Mashatu Trip Report by Greg du Toit

Like many of Africa’s finest wilderness areas, when you first arrive at the Pontdrft border-post (between South Africa and Botswana), and you take a drive through the Mopane-veld on your way to camp, you think to yourself “Does anything live out here”? Mashatu is a true wilderness and as such, she does not flaunt her inhabitants, but rather she reveals her diversity subtly and serendipitously. On our recent C4 Mashatu workshop, the Tuli Block of Botswana decided to reveal to us one of the most rewarding wildlife sightings I have ever had:

Here the mother is seen looking up at a tree and plotting her way up to get the impala carcass up and out of harm’s way.

Upon arriving, we heard rumours that a mother leopard (with three young cubs) had killed an impala deep within a Croton thicket and we went in search of both her and her cubs. We soon found the kill with one cub high up a tree, but the mother was not there? Its amazing how the cub instinctively knew to stay aloft, out of harm’s way, in mom’s absence! We finally tracked the mother down and found her walking through the Crotons calling for her missing two cubs. By the end of the first evening, she had not located her boys and we feared the worst (especially our French guest Lisa). The following morning however, we went back to the kill site and we were delighted to find the mother with all three cubs at the site. The cubs are now around 6 months old and once mom makes a kill, she always has to go and fetch them. The problem is, that her two teenage boys are now gallivanting on their own in her absence, instead of staying put like good little boys! I could not help but feel sorry for mom who not only has to provide meals but also then has to track down her two delinquent sons.

The kill was on the floor and one of the young male cubs was attacking the dead impala. Being still young, the cub was still more interested in playing with his food than actually eating it. It was incredible to watch the young cub practicing the ‘death hold’ on the carcass, whereby he tried to clamp his small mouth over the impala’s jugular. It was also interesting to see that even though the cubs are still young, their fiercely independent spirit is already ingrained, as only one cub would feed at a time!

The young boy cub’s sister slowly approached the prey as he walked off decidedly impressed with himself, after perfecting his strangling technique. His sister is almost half his size and as soon as she approached the kill, which was close to where we were parked, the mother walked over and gave us the beady eye. This means that this mother knows her offspring individually and she also knows that her young girl needs extra protection. The more time I spend with leopards, the more I respect them!

The mother leopard had already attacked one hyena and wanting to avoid problems, she decided to hoist the prey up a tree and right in front of us! Seeing her strength and agility was a spectacular highlight. Once the kill was in the tree the cubs took turns at playing with it AGAIN. The dangling antelope’s head was used as a punching bag until the kill became unbalanced and just as it was about to plummet to the ground, the mother would run over and grab the impala with tooth and claw. She had been up all night looking for her cubs and now she was having to stand guard, to ensure the cubs never dropped dinner to the hyenas! While we were parked under the tree watching this spectacle, one of the cubs ran down the trunk and stopped to pause and stare at us. My 200 – 400mm lens has a MFD (minimal focal distance) of two metres and when my lens would no longer focus, I looked up and the cub was almost in our laps! Such moments cannot even be photographed and it was undoubtedly the closest that I have ever been to a leopard cub. The mother was not perturbed by the cub’s close proximity to us, which means that she saw our presence as not being a threat, which I was particularly pleased about.

One of the young cubs came running down the tree within touching distance.

We went back to the same location in the evening and we continued shooting with delight as the cubs continued to play with the carcass while a hyena stood at the base salivating! After dinner was finally complete, she groomed the cubs which was a joy to watch. We must have spent over four solid hours watching and enjoying photographing a wild leopard family, carrying out their delightful existence. I fear that all our full memory cards combined (and there are many), will not do this wonderful experience justice!

While the above sighting was undoubtedly the highlight of the workshop for me, another highlight was teaching Michael and Kevin to photograph star trails while Lynette sat eating popcorn watching us crazy photographers go about our work, as if she was watching an Imax at the cinema! Seeing Mike’s and Kev’s faces when they reviewed their images was priceless! Another highlight at Mashatu is always the wonderful elephant sightings! The Tuli Block is a safe haven for the elephants in southern Botswana and even the breeding herds are wonderfully relaxed. Parking our 4x4 and having an entire herd of these mammoth beasts walk past in perfect silence is an experience of a lifetime! Another highlight came on our last morning as we watched a lioness hunt impala and warthog!

