Well, you can say, “It has been one of those weeks.” Those wonderful, “African Rains”, of which everyone dreams and Toto sings, have made a huge mud pit of the Mara, and it is the dry season!! At one point in my life, I thought it would be amazing to tough out the mess during the raining season, with big cats in a downpour and dramatic skies, but after this past week, I am rethinking that one. It had been raining for days when I first arrived at Little Mara Bush Camp. That was ok, as I had just finished 3 weeks in Ethiopia and could do with some down time, using the Internet to catch up on tons of emails. My mobile office there has a great view along the river, with Hippos to keep me entertained.
Mobil office at Little Mara Bush Camp
Hippos at play just below the mobil office
Hippos at play just below the mobil office
After a hot day, which dried the roads a bit, I would venture out for an afternoon drive in the Landy. That, in itself, driving through the African plains, is incredible! I just started using infrared photography, so I was only looking for elephants or giraffes along the mass savannas with dramatic skies. Sometimes, I can wander out from camp and find them the minute I pop out of the bush, so I was happy to stay close to camp for a few days. However, on the third day, one of my external drives crashed. Then, while I was backing-up my back up, my computer crashed, or so I thought. Actually, it was not charging and simply died from running out of battery – Thank God! Once I got that all sorted, I was ready to race across the Mara, the next morning, in search of lions (Rekero pride with cubs) and Cheetahs (either Malika or Armani and their cubs). Well, of course, that night, we were pounded again with those wonderful African rains, hard enough to seem like a stage 5 hurricane.
At that point, it was time to pull on my big girl pants, put on my big rubber boots, and get out there to kick some *** anyway. So I did just that, except… I got stuck only a few km from camp! My windows were down in anticipation of quickly coming upon some great wildlife action, but all I managed to do was annihilate everything inside the Landy with mud! Luckily, my buddies from Intrepid camp came by within a few minutes. I threw on my rubbers, jumped out, chained up, and they pulled me out. Then, we proceeded to the Talek river, which was way too high, but since the Intrepid driver made it, I followed. Water flew up over my bonnet, and I was too focused on getting across to notice the water coming in along my floor. Yep, a lot got wet that shouldn’t have. A few hours later, we could no longer cross that river, so the adventure continued slipping, sliding, and driving sideways across the marshy plains. Finally, we made it across Olare Orak River and back into camp!!!
Getting rescued
From the mud flying in the windows
All part of the adventure in the search for the perfect image and stories for the rocking chair!!
Here are a just a few of the infrared images I recently captured in the Maasai Mara. Visit my Piper Mackay Photography Facebook page to see a few I shot in the Omo Valley. I have a lot to learn about this new medium, but I am very excited about it.
Piper- I can truly sympathize. Just returned from a week (Christmas-New Years) in Costa Rica where I was hoping to get lots of nice quetzals in the rain forest. All I got was the rain in the forest. Three-day constant, and heavy rains made it impossible to photograph, since I was so busy protecting my gear.
We were in Namibia in November and being entertained by the camp staff after dinner. I was backing up to get a wider shot of the toddler (our guide’s daughter) when I fell into the swimming pool with my Nikon D750! Luckily it was at the end of the trip and I had my fall back D7100. Nikon was able to repair it on my return to the US ( for $350). Morals of the story? So many. Look before you walk, and always bring a back up body and lens. Also, always bring rain protection.
Dale I love all your travel stories, but my favorite is still the Snow Monkey’s. I think Joan told me about you falling in the Pool in Namibia…..Someday it would be fun to travel together….
Spectacular IR imagery!
Thank you Jonathan!
you’re marvelous! i was in kenya last september and it was the experience of a lifetime. i envy you’re being there.
Africa is a magical place. It really gets into your soul. You will just need to return soon.
Wish I had that view from my office!!
Can’t wait to see and stay at the Mara Bush Camp!
See you in two weeks….
Looking forward to meeting you Neil. You will love Little Mara Bush Camp and the SunWorld guides- they will get us to where we need to go!!
Piper ~ What a time you are having…mud & all! Really made me laugh. You’re such a trooper through it all. Fantastic photos. Take care, and hope to see you in August. Lori
Piper, your stories and images are truly and deeply inspiring to me. They are the pilot light that keeps my hopes and dreams for my own photographic journey abroad burning until I turn up the heat in the near future upon my retirement. If I am able to solicit the emotion in the viewers of my images just a small part of the degree that your images do, then I will be truly successful!