Finding Perspective in the Pilanesberg

Time off is a great thing.  And perspective is even better!

You see, even though I spend most my time working in a Big 5 game reserve it is, contrary to popular belief, not a full time holiday.  Yes, our neighbors include lions and elephants  and the sunsets seems to last forever but at times very stressful and exhausting!

Working with people, not matter how great the are, takes it toll.  Living at work also means that you never ‘really’ have time to yourself.  There is always something else and everybody always expects you to have the answer to everything.  And smile while you fix it.

This is by no means me getting negative, but stating the facts.  Putting things into perspective.  I love what I do and most of the time to highs far outweigh the lows because even when I am having a pretty crappy day, I get to share a beer out in the African bush with mates and photograph things like this.

Nice hey?  This is the Mateya male in the Madikwe Game Reserve the morning before I went on leave.  But apart from the great photo opportunities, working in the bush can be both a blessing and a curse but more on that later.  I will be doing a guest post on AfricaFreak about life as a lodge manager / field guide.  Will keep you posted when the post is ready to go!

The nicest thing about getting away from the lodge, apart from fast internet access, is that it gives you perspective.  What is important?  Where am I going?  What do I want to achieve?   More than that is the ability to finish things.  Put plans into action.  Six weeks to plan and prepare and two weeks to implement.  Not ideal but damn, so far it is working well!

Anyway, back to time off.

I spent most of last week in the Pilanesberg Game Reserve not too far from Madikwe.  Awesome!

I have been going to the Pilanesberg Game Reserve with my folks since I was a youngster.  This is where I truly developed my deep love of nature.  As a kid I was completely addicted to the TV channel that showed the live feed from the waterhole.  This is where I first got to hear the francolins announcing early morning with their screeching greetings.  This is where I first experienced overpowering African sunsets.    Yeah… I love this place!

When I finalized out booking I was quite keen to go and shoot a few marketing type shots for our upcoming ‘Wildlife Photography 101′ workshop but decided against it.  I needed to break from work.  I needed to switch off and I am proud to say that I did not check email, Twitter or Facebook once.  And you know what?  It was fantastic!!

Persepctive.  That’s what it was all about. Ideas coming together.  New ideas popping up.  Appreciation.  Inspiration.  Perspective.

Adele and I went to the Pilanesberg to relax, enjoy the spectacular scenery and spend some time with Grant Marcus and his wife, Monique.  Great friends and in Grant I have  partner in crime who is always up for another hour at the hide trying to photograph the waterbirds of the Pilanesberg.

Without approaching the trip like work I went out to just enjoy the African wildlife and scenery which is truly breathtaking.  The sightings, both quality and quantity, is not quite up there with the Madikwe Game Reserve but from a photographic point of view the Pilanesberg is amazing!  The scenery and waterbirds in particular is out of this world and knocks Madikwe out the park.  I am very happy, and quite excited, that we decided to run the Wildlife Photography 101 workshop here.   Gonna be a blast!

Here are a few of the photographs I captured as we drove around the reserve.  We did not specifically go looking for any of them.  We drove around, sat at the various hides (brilliant!) and just slowed down to African time.

Yeah, the last image is the kingfisher we tried to photograph.  Beautiful little bird and I walked away with a few decent shots but the ‘battle’ is not over yet.  Since I am still on leave until Saturday, I will be heading back to Pilanesberg this week with some heavy artillery.  Watch this space!

Anyway, had a great break.  Well rested.  Lots of ‘perspective’ gained and a few photographs along the way.

This Saturday it’s Worldwide PhotoWalk time and quite looking forward to that one!  If you are joining me for the walk in Melville, I will be in touch during the week.  If not, I will be posting images and updates early next week!

Time to get going but make sure to pop in during the week.  I will be posting details on 2011 safaris to Kenya and Madikwe on the site.  Things coming together very nicely and some very exciting things in the pipeline!

I’ll be back tomorrow… or perhaps not depending on how days pan out.  Hey, I’m still on holiday till Saturday!

See ya soon!

Gerry