Central Kalahari Game Reserve - A Tour

The central Kalahari is one of the largest wildernesses in the world. You only need to be out on its vast, open pans in the quietness of day to realise this. The space is overwhelming.
For most part of the year, the animal’s head out into the scrub where they feed on the acacia scrub and drink from waterholes. In the rainy season though, the pans fill up with water and provide enough sustenance for sweet grasses to grow. This encourages the animals onto these lush plains, which in turn attract the predators. So, in contrast to most other wildlife destinations, the central Kalahari is the place to visit at the end of the rainy season. Which is exactly why C4 Images and Safaris were there for the first week of April this year.

Nature had one more dice to throw though. It sent one of the largest high-pressure systems I’ve ever seen at this time of year over the whole of the Kalahari, causing lots of rain and inclement weather. Not that this deterred us though. It takes a lot more to keep nature photographers indoors!

Initially, we spent some hours working the animals on the pan in front of camp. We worked Gemsbuck (oryx), springbuck and wildebeest all in very good light, making sure we had good images of the more common animals.

The real highlight though was seeing our first male Kalahari lions. Although they weren’t full maned males, these two brothers were very good looking and we spent the whole afternoon with them. The day ended up with the sun sneaking out from behind the clouds to give us a perfect “golden 5” of some glorious Kalahari light.

Of course the Kalahari is also known for it smaller creatures and we managed to see bat eared foxes, honey badger and of course, the irrepressible ground squirrels. We managed to spend quite a bit of time with these charismatic creatures and got to see some excellent behaviour as well as photographs.

However, the real highlight of the tour was to be found in the most unlikely of places- on the road. Driving towards deception Pan, we came across lots of pugmarks on the road. We were inspecting these, trying to interpret what had happened, when, ahead in the road, we noticed two small moving animals. Bringing the binoculars up, they turned out to be two leopard cubs!
I was immediately sure this would be as close to them as we would get. We were about 200m from them and they were already aware of our vehicle. But with the excellent driving of our guide Hector, we spent the next 40 minutes inching closer to the curious cubs, habituating them to our presence. Eventually, their curiosity got the better of them and they came closer to us. We managed to get full frame images of leopard cubs in the Kalahari!

Not to be outdone, in the afternoon on the selfsame road, we came across a large male leopard. Again, we managed to get within a few meters of him, allowing us to get some very nice images before he headed off on his way.
Seeing leopards in the Kalahari is something you don’t plan for. Seeing 3 leopards in one day is something I’ve never heard of before.

That’s what it is about in nature. We enjoy getting out into natural and wilderness areas to experience its beauty and solitude. Then all of a sudden nature throws up an unexpected surprise of 3 leopards in one day and your perception of nature changes. It’s these unexpected surprises that keep us hoping for more and staying out in these wilderness areas. Its what the core values of C4 Images and Safaris are all about, and why we plan our safaris in such detail. It’s about getting our clients into the best wildlife areas, in the optimal season.

Thank you to Peter and Maggie for an excellent safari with C4 Images and safaris!


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Our Birthday - Your Present.

Yes you read correctly, C4 Images and Safaris is 5 years old this month. In these past five years we have shared many excellent nature sightings, photographed beautiful animals and birds and travelled to exciting wildlife destinations with you. To thank you for all the special moments we've shared, we're giving a little back: a 4-night photo workshop at Mashatu game reserve for 2 people sharing, worth R16 140.00 ($2250).



Got your attention? Good, because you're going to have to work for your prize. We are running a wildlife photo competition for one month from today (till 20 May). The winning image will be awarded the prize of a 4 night workshop at Mashatu for 2 people sharing valid for one year.

The concept:
We want to encourage authentic nature images with an emphasis on good camera use to create compelling and striking images. We want the winner to be a top class wildlife image that encompasses creative camera use coupled with good technical’s.

Your benefit:
If your image is the winner, you will get to come on a photo workshop for 4 nights with us at Mashatu game reserve. You can bring a friend or partner or give your prize away to your parents if you like, but we can't give you the cash. We will organize all your Travel from Johannesburg or Pretoria to Mashatu.
You get there, we will take care of the rest.
Here is an example of one of our workshops and what you can expect: http://www.c4images-safaris.co.za/index.php?page=mashatunovember2010
You will only have to pay for your drinks during the workshop.

Our benefit:
The simple joy of sharing our passion of nature and photography with you, the winner.

