Hunters from African plains
We were hiding from them in tree branches in times when the humankind was young. When the history of our kind stopped to be counted by millions of years, we were afraid of them while sitting in a twinkling light of flames. Their furs were worn by kings and the bravest warriors. Then came a man with a rifle and barbed wire. The balance of powers has changed. Nowadays they survive on islands of wilderness called national parks, however, you still feel a strange buzzing in your nape when sitting near a fire in the middle of a bush and a call of a hunter is heard in the night darkness...
Curse of a leopard
Legends about this spotted cat are told in Africa. Leopards are famous for their intelligence and vigilance and these features initiated rumours about their supernatural abilities. Native wizards transmigrating into these beasts of prey and killing calm villagers are only one of many stories. This great hunter has earned many names. One can hear stories about “killing machines” in camps located in the middle of the bush. You fall into the magic of such stories with no regard to the truthfulness of the story or the state of the teller when hearing them around a cracking fire. It is like fisherman's hands always showing a bit longer fish than...With no regard to mysterious stories I have to admit that I was pretty teased by a leopard. Every photographer taking pictures of the wilderness can confirm that it is very hard to take pictures of leopards. One just has to wait and wait for such pictures until the leopard pleases that you finally deserve that. It was impossible for me to take pictures of leopards in Zambia, Uganda or South African Kruger. I was spotting a beautiful young female leopard on the lower Zambezi every morning, but I was never able to get close enough to take pictures. I saw with envy tourists with compact cameras full of pictures of leopards in the falling sun or with fresh prey at places I searched few hours before them with a guide. In the evening I cursed the leopard and all the bad luck of the world following me on my journey.The leopard curse left me in northern Botswana. I was muffled in a blanket, wearing a stocking cap and gloves and on my way to look for Wild African Dogs with a driver. The morning was very cold and we could not find a single animal. Three ostriches and few footprints left by hyenas we finally lost in sand – that was all we could find. We decided to return to the camp at about ten in the morning, however, the jeep broke down at a length of about one-hour drive from the camp. I was rather unsuccessfully trying to hide in a twenty-centimetre shadow of the cranky car while searching the ground with a binocular to avoid dullness. It fulfilled the entire binocular at one moment. It lied on a tree about 100 meters far from us, paws hung from a branch and its stomach was chock full. We went to the tree the leopard rested on after a mechanic from a nearby camp managed to repair our jeep and I took my first pictures of the most beautiful African cat at a daylight. I have seen leopards many times since that day and my leopard curse ended.
The best hunter
A small black spot appears on the opposite side of the plain. It leaves the wall of the bush and heads to the herd of impalas. It steeply accelerates in one moment. It seems almost impossible. It is like someone launches an additional engine. “A dog!” I cry to the driver after I find out after a moment what I am looking at. He immediately starts the engine and wheels of the car dig holes in the sand during the acceleration. The race has begun. The black arrow is joined by another two, then the fourth and the fifth. The impala doubles while haunted by a pack of wild African dogs. We are trying to not lose them from sight. The driver tries to not hit termitaries and bigger bushes at a high speed. I try to keep myself and my equipment in the car. The running dogs are creating a horn and the impala gradually falls into it. They precisely force their prey to run into a fence of one of camp sites, where it is finally trapped. The pack kills and eats the animal in just few moments. The hunt is over. It begun only few minutes ago.In the second half of last century it was possible to watch a similar theatre of wilderness from plains of Serengeti to the south of the continent. The development of farming has brought barbed wire fences and poisoned baits. The wild African dog slowly disappears from the African wilderness.The nomad hunter has no chance in the competition of stronger predators in national parks inhabited by strong populations of lions and hyenas and this reduces numbers of the most successful hunter in terms of percentage of all African beasts of prey. Only thousands of these amazing creatures survive in Africa in small and completely separated populations.
