This Week At Angama #156

The overarching theme for this blog entry is ‘Capturing Change.’ Through imagery, we hope to be able to portray how this landscape is in a constant state of flux. At face value you could easily be forgiven for thinking that life in the Mara moves slowly. A notion, I believe, that is created through the seemingly endless grassy plains, punctuated by the odd flat-topped tree. Often it can look like an ancient landscape where time stands still.

A more rigorous, closer inspection starts to show otherwise. Like our own bodies age, so the landscape grows. As the plants respond to rain and to sunshine an arms race of sorts is taking place as they try to develop ways to remain uneaten. Visit a place often enough, and you can almost hear it breathe. Change here happens daily in many increments; often right before your eyes.

As a photographer, each day presents new challenges and new opportunities. How you seize these movements and respond to them is portrayed in the images you take. Of course, not every week is filled with action and drama, but if you go out each day with a fresh mind and keep a creative spirit then you start to see the subtleties of stories within stories, of light dancing across the plains and extraordinary colours begging to be captured.

So when I failed to include a picture of a lion this week, for only the second time in 156 weeks, I do not feel that it was a ‘lesser week.’ In fact, I think this week more than most allowed me to really explore the art of photography. It forced me to embrace the diversity and abundance that makes the Mara so alluring. As the verdant green grasses slowly start to dry out the landscape will turn gold. And after gold comes fire. And after fire comes new life.

It is impossible to visit the Maasai Mara once and say that you have seen it all. I have been here for over three years now and I still discover new things every day. 80,000 photographs later and I still have a list as long as my arm of images I still want to take, of moments I still want to experience, and of memories I want to relive again.

Two years ago we were having incredible sightings of cheetahs across the Triangle. None more so than this particular female as she moved from termite mound to termite mound in search of prey.

Plenty of lion were seen this week; in fact two different prides were seen killing warthogs by Angama guests. Unfortunately for Adam he was not in the right place at the right time.