Wild Dog Fight

Madikwe Game Reserve, 8 May 2008, 08h12

Nikon D50, Sigma 50-500 @ 150mm, 1/640, F/6.3, ISO 640

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Going back to 2008 for this one.  We were out on a cold winters morning when we found a large pack of Wild Dogs who just finished killing a young Kudu.  Most of the action was over but with 16 dogs to the pack there was not really enough food to go around.  Some of the younger dogs were running around with pieces of kudu leg and every now and then they would drop it, have quick ‘negotiation’ as to who it belongs to and carry on.  All of this took place in front of a waterhole which was fantastic as it kept the dogs from running away from us.  With one of Africa’s most endangered animals running side to side in front of our vehicle you cannot help but get caught up in wildlife photographic bliss.  We got a lot of amazing shots that morning but to this day this is still one of my favorites.

Tomorrow is Thursday which means it’s guest blogger day on Photo-Africa.  Make sure to check back as Paul Lindenberg shares images and stories about photographing elephants in the Chobe National Park in Botswana.  Paul shares his experience of going up to Chobe to photograph ellies for research purposes but, as any photographer would, take the time to shoot some pics for himself as well.  Great read so make sure to check back tomorrow as Paul goes ‘On Assignment’!

See ya on Friday!

Gerry

Seeing two male lions have a go at each other is an amazing sight!

Yeah yeah I know I said that I am going to try and photograph other subjects rather than lions!  The thing is that I quite like the following sequence of two fully grown male lions having a fight and I also kinda ran out of time in between trying to sort out the aftermath of an office PC crash.  Will get back onto photographing other subjects and post them soon!

Over the weekend we sat watching a pride of 13 lions.  One of the two males, sporting a bruised and injured eye, was obviously very irate with life.  Out of nowhere he got up and charged his brother who was laying very peacefully in between other members of the pride.  The entire episode was over in less than 5 seconds but what a spectacle!  Luckily I already had my camera ready and focused on the male that was with the pride so I aimed, tried to keep up and let the Nikon’s 8 frames per second shutter do it what needs to do.

Amazing scenes and sounds were frightening!  Sometimes we get caught so caught up in the technical side of our images that we forget about content.   For me these images are all content, even if it just as a reminder of a special sighting.  The dappled light made for difficult exposure, the background was ‘busy’ but check how the rest of the pride make way as the two big guys take each other on.  Content!  On the tech side of things I was quite impressed with the tracking and autofocus on my old Nikon 80-200mm f/2.8.  I only shot these 7 frames and they were all acceptable.  Not bad.

Anyway, as I was working through the images in Lightroom I also liked the intensity in the eye of the one male.

This is a seriously zoomed in crop of the second last image but you can get the idea. They eye of the one lion and the blood on the ear of the other leaves no doubt that this was not quite a training exercise.  After the dust settled the one male was licking his wounds in a nearby thicket as the guy who started everything settled in to relax with the rest of the pride.  You can see how the old wound next to his eye was opened up again in the altercation with his brother.

As a follow up, we saw this pride and the two males again yesterday morning and even though they still kept their distance from each other you could see that there was still a little bit of tension.  Interesting times ahead.

See ya tomorrow.

Gerry

One of the most brutally visual thing you could even see in the African bush is two male lions going at each other.  Spectacularly intense stuff!

I recently found this sequence on Facebook.  Hannes Kruger shot the following images in the Sabi Sand Game Reserve and it shows two males form the Mapogo coalition having a not-so-friendly discussion about one of the Xhimungwe females.  Great African action…

This is the kind of scene that any wildlife photographer dreams about and the intensity of a battle between two large male lions is something not many people are lucky enough to see.  Hannes had an amazing sighting and came away with an great series of images. Gathering from the last image the female walked away with her champion!  The feedback was that the younger male won this round and that both lions were fine after the fight albeit a little stiff!

To see this entire series you can hook up with Hannes Kruger on Facebook. Visit my profile and search for him in my friends.  Some great wildlife photography images to browse through.

Now I have not been lucky enough to see a full blown fight between two adult lions but did capture the following conflict image yesterday.

Ok, not as intense as the fighting sequence but it was still a great ‘fight’ sighting!  The two youngsters were at each other the whole afternoon and took any available chance to beat up on each other.  Great fun!

Was there a point to this post?  Yeah.  Some great images from Hannes and remember to always be ready with your camera when you head out on safari.  Things can happen very quickly!  Oh, and make sure to check out the Photo-Africa Stock Library as a lot of new images have been added!

Until next time.

Gerry