C4 Images and Safari's September Workshop - Mashatu Game Reseve, By Kyle de Nobrega

During our last 4 day photography workshop hosted at Mashatu Game Reserve’s Tent Camp, we were treated to some incredible sightings with our guests that Andre Cloete and I co-hosted.

With the onset of summer, the weather was inconsistent which made it challenging for a few days with very overcast conditions. However, this worked in our favour for the multiple times we spent with the mother Cheetah and her four 3 month old cubs.  Without the worry of harsh light we all spent a number of drives following these 5 Cheetahs as they walked, stalked and played over the dusty baron areas which are so unique to Mashatu.

With our bank of luck being topped to the full, we where fortunate to get a glimpse of the 3 new large male lions that have moved into the area from the Tuli Circle region in Zimbabwe. Clearly life out in their usual territory is not like that for a lion at Mashatu as these 3 boys where not having any vehicle get within 50-60m from them. As if they where never here, the very next morning they somehow disappeared from the property giving us a glimpse of hope that they might one day finally reside in the reserve.

During the course of our 4 day workshop we where spoilt with no fewer than 5 differnet leopard sightings, and in true Mashatu style the sightings were of great quality.

Myself and Andre spent some time scouting out a new ‘star –trail’ site and we where delighted to hear about and discover that the largest Baobab on Mashatu was only within minutes from Tent Camp. With this monster of a tree being very rarely visited we spent a good portion of our last afternoon/evening trying our hand at some Milky Way and star trail shots.

Over the course of the 4 days, it wasn’t just about getting images for the stockpile but rather about enjoying the wilderness and being able to capture the incredible time we had out there together.

A huge thank you to everyone who was on the workshop!

Cheetah mother and her four 3month old cubs

Cheetah cubs exploring and playing

Burchell's Zebra contrasted against the grey skies

One of the three males from Zimbabwe side of the Tuli Block

One of the sub adult males from the pride of nine who are resident to Mashatu

Young female leopard resting in the canopy of a Mashatu Tree

Eye level view of a leopard posing to perfection on the banks of the river bed

Kudu bull paying us a visit at the C4 underground hide

Symbolic Baobab and milky way

 

Some of the crew with ranger Dan and a very dramatic sky





 

Text and Photographs By: Kyle de Nobrega