I first visited the Tuli Block a decade ago and I have been back to this unique and mysterious corner of Botswana many times since. This enchanting and ancient land with its giant Mashatu trees and ghostlike herds of Eland is no doubt one of my favourite places in Africa!

A special thank you to Mike, Lisa, Willy, Willem, Kev, Michael and Lynette for sharing this wonderful experience with me.

(Our workshops for 2011 are unfortunately finished but be sure to book your spot for next year to avoid disappointment.)

Even after an entire day of playing with the dangling carcass this young cub still looks up at his mother playfully.


Read more...

Finding Gold - Mashatu Trip Report by Isak Pretorius

Another Mashatu workshop is behind us, making us all suffer from serious withdrawal symptoms. A photo workshop with passionate guests, spectacular sightings in a wilderness area hosted at a stunning camp can not be anything but very successful! August in Mashatu is cool and dry with a landscape covered in gold with the drying mopani leaves. It's a magical time of the year!

The leopard mother with three cubs we had seen on our workshop in June delivered an even better show than the last time. Our first four game drives were dedicated just to them as the mother made an impala kill and dragged it into what I consider "the best leopard tree". A fever berry tree with a big open branch growing diagonally and then horizontally out of the ground. This made for a beautiful stage for their performance.

For most of us photography itself is a wonderful excuse to spend time in nature. At Mashatu's tent camp dinner is served in a boma that overlooks a floodlit waterhole. This is always exciting. One evening we were treated to a show of at least 30 elephants coming for drink and entertaining us during our dinner.

After seriously branching out on our leopard portfolios we decided to look for a greater variety of subjects during the rest of our game drives. Some of the highlights included spending time with hyenas at their den, baboons, breeding herds of elephants, zebra in the golden mopani bushes, and fighting giraffe! As always during a Mashatu workshop one evening was dedicated to doing starscapes and startrails at a baobab tree near our camp.

Each season at Mashatu has it's own magic. For me, the winter months is extra special! Thanks to everyone who made this such a great trip! Enjoy the photos taken by our guests!

Read more...

The Masai Mara - A photographer's paradise?

By Christine Lamberth

From the air the myriad of animals on the plains of the Mara can be seen. Then the wheels of the plane touch down on the dusty runway and the show begins. The short drive to the camp is filled with involuntary arm extensions as I compulsively reach for the camera bag and silently curse the fact that everything is so well packed. Animals abound on all sides and it takes brute willpower to drive on by.
Entim Camp is one of the southern-most camps in the Mara. The Mara River meanders by in full view of the tent and the whole camp. Lunch is served in an open Bedouin-like tent with a show of grazing animals on the other side of the river. This must surely be heaven.



Finally 4pm rolls on by and the first game drive is no longer anticipated, it has arrived. Not even 500m from the camp and the first animals curiously watch as the vehicle rolls on by. In the Mara animals standing staring are ignored as they do not offer any exciting prospects. There is enough time and enough animals for careful consideration of setting, lighting and composition. Rarely does one get this opportunity elsewhere. The open plains are easily accessible by vehicle and there is very little hampering a good sighting. It is only on the river banks that the bush presents an obstacle. However, a good driver can beat these odds in this environment and there is seldom an insurmountable challenge.

The sighting list reels off like a book of the animals of East Africa.



DAY ONE
Waterbuck, Impala, Warthogs, Leopard, Giraffe, Cheetah, Elephant, Buffalo, Topi, Cox Hartebeest, Thompson’s Gazelle, Banded Mongoose, Blackback Jackal, Bateared Fox, Olive Baboons, Wildebeest, Zebra and Spotted Hyena.

DAY TWO
Lion, Bateared Fox, Leopard x 3, Hippo, Southern Ground Hornbill, Elephants, Dwarf Mongoose, Spotted Hyena, Giraffe, Cox Hartebeest, Thompson’s Gazelle, Hippo, Zebra, Waterbuck and Impala.

DAY THREE
Hyena, Cheetah with 6 cubs, Lion pride, dead Buffalo, Spotted Hyena, Giraffe, Elephants, Banded Mongoose, Blackback Jackal, Thompson’s Gazelle, Dik-Dik, Topi, Grant’s Gazelle, mating Lions, 4 x Lionesses, Zebras, Cox Hartebeest, Waterbuck, Bushbuck, Buffalo, Vultures, Warthogs, Hippo.



