Lions in the Grass
pathfinder
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Here you go Randy,
One of the things I "discovered" ( for myself at least ) in Africa, is how hard lions can be to see when they are wending their way through the dry grass. Their fur color is a perfect match, and they just fade in and out of view. Just when you think you see one lion, you realize, to your surprise and horror, that there are three or four lions before you. It is enough to keep you safely ensconced in your Land Cruiser, and not go wandering afoot in the grass without a capable guide.
It is not easy to capture this experience in single images, but I have a few that I think will help. Notice how you can see the head or parts of the lion, but the body and limbs are simply lost in the grass.
But sometimes they are quite regal. We followed a group of five sisters for the better part of a morning from before sunrise to mid-morning, as they wandered through the grass and shrub country of South Africa.
I will close here with one more silhouette of elephants in Amboseli in Kenya
As always, constructive criticisms and suggestions are heartily encouraged and appreciated.
One of the things I "discovered" ( for myself at least ) in Africa, is how hard lions can be to see when they are wending their way through the dry grass. Their fur color is a perfect match, and they just fade in and out of view. Just when you think you see one lion, you realize, to your surprise and horror, that there are three or four lions before you. It is enough to keep you safely ensconced in your Land Cruiser, and not go wandering afoot in the grass without a capable guide.
It is not easy to capture this experience in single images, but I have a few that I think will help. Notice how you can see the head or parts of the lion, but the body and limbs are simply lost in the grass.
But sometimes they are quite regal. We followed a group of five sisters for the better part of a morning from before sunrise to mid-morning, as they wandered through the grass and shrub country of South Africa.
I will close here with one more silhouette of elephants in Amboseli in Kenya
As always, constructive criticisms and suggestions are heartily encouraged and appreciated.
Pathfinder - www.pathfinder.smugmug.com
Moderator of the Technique Forum and Finishing School on Dgrin
Moderator of the Technique Forum and Finishing School on Dgrin
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The next three, give me the willies... and I'm not even over there
I think you accomplished your goal of showing how hard the lions would be to see, uh, before it's too late!
Fantastic portrait! The detail is exceptional!!!
The last is another of your excellent wildlife/landscape images.
I'll probably never get over to Africa to take images of the dangerous lionesses. Guess I'll just have to settle for pictures of my mother-in-law
Thanks for sharing these Jim
I never knew lions were tailless either, but apparently that is not that uncommon.
Lions do live a pretty hard life, even if they are at the top of the local food chain. Their prey does not go to their dinner table without a heck of fight sometimes. Impala are one thing, easy prey, but wildebeest and cape buffalo are no pushovers. As social as lions are, they have their disagreements with their pride members at times as well. Older lions almost all bear major scars on their faces from their hard life. And when they loose their teeth, their time on this mortal sphere is over.
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I've no idea whether such things already exist / have been tried, but I can't help thinking that some sort of (folding) cage affixed to the side of these vehicles would provide access to a lower pov than that offered from inside the vehicle.
ie a land version of a 'shark cage' ... something to satisfy the twin gods of 'health and safety' as well as reassurance to its occupant
pp
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Sílvio Oliveirawww.silviooliveira.net
Paul, a lower point of view is always good, and some folks use their cameras on the end of a monopod to get a lower point of view. Sometimes we got out and shot from under the vehicle. You need to make sure your guides were all right with this of course, and it is not allowed inside National Parks, but in most conservancies it is allowed. Here is a photo of my wife shooting elephants from under a Land Cruiser on the playa at Amboseli. This picture was shot by Vicki Womack and has been cropped a fair bit, but my wife loves this photo
They use open vehicles all over most of Africa without much risk to passengers as long as the passengers remain within the vehicle and don't jump around and make a scene of themselves. I have had lions literally walk right by me within an arms length of my seat without the lion showing the slightest interest in me. Kind of scary the first time though. A friend asked me if there were bars protecting passengers and I said "no" and then they said "well your guide surely had a gun" and I said "No, guns are not allowed in National Parks in Kenya."
In Lewa conservancy in northern Kenya, they use Land Cruisers with solid tops and roll up windows ( they get more rain there than down south ) , that had viewing holes in the roof you could stand up through and stick your head out. I shot this lioness portrait from a viewing port that was about eye level with the cat - she was on a mound of dirt and rock. The light was mottled, so I thought for a few more than a few minutes before I decided to add fill flash with a speedlite. She was about 8 feet from me with nothing but air between us. She never reacted to the flash, but you can see the catch lights in her eyes.
Kathy and I had two cheetahs sit on top of the Land Cruiser we were sitting in the Maasi Mara - the two cheetahs sat on our roof for almost 20 minutes, with their tails waving in front of our noses. A veritable clouds of invertebrates was flying around them too. Then they jumped down and wandered on. There are videos of cheetahs falling inside the passenger compartment accidentally - that caused major excitement for some tourists I am sure. Cheetahs cannot retract their claws at all, even when nursing as infants. SO one could get pretty torn up as the cat tried to climb up and out of the vehicle. Life always has risks, that is certain.
Here is a view of the roof of the Land Cruiser we were in when the 2 cheetahs decided to make it their termite mound. Cheetahs hop up on termite mounds to gain height to scan the horizon. I was about 4-5 feet from the cats head for this shot
In Amboseli, in southern Kenya, they were more like open trucks with bench seating with a cloth roof to keep the equatorial sun off of you, but no walls or windows whatsoever. I shot these two cheetahs on a hunt in one of those vehicles with an Olympus EM-5 m4/3s camera
Most of the tourists who have been injured have gotten out of their vehicles or done something unusual to attract the creatures attention or tried to feed them. None of these are wise ideas.. Just listen to your guides, they know what they are doing. If the animals are stressed or acting out of the ordinary, then it makes sense to back off and give them the room they need to feel calm and non-stressed.
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