Another trip to the Lower Zambezi region; Mana Pools in Zimbabwe and the LZ National Park in Zambia. It was 10 years ago that I first visited the Zambia side with Squiver and I was quite taken with the open forest of winterthorn and mahogany trees. This time the region was a bit greener than I remember from the first trip and greater numbers of wildlife, also a greater variety. Lots of elephants, impala, buffalo, and lions of course, but also large numbers of eland and waterbuck plus some lovely kudus and a couple of encounters with wild dogs. Leopards are usually one of the highlights in the park but on this trip were difficult to find in good settings (as opposed to sleeping or way up in a bushy tree). Nevertheless it was great to be there and simply enjoy. How often do you get to see a baby elephant only one or two days old? Or Boswell the elephant ripping a large limb from a tree to pull down fresh leaves (one can only eat so many winterthorn pods)? Or have a relatively up-close inspection by a large elephant (see bottom of page)?
One of the stated goals of the trip was to capture not just portraits but also the animals in their landscape, ideally with that lovely blue haze (typical of this forest) in the background.
One day about mid-morning on the Mana Pools side we saw a group of elephants approaching. I went into a small ditch to get the camera as close to ground level as possible. You can tell when the animal is keeping its eye on you and this one in particular stopped for a good look and flare of its ears. He barely fit in the frame with the widest focal length I had there, 70mm (thinking I'd be shooting at a greater distance). Thanks to Alf (one of our great guides in Mana Pools along with Sean) for the shot of me in action.