Here's how it works:
1. The theme is wildlife and nature. It can be birds, mammals, landscapes, underwater, insects etc. You can submit images from any continent or country. We will be judging on the aesthetic appeal, creativity and impact of the image.
2. Two images per person allowed.
3. Entry is free
4. At the end date we will judge the images and announce the winner.
5. We will announce the winner on 24 May 2010
6. We will post the winning image on the C4 blog and website as well as the 5 runner up images and other special mentions.
Here are the submission rules:
1. Any one may enter
2. Images are to be submitted as 72dpi jpgs, sized at 800 pixels on the longest edge.
3. Images are to be labelled with your name and the title of the image. ie. JoeBlogs-Eagle.jpg
4. Send your entries to minette@c4images-safaris.co.za
5. Closing date: 20 May 2010
6. We want true nature images represented via the camera. Thus, no sandwiches, HDR, or stacked images. No post processing selections, layers or layer masks.
7. Because we want true nature images, Post processing manipulation is limited to levels, curves, basic cropping, saturation, contrast and dust removal.
8. As we want authentic nature images, we reserve the right to ask for the RAW/original image if need be.

Dates:
1. Closing date: 20 May 2010
2. We will announce the winning image on 24 May 2010 via our newsletter and blog. (If you enter you will be added to the newsletter)
3. Please share this with as many people you know via twitter, facebook, e-mails and good old word of mouth. We want as wide a scope of entries as possible!

It’s as simple as that.

The Fine print:
Our decision on the winning image is final, of course. Copyright remains with you. We take no responsibility for images used from our website/flickr site. We will credit all images used on our website/blog.
This is about sharing your great images with us at C4 Images and Safaris and receiving something in return. We are really excited about this competition as we know how many excellent photographers we have worked with over the years.
So get out there, dig in those archives or get out and get creative. You’ve got a whole month to find that winning image. Wildlife is all around us. We can’t wait to see your images!
May it be an enjoyable, creative process for you. It has been for us.

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Mashatu Workshop, April 2010

By Albie Venter

After crossing the Limpopo in a cable car at Pont Drift border post you head into the 70 odd thousand Tuli wilderness in south east Botswana. Here, Isak Pretorius and I (Albie Venter) were to be hosting a photographic workshop for C4 Images over the next five days at Mashatu Tented camp. I admit that I had some preconceived ideas about Tuli. Fears that it may be a drought stricken region devoid of significant wildlife densities were soon put to rest on our first Game drive.

The first bouts of camera fever were soon treated with some portraits of a lioness in the riverbed. When sundowners followed everyone thought it a fitting end to a first day. However, as we were getting ready to leave the distinctive rasping call of a leopard came from the nearby woodland. No sooner had we dumped the drinks in the vehicle and dashed off in the direction of the sound when we bumped into this incredibly relaxed young male leopard and followed him into the riverbed. What could possibly beat this? In the meantime though the lioness of earlier caught wind of the intruding predator and unbeknown to us had snuck up on the unsuspecting leopard in the meantime. In an explosion of growls the two cats clashed behind dense riverine bush. Fortunately the lithe spotted cat made good its escape and dashed up a Nyala berry tree out of the eager lionesses reach. And finally that brought an end to our first day.













































Within the next 24 hours two more top predators in the form of Spotted Hyena and Cheetah with three cubs were ticked off from our photographic wish lists. The photographic opportunities didn’t stop there though and great shots of a pair of Giant (Verraux’s) Eagle owls, a variety of herbivores and landscapes were covered.













































Tuli of course is elephant territory and one is guaranteed of their presence throughout your stay. I do find them quite a challenging subject to portray in a new way but the sheer numbers present every conceivable opportunity to hone one’s skills.




And then the rains came! Although the area is known to be a dry region during our stay more than 160mm fell changing the face of the placid little stream in front of camp. Not to be cheated out of any photographic opportunities we all set about photographing this dramatic event through everything from wide angles to macro shots of the now prolific frogs and the dramatic lightning in the skies! And this is where the spirit of the group came to the fore. I cannot recall a single objection, not even when the stream turned into a raging torrent that came crashing through our tents and dumping the veranda furniture some way off.





No trip can ever be a success without great guests and I would personally like to thank Piet, Tanya, Paul, Christine, Peter, Jane, Wessel and Wentsel for your contribution, whether an impromptu geology lesson or a quick joke that made this such a truly memorable trip for me. Thanks also to Isak for presenting such a great workshop where everyone, including myself learnt so much about photography. I am looking forward catching up with you all again.






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