DAY FOUR
Mating Lions, Topi, Cox Hartebeest, Buffalo, Zebra, Cheetah with 6 cubs, Ostrich, Bushbuck ram, Spotted Hyena, Thompson’s Gazelle, Grant’s Gazelle, Giraffe, Elephants, Warthogs, Hippo, Whiteheaded Vulture, Ruppels Griffon Vultures, Yellowbilled Oxpeckers, Pygmy Kingfisher, Black Rhino, Lion pride.



DAY FIVE
Thompson’s Gazelle, Cox Hartebeest, Topi, Buffalo, Impala, Eland, Cheetah, Waterbuck, Lion cubs, Tawny Eagle, Black Chested Snake Eagle, Lilac Breasted Roller, Ruppels Griffon Vultures, Red Billed Woodhoopoe, Olive Baboons, Spotted Hyena, Crested Crane, Hamerkop, Grant’s Gazelle, Ostrich, Zebra, Warthog, Elephants, Lion, Leopard, male Lion alliance, Lion mating pair, Giraffe,Southern Ground Hornbill, Bateleur.



DAY SIX
Thompson’s Gazelle, Topi, Giraffe, Hartebeest, Leopard, Lions on Hippo kill, Dik-Dik, Zebra, Buffalo, mating Lions, Vultures, Blackback Jackal, Impala, Marabou Stork, Spotted Hyena.



DAY SEVEN
Thompson’s Gazelle, Topi, Cox Hartebeest, Spotted Hyena, male Lion alliance, 2 pairs mating Lions, Blackback Jackal, Hooded Vulture, Marabou Stork, Ruppels Griffon Vultures, Zebra, Impala, 3 dead Zebras struck by lightning, Crested Cranes.



Drive after drive presents more opportunities than can be pursued. Each day there is a choice of locations and sightings and when the animals are lazing away under trees and there is little activity the plains of the Mara present landscape opportunities of note. The days are filled with frantic activity while camera equipment is put to the test.
At the end of the stay there cannot possibly be any sense of disappointment – just one day in the Mara is like a week anywhere else.

17-24 September Masai Mara Photo Tour

Read more...

Mashatu June photo workshop- an annual occurrence.

In June 2010 we ran a photo workshop to Mashatu on the exact same days as this years one. It was one of the best 4 days I have ever had on the reserve, with leopard cubs, lion cubs, wild dogs, hyena and lots of elephant activity to keep us and our cameras busy. Knowing what things are like in the wild, I never expected such an intensity of activity to be seen for quite a while.





How wrong was I to be.

Heading out on our first afternoon drive we found some lions laying in the riverbed lazing away. Just then, a herd of elephant arrived and the lions scuttled, the scene was filled tension- and it was a harbinger of things to come.





From then onwards we had a few hours old elephant baby being swum through a herd, lions fighting with hyenas at their den. The hyenas had very young ups which offered us very good photos when danger was not around. A very relaxed leopard mom with three tiny cubs was the next attraction and kept us occupied with cameras for many a session. In amongst this we also had elephant herds running down riverbanks, lions trying to mate and a couple of other leopards roaming around…





I’m not the superstitious type when it comes to repeat performances, but I can justly assure you that next year June I will be on the June Mashatu photo workshop. Lets just say that it will be part of tradition…!

Enjoy the pics.








Read more...

Mashatu Winter Bliss - By Isak Pretorius

The dry season in Mashatu usually means good game sightings. The dry conditions force animals to congregate at the last remaining waterholes. Our recent photographic workshop to Mashatu in June always had the prospect of good sightings, but nothing could have prepared us for what we were about to see. The sightings and photographic opportunities were not just good, they were phenomenal!





One of the highlights on our first afternoon drive was to try different lighting techniques on a pair of lions with the vehicles' spotlights. Everyone had fun mastering backlit/rim, side and front lighting. The next morning we were out early and found a hyena den close to camp - a big clan with lots of youngsters that were playing outside the den each morning until late. Mashatu also delivered the usual specials with large breeding herds of elephants, including a day-old baby still with a piece of its umbilical cord attached, good bird photographic opportunities and the normal plains game.





One afternoon we stumbled upon a small pan with about 30 foraging glossy ibises. These usually bland subjects looked spectacular in the late afternoon sun. That was exactly the type of photography that gets my heart racing - making ordinary subjects look spectacular. They were surprisingly accommodating and allowed us to get very close to them - out of the vehicle and onto the ground for that low angle perspective.