The „lazy“ king
A man wearing a safari suit gets out of a car on a black and white recording taken by an amateur camcorder. He comes to a pack of resting lions to get attractive pictures from holiday and one of the lions attacks him.... A video footage presented on the Internet should be a warning for all those considering lions lazy, and that's why harmless, animals. The African safari is not a zoo and visitors are not divided from lions by security grills or bullet proof glass. I feel rather uncomfortable when I sometimes hear vainglorious stories from so-called “experts” on the African nature, who come to the safari on their own and get out of their cars wherever they want to. One of the guides told me how he failed at exams. His teacher told him to get out of the car stopped in a high grass to check if there were no lions nearby so they could leave the jeep safely. The exam was over in a moment his foot touched the ground, because such mistakes are lethal in Africa.Lions are passive for the majority of the day. They rest in shadows due to high temperatures and they become active just before the sunset. However, it is not a rule. I have seen lionesses hunting at noon. It is a great experience to see how they cooperate. I watched a night hunt on a young male impala in South Luangwa. We found a pack of lions in a moment they pulled their prey down. We watched that in a safety of an open jeep. Cute lion cubs brought by one of the lionesses became cruel beasts in the scent of death and blood. The lions started to fight over the what was left of the impala. The lions got so close to the car during the fight that one of the lionesses hit the front wheel by its back. Nobody would probably get out of the car at that moment...
Meeting
Something is left in your mind after each meeting with a beast of prey. You can meet many of them at African plains. Cheetah brothers in Massai Mara, who have been hunting together since they were left by their mother, a hyena from Kaingo camp, who steals dishes in the camp kitchen or a leopard, who likes resting on a tree close to your shower. One is only step from small or big troubles at such moments. On a trip to South African Pafuri we found a pack of lions resting on an asphalt road to Kruger one morning. Everything seemed to be absolutely all right. Three nearly adult cub lions suddenly disappeared in the bush followed by a lioness. Neither the driver nor I knew why. The lioness suddenly run from the bush directly to the jeep. It stopped ten meters from the car, stared at us and nervously whisked its tail. You hear clock ticking in your head at such a moment. The pressure was over after several long seconds and the lioness returned to the bush. I still do not know what caused such a behaviour of an animal used to cars and people. Every time I leave the African wilderness I think about this moment to not forget that I still know nothing about it.
Hunters from African plains
We were hiding from them in tree branches in times when the humankind was young. When the history of our kind stopped to be counted by millions of years, we were afraid of them while sitting in a twinkling light of flames. Their furs were worn by kings and the bravest warriors. Then came a man with a rifle and barbed wire. The balance of powers has changed. Nowadays they survive on islands of wilderness called national parks, however, you still feel a strange buzzing in your nape when sitting near a fire in the middle of a bush and a call of a hunter is heard in the night darkness...
Curse of a leopard
Legends about this spotted cat are told in Africa. Leopards are famous for their intelligence and vigilance and these features initiated rumours about their supernatural abilities. Native wizards transmigrating into these beasts of prey and killing calm villagers are only one of many stories. This great hunter has earned many names. One can hear stories about “killing machines” in camps located in the middle of the bush. You fall into the magic of such stories with no regard to the truthfulness of the story or the state of the teller when hearing them around a cracking fire. It is like fisherman's hands always showing a bit longer fish than...
With no regard to mysterious stories I have to admit that I was pretty teased by a leopard. Every photographer taking pictures of the wilderness can confirm that it is very hard to take pictures of leopards. One just has to wait and wait for such pictures until the leopard pleases that you finally deserve that. It was impossible for me to take pictures of leopards in Zambia, Uganda or South African Kruger. I was spotting a beautiful young female leopard on the lower Zambezi every morning, but I was never able to get close enough to take pictures. I saw with envy tourists with compact cameras full of pictures of leopards in the falling sun or with fresh prey at places I searched few hours before them with a guide. In the evening I cursed the leopard and all the bad luck of the world following me on my journey.
