Category Archives: Zimanga Travel Blog

The Zimanga team insist on doing a final pre-breakfast game drive. While I appreciate the "value for money" focus, I am fretting slightly about whether that then makes the timing for the rest of the day a bit tight. It all seems to be based on "it’s a 3 hour drive back to the airport" when the drive up, which was slightly shorter, took a bit over 4…

The game drive starts as a bit of a bust. We spend an hour driving around with absolutely nothing to show for it, not even a few zebra or buffalo. However there’s then a message on the radio that the female lions have been spotted near the river. We head down there, and find the two lionesses wandering around and playing. They suddenly run across our field of view, but before our group has had time to sort out the right lens and settings, and I’m lucky to get a couple of decent "grab shots".

After that the lionesses cross the river and disappear into the bush. We are happy we’ve ticked another encounter off the list, and return to the lodge.

I decide the best plan is to finish my packing, then have breakfast, and return to my room for a quick shower before setting off on the return journey. Well we all know what they say about the best laid plans. The first two steps work well, but I get back to my room, disrobe, and then find that while I was at breakfast a very keen maid has been in and taken away all the towels! Foiled again!

Final formalities complete at 10am we board the jeeps for the final time to drive to the gate, and board the bus back to Durban. At the half-way point I ask the guide whether we’re on time, and there’s a slightly embarrassed pause. Apparently a medium-sized bus towing a trailer with the luggage is limited to 100 kph, and the "three hours to the airport" figure is based on a normal car. So it is going to be tight.

Even though the roads are clear and we only have one very brief comfort stop, we arrive with less than an hour to our flights to Johannesburg, and have to almost run through check-in and security. The flight itself is fine, although much busier than the one I came out on.

Once at Jo’burg there’s more confusion. Some of those affected by the BA cancellation are getting contradictory information about flight times and terminals. Mark and I are on the same Virgin flight back to London, but have different flight times printed on our documentation, so I end up with an extra couple of hours for "retail opportunities", and have to re-arrange my taxi. Finally, as usual I end on a bus to get to the terminal at Heathrow. At least I’m back safe and sound.

It’s nice to go travelling, but it’s nice to come home.

Next morning I present myself slightly early so we can go to the Tamboti hide and collect a justifiably-smug Colin and John, ready for our morning session in the Lagoon Hide. I’m keen to practice my new skill with the pre-capture facility, but there’s relatively little activity and we’re also shooting straight into the rising sun, so it’s somewhat less rewarding than the afternoon session.

Nonetheless I manage to get a good sequence of a kingfisher diving and then re-emerging from the lagoon. 20 frames per second isn’t actually fast enough to get all the detail of the dive – in one frame the kingfisher is well above the water, the next under it, but my timing is perfect for a key point on the rising part of its arc.

Jealous of Colin and John’s success, several of the group, having previously demurred from a final overnight session, are vying for the Tamboti hide for the last night. We avert a "free and frank exchange of views"*, but it does become slightly heated before a consensus emerges.

*[British Civil Service euphemisms for the vigour of a meeting:
"Candid dialogue" = We talked but we don’t agree on anything and we were unable to communicate.
"Beneficial dialogue" = At least we’re sitting down and talking. That’s an improvement.
"Free exchange of views" = There was shouting.
"Frank exchange of views” = There was a lot of shouting and punches were thrown.
"Direct exchange of views" = I hope the cleaners can get the blood out of the carpet.]

Early in the afternoon a Giraffe visits the contested hide, but not much else happens. I’m glad I didn’t feel inclined to fight for the slots.

I spend the morning catching up with images, but also manage to get some nice shots of the Zimanga lodge.

Lunch is calmer, up to the point where those members of the group scheduled on Thursday’s British Airways flight receive notice of its cancellation, and the various arcane and lengthy alternative routes being proposed to get them back to Blighty. I recall my own frustration dealing with a cancelled BA flight a few years ago, and sympathise, but there’s not much else I can do.

Our afternoon game drive is a chance to try and find a few subjects we haven’t get tracked down. First, we find a female cheetah who seems perfectly happy for us to approach on foot to within a few metres, although she’s essentially having an afternoon nap, and not putting on a show.

