Shooting Animals

Once a school friend invited me to spend the Christmas vacation with him and his family, because they were going to visit one of the most beautiful game reserve parks which is on the border with Mozambique, the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park. I looked forward with great pleasure to this new event, not only because my family never went on holiday but also because I dreamt to visit this big natural park and its fauna.

Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park – photo by Andrew Ashton

Early one morning we set off with the car full of luggage and cameras. In four hours we arrived at the hotel next to the park that had been booked for our stay. We unpacked our things and went immediately out for a long walk. We visited the flower garden full of different colored flowers, which looked even more beautiful in the setting sun and we went back to the hotel in time for dinner.

Zulu Kraal – Wikimedia

The hotel was very original both in that it looked like a kraal, and in that to eat there one had to supply groceries that the cook would have to prepare for you. So, we had brought vegetables, rice, meat, fruit, which would have been enough for a week and we gave them to the store keeper.

The first evening meal was really delicious and we enjoyed it very much. After dinner we met the park ranger who was going to guide us into the park the day after. He invited us to be ready very early in the morning, because most of the wild animals would not have waited for us at the drinking pool where they went to drink in the early hours of the morning. I asked him if it was possible to photograph animals. He laughed and told us that we would be allowed to even use a rifle to shoot the ones he indicated.

Photo by Fritz Park

We were up before day break and we prepared our equipment. After a quick breakfast we went in the big jeep in which the ranger was already waiting for us. After a few kilometers on a dusty road we first went through the main gate of the park. The jeep went into the veld and after a short time we arrived to some huts which were situated on one side near the drinking pool.

I asked the ranger why all the huts were only on one side. The reason was that the wind blew mostly from the drinking pool to the huts and not the other way around, because if the animals sniffed the smell of man they would not come and drink there. Then the ranger invited us to be quiet and we followed him inside the biggest rectangular hut where a long opening gap ran along the front of the bamboo wall. From this gap we could see the animals and shoot.

Photo by Leonora Enking

We all sat down on the long hard bench facing the pool and we looked out for the animals to come and drink. We waited for more than one hour before something happened. My friend told me to look between two trees where two gazelles were standing. I didn’t see them immediately, as they were very well camouflaged and not easily spotted. However I got ready to shoot my first shot. I saw them only when they got on the water’s edge. They were brown and white with small horns and very thin and long legs. They seemed to lookout for any danger as their ears were standing up straight ready for any unusual sounds. I shot my first photo – click.

Photo by Derek Keats

A little later a herd of black and white striped zebras arrived – click – followed by two tall giraffes, that had such long necks that their heads were well above the trees. Click. To drink they had to widen the front legs so that their heads could reach the water. They had their legs so far apart that it looked as though they were doing the splits. Click.

Photo by Dave Curtis

While the zebras and giraffes were drinking, the ranger told us to look at a log lying near the pool. I looked at it very carefully and saw that it was slowly moving towards the water. Click. The log turned into a big crocodile that slipped silently into the pool with only its eyes and nostrils visible. Click. He swam in a wide semi-circle and came to rest in front of the two gazelles. Click. When he was close enough he suddenly leaped towards the smallest of them and caught its head between its big jaws pulling it under water. Click. The ranger told us that the crocodile would probably leave the gazelle stuck under some rocks and eat it two days later because it prefers soft meat as it can’t chew.

Photo by Jerome Bon

With lots of noise three huge grey elephants with long white tusks came stamping through the bush. Click. They went into the pool where they took a refreshing bath and almost drank half of the pool. Click. Then they played, squirting water at one another. Click, click, click, ….

Photo by Derek Keats

Suddenly out of the bush came about ten noisy warthogs, which bravely with their straight tails ran into the water. Click. The natives call these animals FM because their tails are like antennas and they look like portable radios. The bores were recognizable by the big tusks that came out of the sides of their mouths.

Photo by Chadica

All of a sudden we saw the zebras galloping away and all the other animals followed them. Click, click … Afterwards we understood why. There were two big lions that were walking slowly and stealthily, with their heads held high, approaching the water. We were lucky to see the kings of the bush. Click, click, click, click, click … It would soon be dark and the ranger told us that as long as the lions were there no other animal would approach.

Photo by hobgadlng

We went out of the hut and before making our way to the jeep I shot my last photos to immortalize that bamboo hiding place – which allowed me to shoot with my harmless weapon so much and so effectively – together with the ranger, who guided us in such a beautiful place. We left the lions complete rulers of the pool and its surroundings. I was the last to enter into the jeep with my camera very heavy, full of prey.

Normally most of the tourists want to shoot with a real rifle and then be photographed with the dead animal. The park ranger was very happy to have met us, who only wanted to use a camera instead of a weapon. We shot many animals but we did no harm to them.

It was dark when we arrived at the hotel where we enjoyed another tasty meal.

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