Andrwe Bazeley Offline Upload & Sell: On
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It is said that there are close to 1 million wildebeest, along with 200,000 zebra, that migrate from Northern Tanzania into Kenya looking for grass and water. And at birthing time, roughly 200,000 calves are dropped in a period of about ten days -- this short birthing period is to overwhelm the many predators, many of whom just stand ther waiting for a calf to drop and them immediately snatching it. But of the 200,000 calved, the vast majority survive. Truly get an appreciation for the wildebeest, or Gnu's, for their critical place in the ecosystem of the Serengeti plains -- from cutting the grass to providing a good nutritious warm meal to all of the large cats and other predators like hyenas, jackals, vultures and my personal favorite, the marabou stork.
The pano was a stitch of four photos taken with the 600mm. Reason that I did not grab the 70-200 to get it all in in a single shot is because we had been sitting on a pair of mating lions when the beest freight train rolled in. And it looked real promising that we would see some good predation at relatively close range - so wanted to keep the big gun at hand. Problem was that big Leo there hadn't had any in at least 20 minutes, and wouldn't leave the missus alone. Even though she tried to get him to just lie down in the long grass and go invisible to the beests so that she could crouch down and start to stalk them. But he wouldn't stop pestering her. And so he missed out on a good meal and sex to boot. Sound familiar guys?
All the best, Andrew
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