We then drive along the river, and get treated to a relaxed rhino family including a cute youngster, and some majestic impalas, plus we finally get pictures of a zebra facing the camera, visually separated from the pack, and not covered in mud.

As we’re headed back to the lodge Ty takes an unexpected turn, and we’re delivered to a table set up in the middle of the reserve, and treated to a sundowner of drinks and copious quantities of rather wonderful ostrich kebabs. The only challenge is that we’re then taken back to the lodge and presented with a T-bone steak for dinner!

The next morning we head off for our (in my case, at least) long-awaited session at The Scavenger’s Hill Hide. As the name suggests, this is designed to attract the reserve’s less glamourous occupants, those who depend on the kills of others. The hide is designed with two large metal grills just below our sight line, under which the staff have trapped meat and offal which can be clawed or pecked to extract chunks of food.

We arrive just before dawn, but the sky is lightening well before there’s any activity. As this is not typical we wonder for a while if there’s been some mistake, such as no food being put out, but after a while things get going, albeit slowly.

First to arrive are a few pied crows, followed soon by a Marabou stork. This scruffy fellow is much larger than the other birds, and it quickly becomes apparent that he’s a real bully. He could easily monopolise one of the grills and leave the other to the smaller birds, but instead he seems to want total control of both, hopping between them to scare off any bird who has dared to try his luck at the opposite grill. As a serious peck from his long, sharp beak would be fatal for a smaller bird, the others put up with this behaviour, but instead play a game of hopping to the other grill each time he moves.

Things really get going with the arrival of the white-backed vultures. While not conventionally pretty – none is going to win a beauty contest with a lilac-breasted roller – I think they have their own sort of elegance, with a majestic cloak of feathers.

Static appearance aside, the vultures also entertain with a variety of behaviours. There is a very real and literal "pecking order" at the hide. Top is the marabou stork, courtesy of its size and bullying behaviour. Next are a handful of the vultures who get prime access to the grills, and only have to dramatically spread their wings to get others to back down.

Then there’s the jostling between the other groups, which regularly results in one hopping into the air to drive his rivals away. Finally there are the crows, who readily give way to the vultures although one or two are occasionally prepared to retaliate. In reality they feed mainly by waiting for a squabble between larger birds and then stealing the prize during the confusion.

Even though activity tails off well before we’re collected, there’s arguably more "action" in the peak hour or so than we’ve seen over the rest of the week. The early morning golden light is wonderful, and the subject suits my style and equipment, benefitting from the extra reach and depth of field I get with micro four-thirds. We’re also helped by the somewhat lower than usual attendance: the common complaint about the scavenger hide is that the field is too crowded making subject separation a challenge, we don’t seem to have that issue.

A thoroughly excellent experience.

With our search for elephants still not fully resolved, and Frances confirming she wants me to come back with evidence of at least one baby elephant, we give Tyrone a fairly straightforward directive for the morning game drive: "find us some more elephants". We set out towards the south-west of the reserve, where the elephants are known to congregate, cross the river and drive to a reservoir in that corner.

A road runs along the top of the dam which forms the reservoir, providing views of both the far shore, and the scrubland below the dam. The shore is bathed in wonderful warm early morning light, and I abandon my long lenses to make a panorama, "Absence of Elephant". (Although, as any scientist or detective knows, absence of evidence is not evidence of absence…)

So far we have little evidence of elephants, although there is some activity hidden in the scrub below the dam, with an occasional trumpet or fleeting glimpse of a trunk reaching up through the trees, but not what we came for. However a couple of giraffes wander along the shore, reflected in the water, providing an unexpectedly graceful subject.

An eagle-eyed member of my group spots some elephantine movement on the far hillside, followed quickly by confirmation from another vehicle which has a different angle. A group of elephants are headed down the hill. We quickly move back up the track and get some shots of the group moving along the path, followed by them crossing the track just in front of our vehicles.

The group consists of about three older females, a juvenile, and a baby estimated to be about 4 months old. As our drivers carefully manoeuvre the vehicles to extend the interaction the baby expresses his puzzlement by giving one of the jeeps a playful nudge. Anyone old enough to remember the famous "Blue Peter" scene with John Noakes and a baby elephant will know how firm such a nudge can be!

The guides need to train the elephants out of such behaviour, so baby is recipient of a series of "bad dog" shouts and gestures. These in turn upset Mum, who approaches our jeep, but when the appropriate gesture is made she immediately calms down, so clearly the training sticks fairly readily.

The group moves away, but not before I’ve managed to get a couple of nice portraits of mother and baby. On our way back up the hill we watch a large bull who have also emerged from the scrub and is happily engaged eating a large, spiky bush.

Elephants done. Tick.

For our afternoon drive we fancy something a bit different, and set out towards the main lake to do some hippo spotting. On the way we encounter a group of zebras who almost seem to be taking direction:

Our first encounter at the lake, ironically, is with the same bull elephant we observed in the morning, standing quietly on the road in front of us, plus we get occasional views of a mother and older juvenile below the track. Like buses, elephants. Grr.

At the lake we spend a bit of time observing the hippos. Although Zaminga has a substantial number of them the challenge, which I had not appreciated, is that hippos are actually more closely related to whales than the other pachyderms, and spend a lot of time not just in but also under the water. This helps protect their skin, which burns easily, and allows them to graze on underwater plants as well as those along the water’s edge, but it does make photography more tricky. However we do get shots of one having a splendid yawn.

Our drive back is slightly hair-raising, as Tyrone’s usual route back from that side of the lake is waterlogged thanks to the recent rains, and the jeep loses traction. As he tries to work it free the vehicle starts to cant sideways at an alarming angle. In an enclosed SUV, or even one of Zaminga’s regular vehicles, this would be less of an issue but we are in the "photo vehicle" designed to enable lower-level shots, and you sit "on" rather than "in" it, with little to hold on to. Eventually we manage to reverse out and take the long way round, but not without a bit of drama.

We’re not expecting much from the remainder of the drive, but the best has arguably been left for last. As we’re driving past the cheetahs’ domain Ty spots a serval, a small but long-bodied wildcat about the same as a smaller domestic one. These animals are solitary, usually nocturnal, and actively avoid interaction with larger ones, so it’s extremely unusual to see one. We get a couple of shots of the serval moving, and then follow it to where it’s hiding from us.

We get a few more photos, but it’s evident that the animal knows it’s being hunted, doesn’t understand it’s just for images, and is finding it all quite stressful, so we leave it be and head back to the lodge, with an unexpected encounter under the belt.

Despite the short guest appearances on previous days, our hunt for elephants remains unfinished business. Zimanga has about 40, and it should in theory be relatively easy to find them, so that’s the initial focus of our morning game drive. We cross the river to the southern section of the reserve and find some evidence: broken trees and recent spoor on the road. After driving around for a bit we eventually see a large bull moving through the trees, and Tyrone manages to get ahead on a parallel route so that our paths cross in a large clearing. The elephant doesn’t want to hang around, but is happy to pass close to the jeep, so at least we get some good photos.

The search for a larger group, ideally with some youngsters, continues.

We abandon the hunt because a message comes in over the radio that the three male lions may be actively hunting. We hurry back across the reserve to the designated spot and find them. It’s very evident that the dominant male has eaten recently. The other two are less obviously full, and do seem to be following a group of wildebeest, but not with great urgency. The drive turns into a procession where the lions move a few yards up the track and then lie down for a bit. Then after a few minutes they rouse themselves to move a few yards more, and we follow until they need another rest.

There’s a brief flurry of excitement when two of the trio go off on a short side trip, and the other gets anxious until they are reunited. Initial nuzzling is supplemented by annoyed growling, but they quickly get back into their walk and rest routine.

In places the light is wonderful for portraits, but it’s not exactly edge of the seat stuff. Bloody cats…

On the way back to breakfast we see a variety of birds and herbivores. The afternoon and night are spent at the Tamboti hide, but to limited avail. Most of the night there’s no activity, plus as one of our party, who shall be nameless, snores like a jet taking off I get very little sleep.

Sod’s law, as I’m making a cup of coffee in the morning a rhino drops by, but by the time I’m at the front of the hide with camera ready he’s wandered off. Bugger!