You know that a trip is going well when a sighting of lions fighting with hyenas are not even considered the highlight of the weekend. On the second morning's drive we followed the same male and female lion we saw on our first game drive and observed how they wandered too close to the hyena den. The whole clan of eight adult hyenas grouped together and started harassing the trespassers. The young male's temper flared up in a number of sequences that offered first class action photography opportunities as he defended himself.





A female leopard with three cubs have been in the area for our entire stay and we were dying to get a good look at them. Small gaps through the thicket allowed us to get some record shots at various stages, but with such young cubs we knew our chances were slim of getting good leopard cub shots. On our fifth drive our patience were rewarded when the leopard and her cubs walked in a dry riverbed an even allowed us to observe them while drinking water. This was a special moment for us all. At the time we did not know however, that this was just an appetizer for things to come. That night she made a kill and dragged it into a nearby tree. We returned to this sighting on each of our last three game drives and felt privileged to observe and photograph an episode of these leopards' lives!

Once again Mashatu revealed to us some of its unique and spectacular treasures. We can not wait to return there soon.

Isak Pretorius Photography Blog.




Read more...

Africa Geographic feature - Albie Venter

One of C4 Images and Safaris' guides, Albie Venter, was recently featured in the Africa Geographic magazine. Albie leads various tours for C4, including tours to the Masai Mara, where the images featured, was taken. Read more about Albie here.



Click here to download the pdf.


Read more...

Mashatu - A Place of Opportunities, By Christine Lamberth

The tyres of the car drumming on the tarred road surface beat out a rhythmic song that entrances the traveller and keeps his eyes glued to the horizon and the anticipation of something new. The fever builds and new experiences wait ahead to fuel the desire to keep hurtling forward in the search for unique moments.
The photographer is fortunate in that these moments can be captured not only in memory boxes but in a physical format that can be shared. Photography greats such as Cartier-Bresson and David Goldblatt were supremos in the art of the moment and it is indeed from their great example that a photographer can learn that the most mundane can become the bewitchingly captivating.



On the great plains of Africa the opportunities abound. Promises of encounters with the huge, the magnificent, the fast and the dangerous overpower the real magic of what lies in every corner just waiting to be seen. It is true that it takes time to peel back the layers, to search ever deeper, to learn more in order to appreciate what it is that reveals itself every day and it is this search that keeps the tyres on the road and the campfires burning on these great Plains.



The secret to unlocking this magic wonderland lies in the eye of the beholder and how much that eye can really see. On a trip to Mashatu over Easter of 2011 the leopards, who are normally so very visible, were playing hide-and-seek and they were winning. The elephants appeared to have taken off on a migration away from the Reserve and the usually abundantly teeming bush was hauntingly empty. Until, that is, when you looked a little closer, concentrated a little bit more and grabbed at every opportunity that came along.



We spent longer times at sightings and there was very little incentive to be off to another, perhaps better sighting. We were able to observe animal behaviour that previously would have been ignored. A very frustrating fact for a serious photographer is that twenty minutes spent at a sighting is, quite honestly, ridiculously short and the commercial aspect of the guaranteed sightings that bring the droves of tourists through the Reserves is hopelessly inadequate to capture meaningful images.



We could bask in the moment waiting patiently for a bird to fly from its perch, a cheetah to yawn or a squirrel to dart off to play because there was no dramatic sighting in the offing. The unfortunate demise of a giraffe brought in a huge flock of vultures and being the only vehicle remotely interested in this rather odiferous event we were privileged to sit for a few hours and photograph the birds coming in to land, the mean spirited pecking and hissing presented a whole host of action shots rarely captured. The posturing that various individuals in these groups display in an effort to demonstrate their supremacy provides opportunities that the lens simply devours.



The desire to capture something special always remains a challenge and even though the shutter keeps up its steady rhythm there remains a constant yearning to capture that elusively tantalising moment.
The unassailable fact that the Safari can be prolonged for many weeks afterwards lies in the arduous task of editing. Each day that I spend with the images afterwards brings me back to each moment as it happened and the more images there are on the flashcard the longer I can prolong the moment. My Safari’s last for weeks and weeks and even though I spend little time travelling and being there I am, really there, almost every day.







Christine Lamberth's Blog


Read more...