Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2009/10/26
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]I have also just come back from Africa. A lot of what I did was work, and I am a hopeless animal/wildlife photographer anyway, so I haven't shown many shots. The few snaps of animals that i did take were all done with a leica M (I had an M8, an MP and an M7 with me). To keep it further on topic, all animals were viewed, when necessary, using a pair of Leica Trinovid 10x25s or a pair of Leica Ultravid 10x50s. Unlike Jayanand, we opted to walk most of the time. You need a lot more time, but I've never liked viewing animals from a vehicle. This photo of a cheetah: http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/freakscene/75+Summilux/cheetah.jpg.html was taken with a 75 Summilux on my M8 - I was about a metre away from it. It was too exhausted to run away. When it caught its breath, it jumped over me to get away. My other photos on film are on the way (still developing them) but I also got close enough to elephants several times that individual elephants did not fit into the field of a 50 mm lens and similarly close to many other large animals. We also had well qualified guides with us who were totally relaxed except on three occasions: once when we found a solitary male Cape buffalo that had been recently killed by a lion and I wanted to find the lion (they get possessive about their kills); once when I started walking into a thicket from which leopard sounds were emanating and once when I kept asking the guides to get our mokoro closer and closer to a bloat of hippos. A mokoro is a canoe made out of a tree - it has about 3-5 inches of freeboard and would be suitable to act as a toothpick for most adult hippos. It isn't particularly dangerous if you approach it the right way. At no time did I feel threatened in the bush, although I did walking at night in African cities. Marty On Tue, Oct 27, 2009 at 1:57 AM, Jayanand Govindaraj <jayanand at gmail.com> wrote: > Richard,Luis and Larry, > Thanks for taking a peek. > > I was in a Land Rover or Landcruiser, and the drivers we had on our > Photosafari are amongst the best in that part of the world. Secondly, > the animals are so used to vehicles, they don't perceive them as a > threat at all - they will go under the vehicle for shade at times. All > those cubs in my photograph will grow up with no fear, and communicate > that to their offspring as well. This is not an unmitigated blessing, > because it also allows poachers to get very close to their quarry. > > Actually it is far more dangerous in Indian parks like Ranthambhore, > where I get very, very close to tigers in an open, unprotected jeep - > I have been so close that I could not focus on them with a 70-200 > lens. I have no fear, and as long as I am in a vehicle, and don't do > anything foolish, I feel nothing will happen. > > Cheers > Jayanand > > On Mon, Oct 26, 2009 at 8:39 PM, ?<lrzeitlin at aol.com> wrote: >> Jayanard, >> Your animal and bird pictures are wonderful. I envy both your photo skills >> and your safari. One question, how did you get so close to the animals >> without getting eaten? >> Larry Z >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Leica Users Group. >> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >> > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >