This Week At Angama #124

When out on safari, I usually have at least one particular animal that I’m hoping to see. There’s never really any specific reason behind this – it could be an animal I’ve never seen before or one that I haven’t seen in a while, or even an animal that I’m taken with at that particular time. [f 6.3, 1/800, ISO 200, 0.0]
 
Photograph by Adam Bannister

I was recently able to check leopard off my list after months of hoping to spot one. It was a rather shy adolescent male and he was gone in a flash – blending into the grass with such efficient stealth that I wasn’t even able to get so much as a blurry photograph. [f 13.0, 1/40, ISO 200, 0.0]

Photograph by Adam Bannister

When I first arrived in the Mara, spotting a lion felt like a rare treat, particularly fully grown males. [f 5.6, 1/640, ISO 640, +0.67]
 
Photograph by Adam Bannister

Perhaps it is the diminishing rains or the shorter grass, or maybe even the soon-to-arrive wildebeest. Whatever it is, it has brought about near daily sightings of these big cats. [f 5.0, 1/640, ISO 500, +0.33]

Photograph by Adam Bannister

On a recent drive, we came across 24 lions in total with seven being stunning adult males. [f 5.6, 1/500, ISO 100, 0.0]

Photograph by Adam Bannister

[f 5.6, 1/500, ISO 500, +0.67]

A particularly cheeky hyena sniffed around this lioness and her almost-grown cubs early one morning, perhaps hoping that there were remnants of a kill nearby. [f 8.0, 1/30, ISO 160, 0.0]

Photograph by Adam Bannister

[f 5.6, 1/200, ISO 125, +0.33]

Jackal have also been enjoying the resulting windfall of successful lion hunts. [f 7.1, 1/400, ISO 100, -0.33]

Photograph by Adam Bannister

[f 6.3, 1/250, ISO 200, -0.33]

Photograph by Adam Bannister

[f 5.0, 1/1250, ISO 320, 0.0]

Wildebeest continue to stir up some excitement with their presence, though still infrequent and in limited numbers. [f 6.3, 1/500, ISO 100, 0.0]

Though there are some resident eland right by camp, I feel their numbers have increased recently and I have chosen to view this as a good omen with regards to the coming Migration. [f 11.0, 1/250, ISO 100, -1]
 

[f 8.0, 1/400, ISO 100, -1]

I very nearly missed getting a shot of this Martial eagle as I determinedly scanned the treeline for signs of a dangling leopard tail. [f 6.3, 1/400, ISO 200, 0.0]

I didn’t make the same mistake with the black-chested snake eagle though. [f 6.3, 1/1600, ISO 200, +0.67]

I’ve started to get better at spotting birds – it is certainly easier than trying to find a lion or leopard in the tall grass. The hamerkop isn’t difficult to spot by any stretch of the imagination, but it was lovely to see this one in a particularly picturesque area by a little stream. [f 6.3, 1/250, ISO 200, 0.0]

Photograph by Adam Bannister

The Mara continues to surprise and delight and I look forward to what else it has in store. [f 13.0, 1/40, ISO 200, 0.0]

This Week Two Years Ago

Photograph by Adam Bannister

This time last year, two young male cheetah arrived in the Mara Triangle – who knows, maybe they will make a reappearance again this year. [f 3.5, 1/1600, ISO 125, +033]