The leopard curse left me in northern Botswana. I was muffled in a blanket, wearing a stocking cap and gloves and on my way to look for Wild African Dogs with a driver. The morning was very cold and we could not find a single animal. Three ostriches and few footprints left by hyenas we finally lost in sand – that was all we could find. We decided to return to the camp at about ten in the morning, however, the jeep broke down at a length of about one-hour drive from the camp. I was rather unsuccessfully trying to hide in a twenty-centimetre shadow of the cranky car while searching the ground with a binocular to avoid dullness. It fulfilled the entire binocular at one moment. It lied on a tree about 100 meters far from us, paws hung from a branch and its stomach was chock full. We went to the tree the leopard rested on after a mechanic from a nearby camp managed to repair our jeep and I took my first pictures of the most beautiful African cat at a daylight. I have seen leopards many times since that day and my leopard curse ended.
The best hunter
A small black spot appears on the opposite side of the plain. It leaves the wall of the bush and heads to the herd of impalas. It steeply accelerates in one moment. It seems almost impossible. It is like someone launches an additional engine. “A dog!” I cry to the driver after I find out after a moment what I am looking at. He immediately starts the engine and wheels of the car dig holes in the sand during the acceleration. The race has begun. The black arrow is joined by another two, then the fourth and the fifth. The impala doubles while haunted by a pack of wild African dogs. We are trying to not lose them from sight. The driver tries to not hit termitaries and bigger bushes at a high speed. I try to keep myself and my equipment in the car. The running dogs are creating a horn and the impala gradually falls into it. They precisely force their prey to run into a fence of one of camp sites, where it is finally trapped. The pack kills and eats the animal in just few moments. The hunt is over. It begun only few minutes ago.
In the second half of last century it was possible to watch a similar theatre of wilderness from plains of Serengeti to the south of the continent. The development of farming has brought barbed wire fences and poisoned baits. The wild African dog slowly disappears from the African wilderness.
The nomad hunter has no chance in the competition of stronger predators in national parks inhabited by strong populations of lions and hyenas and this reduces numbers of the most successful hunter in terms of percentage of all African beasts of prey. Only thousands of these amazing creatures survive in Africa in small and completely separated populations.
The „lazy“ king
A man wearing a safari suit gets out of a car on a black and white recording taken by an amateur camcorder. He comes to a pack of resting lions to get attractive pictures from holiday and one of the lions attacks him.... A video footage presented on the Internet should be a warning for all those considering lions lazy, and that's why harmless, animals. The African safari is not a zoo and visitors are not divided from lions by security grills or bullet proof glass. I feel rather uncomfortable when I sometimes hear vainglorious stories from so-called “experts” on the African nature, who come to the safari on their own and get out of their cars wherever they want to. One of the guides told me how he failed at exams. His teacher told him to get out of the car stopped in a high grass to check if there were no lions nearby so they could leave the jeep safely. The exam was over in a moment his foot touched the ground, because such mistakes are lethal in Africa.
Lions are passive for the majority of the day. They rest in shadows due to high temperatures and they become active just before the sunset. However, it is not a rule. I have seen lionesses hunting at noon. It is a great experience to see how they cooperate. I watched a night hunt on a young male impala in South Luangwa. We found a pack of lions in a moment they pulled their prey down. We watched that in a safety of an open jeep. Cute lion cubs brought by one of the lionesses became cruel beasts in the scent of death and blood. The lions started to fight over the what was left of the impala. The lions got so close to the car during the fight that one of the lionesses hit the front wheel by its back. Nobody would probably get out of the car at that moment....
Meeting
Something is left in your mind after each meeting with a beast of prey. You can meet many of them at African plains. Cheetah brothers in Massai Mara, who have been hunting together since they were left by their mother, a hyena from Kaingo camp, who steals dishes in the camp kitchen or a leopard, who likes resting on a tree close to your shower. One is only step from small or big troubles at such moments. On a trip to South African Pafuri we found a pack of lions resting on an asphalt road to Kruger one morning. Everything seemed to be absolutely all right. Three nearly adult cub lions suddenly disappeared in the bush followed by a lioness. Neither the driver nor I knew why. The lioness suddenly run from the bush directly to the jeep. It stopped ten meters from the car, stared at us and nervously whisked its tail. You hear clock ticking in your head at such a moment. The pressure was over after several long seconds and the lioness returned to the bush. I still do not know what caused such a behaviour of an animal used to cars and people.
Every time I leave the African wilderness I think about this moment to not forget that I still know nothing about it.
