses had wondered over from Kruger (referred to as "Kruger Lions as if they are a totally different breed).
We weren't on site for even a minute when the both the guide and tracker said the lionesses were not happy and were fixated on the tracker. A dangerous situation - so we withdrew and dropped the tracker off before returning.
Once that was accomplished the lionesses seemed much happier as the vehicle's profile, without the tracker on the front, was what they were more accustomed to. It is reassuring to have this sort of knowledge and body-language reading capabilities on board.
Interestingly enough the tracker's profile on these vehicles is one of the things that the Sabi Sands animals become used to and not fussed about. On the second last day of the safari a pride of 5 lionesses had wondered over from Kruger (referred to as "Kruger Lions as if they are a totally different breed).
We weren't on site for even a minute when the both the guide and tracker said the lionesses were not happy and were fixated on the tracker. A dangerous situation - so we withdrew and dropped the tracker off before returning.
Once that was accomplished the lionesses seemed much happier as the vehicle's profile, without the tracker on the front, was what they were more accustomed to. It is reassuring to have this sort of knowledge and body-language reading capabilities on board.
Bikerbrent
Senior Member
All cats, rather they are lions, leopards or house cats can look so regal. Love all you photos Lawrence.