The 4th day of our stay at Zimanga delivers where the previous day did not. We start with another game drive, again aiming to track down the reserve’s male lions. Almost immediately there’s a confirmed sighting, and we head to the specified location just as the sun rises and bathes the area in golden light. Zimanga has three relatively young males, brothers, the result of a swap for an older male to increase the pride’s genetic diversity. All three of these magnificent but still developing animals are present and correct.

That said, they don’t really deliver on the "bit more action". Ultimately, these are cats. Cats like lying down not doing much if they can get away with it, and the three males are obviously sufficiently relaxed and well fed that they don’t need to do much more. We get various shots of them lying down looking regal, and head off.

The alternative attraction is provided by the two male cheetahs. They have taken down a young zebra, and are busy stuffing as much of it as possible into themselves before leaving it to the scavengers. This is very much the "nature red in tooth and claw" bit of the safari.

What is interesting is the process reveals a surprising lack of problem-solving intelligence. The left flank and legs have been stripped, and the torso is already open. Both cheetahs are clearly very full, and you’d think that they would prioritise the high-value parts of what remains, before it’s time to leave the kill to others.

Nope, they crunch through the ribs to extract morsels of meat. They pick at the offal, before repeatedly remembering that they don’t like it. They work together to try and extract remaining fragments of meat on the left-hand flank. They don’t think of flipping the carcass over and eating the meat on its right side.

Once again I’m surprised by how relaxed cheetahs are around humans. Our guides allow us to get out of the jeeps and walk around, maintaining about a 3m minimum distance but not much more, and the cheetahs take little or no interest. Try that with a lion or tiger…

In the afternoon we visit the Lagoon Hide, a semi-submerged hide in the centre of a man-made lagoon, which is itself on one edge of a natural lake. This is an excellent location from which to observe water fowl. We watch various water fowl plodding around to find bits of food (although a small heron dives and takes a whole fish, which is impressive).

This one made me laugh. For some reason I’ve got the line "We’ll Walk Down the Avenue" from "Couple of Swells" going through my head…

Another good day’s shooting.

Day 3 dawns with a borderline white-out: thick mist filling the valley under heavy low cloud, and it appears to be even colder than the previous day. The drive is somewhat hairy, and also almost a wash-out: we find the cheetahs but they are asleep, and we find a small group of rhino, but they move away and clearly regard our jeep as an intrusion. Tyrone takes some time trying to find a reported male lion, but to no avail. One water buffalo is a bit more cooperative.

That’s about it for mammals. We fare slightly better with birds, getting good shots of several larger birds sitting in trees, but overall there’s not a great deal to show, emphasising just how much patience and luck contribute to wildlife photography.

Our afternoon and evening activity is another night hide session. No sooner are we settled in than it becomes apparent that this is the local avian dogging site. First a pair of Blacksmith Lapwings do a complex mirroring dance culminating in mating, and to make sure they do it again.

The Lapwings are replaced by a pair of small Three Banded Plovers, whose courtship ritual is less complex but completes with even more enthusiastic consummation. They fly away and, we think, return shortly for a second performance, but this ends with the appearance of a second male and a brief territorial squabble, so it’s also possible the lady is concurrently entertaining two suitors.

After that we are visited by a pair of Woolly-Necked Storks, who plod around for a bit, but if this is their courtship ritual it climaxes elsewhere.

About 10pm I am just getting off to sleep and Colin awakes me with the news that there’s an elephant near the hide. His night sight, honed by years of sailing, has spotted the large beast moving through the trees well beyond the reach of the hide’s lights. Eventually I tune in to where he is, and can follow by using my camera as essentially a night vision scope. Eventually he emerges from the trees, and I manage to get a couple of shots – handheld at 200mm and for 0.4s, using ISO 6400. It only works because elephants don’t move fast, and even so the hit rate is pretty low. My pics aren’t going to win any prizes, but after a slow evening they are still a reward in themselves, especially as that’s the last action of the night.

Maybe I need to channel my inner Peter Lik, produce a vast panorama entitled "Absence of Elephant" and see if someone will give me £4M for it.

And if you don’t understand the title of this piece, I suggest you Google both versions! Just use private browsing mode…