p.1 #1 · Finding food is hard on a foggy savannah - Masai Mara - 1
Was fortunate to experience the disappointments in the grasslands. The fastest land mammal has about 50% success rate when out hunting. Their speed burst lasts a few minutes at the most and finding and catching something to feed on is a challenge, especially if a mom has three young cubs that cannot fend for themselves yet.
The morning in November started very foggy. We could barely see anything forget making images in it. I saw my first terrestrial hippo, but just could not make a meaningful image of it. We were roaming the Central Plains along the Mara River, when the guide exclaimed "Amani is at it". I have no idea how he saw that through the thick fog. Slowly but steadily we crept up to an area with several termite mounds and sure enough between the mounds we saw the faint spots of Amani with her three cubs in tow.
The cubs were merely looking like somnambulists trudging along behind mom. It was cold and the fog was wet. Mom would climb up on the mounds to see whatever she could. One of the land cruisers went ahead and scanned and came back to tell us that there were some Thommies up ahead and the cheetahs were headed that way.
We tracked the cheetahs for a bit and then drove up a bit to be treated to something even more enlightening (for my next story on the Gazelles).
This set will try and capture the cheetah's advancement towards the area where the "advance vehicle" returned with the news of a grazing herd. Will move on to the interaction within the herd with a second set and finally present what happened when the cheetahs got to the Gazelles.
Don't know what Amani was seeing through this dense fog, I could only see these two.
Another mound, another inspection but no grazers in sight.
Mom leads the way
Amani with the somnambulists in tow..
The search goes on..
With the fog burning off these guys were also waking up.
p.1 #2 · Finding food is hard on a foggy savannah - Masai Mara - 1
Very nice effect in the images where the fog helps isolate the cheetahs. I particularly like the last image--the one with the two cheetahs in the brighter light and mom on top of the termite(?) mound.
p.1 #4 · Finding food is hard on a foggy savannah - Masai Mara - 1
jdc562 wrote:
Very nice effect in the images where the fog helps isolate the cheetahs. I particularly like the last image--the one with the two cheetahs in the brighter light and mom on top of the termite(?) mound.
p.1 #15 · Finding food is hard on a foggy savannah - Masai Mara - 1
birdied wrote:
I really enjoyed these Bibek ! The fog really adds to the feel of these images. Very nicely done on all.
Birdie
Thank you Birdie. Yes the fog really created a surreal effect and I am glad I had the rented 1dx MkII to bank on. I am sure the 7D MkII could not have handled the noise..
p.1 #19 · Finding food is hard on a foggy savannah - Masai Mara - 1
Very nice set Bibek. I have always loved the foggy mornings out in the bush. The whole place takes on a different mood. You have captured that feeling well here. I look forward to the continuing adventure in your next post.
p.1 #20 · Finding food is hard on a foggy savannah - Masai Mara - 1
Beautiful set Bibek.
My fervent wish is for guides/rangers to stop giving arbitrary names to the various animals, particularly in tourist heavy areas. To me it detracts from the "wild" experience and from the sense of discovery.
