It's Plan A Again (Part 1)

Grey Crowned Crane

It’s always said that a good plan should be flexible, but it also needs to be repeatable. Happily, Plan A at Zebra Plains is both, so first on the agenda today was to look for Kaboso again and she didn’t disappoint. In fact she gave us a rare treat by introducing both her cubs to us for the first time.

We had a fairly frantic fifty minutes as they emerged from deep vegetation, crossed some open ground and then were lost to sight in more deep undergrowth. It was very early and the sun had yet to appear over the horizon when we first sighted them, but we did get some shots, albeit at ISO values up to 10,000. As the sun gradually rose we were able to use more usual ISOs, as the golden light on them was beautiful. It was also an amusing sighting, as although the female cub stuck close to mum, the male was more adventurous. He was already very wet, but he was repeatedly lagging behind mum and she had to stop once or twice to call him. A superb start to the day and already more than 350 frames exposed, but no point in hanging around so off we went to our next opportunity.

About forty minutes later we were with a coalition of Male Lions known as the Autumn Boys, who are the sons of the Topi Pride girls. This wasn’t a terribly fruitful sighting though, they were lying down in long grass and we weren’t able to get any clear or uncluttered shots. About a quarter of an hour passed while we tried and failed to get anything useful, but things soon looked up as word reached us that the Topi Plains pride were on the move. A ten-minute drive and we were with them, watching and photographing their antics for around forty minutes.

The Topi Plains pride is quite large and a wide range of ages. We estimated there were at least 15 on this occasion, but stretched out over a long distance and in the long grass, it wasn’t easy to count them. They were stalking a herd of Topi that were some way off, but were quite relaxed about it and kept stopping to take a break and look around. This was particularly good for us as it gave us numerous poses to capture, helped in no small measure by the fact they came quite close.

It was clear from their relaxed nature that there wasn’t too much interest in chasing after the Topi and with breakfast time rapidly approaching, we left to find a convenient tree.

Suitably refreshed, we decided to go in search of the five male Lions we had seen the previous night, hoping to find them in a decent location and maybe a bit more active. On the way, we again had a nice sighting of a pair of Grey Crowned Cranes and took the opportunity to check the Hyena den once more. There wasn’t a Hyena in sight, but a relaxed Malachite Kingfisher rewarded us instead. He posed for us for fully four minutes before he decided we’d had our chance and flew off.

We soon located the 5 boys and as usual they were doing very little. Lying in the long grass at the base of a tree to get some shade, occasionally one would sit up and look around for a few seconds, then flop back down again. We were quite distant and the heat haze was a problem so nothing usable resulted, unlike one photographer who had managed to get close. Park rangers appeared to move him along, but it appeared he had documentation allowing him to be off-road. He was in a vehicle that had no side door and so was able to get the very low point of view we all crave. With his proximity to the lions though, it did look precarious.

Eventually we got a better set of shots, a just reward for our patience and ability to sit with them for over 90 minutes. But it was now the middle of the day and very hot, so time to find some welcome shade and adjourn for lunch. It had been a good morning, starting out well and continuing to deliver.

Next time, I’ll continue with the afternoon section of the drive, which turned out to be mainly dominated by birds.