Collected Moments of Survival

World Lion Day:  A Celebration of the Majestic King of the Savannah. Its been a bit of a Lion-fest here at Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park these past two days. I went off searching for a leopard yesterday and instead found a sleeping lion (after driving a couple of kms). I only had about an hour with him when along came a maintenance crew whose presence he disdainfully observed by moving off out of sight. Luckily I had got a couple of photos which will soon become new artworks! Then the long drive back started out only to be interrupted by another sighting of a lion, this one had managed to nab himself an Oryx and he was lying in the bush cooling down next to his precious meal. The end of the day came and we had to hotfoot it out of the park. So, this morning, off we set again and there he was, still next to his kill but luckily this time, in the perfect morning light, he was visible. And much to our surprise we spied a 3 cheetah coalition on the opposite side of the riverbed observin...

Title:  The Gaze Size: 70cm x 90cm Charcoal on Paper Framed in White Wood Frame Available from Fine Art Gallery, Swakopmund, Namibia THE YOUNG MAN OF THE ANCIENT RACE, WHO WAS CARRIED OFF BY A LION; WHEN ASLEEP IN THE FIELD While out hunting a young man ascended a hill as this was the best lookout post where he could wait. The sun was beating down and as the young man waited patiently he suddenly started feeling very sleepy. He decided that as it was so very hot he would first lie down and sleep before he started out on his hunt. While he was sleeping a lion came walking by heading to the nearby waterhole as he was very thirsty. The lion saw the man sleeping in the noonday sun and very carefully he picked up the man and carried him off. The man awoke startled. He then realised that he was now in the grips of a lion.   He decided that it would be best to not to react and to pretend to be dead as the lion appeared to think that he was dead. Should he move, the...

Lion Cubs waiting for their mother to return from hunting.  When you've acquired a taste for dust, The scent of our first rain, You're hooked for life on Africa And you'll not be right again Till you can watch the setting moon And hear the jackals bark And know that they're around you, Waiting in the dark. When you long to see the elephants. Or hear the coucal's song, When the moonrise sets your blood on fire, You've been away too long Its time to cut the traces loose And let your heart go free Beyond that far horizon, Where your spirit yearns to be. Africa is waiting - come! Since you've touched the open sky And learned to love the rustling grass, The wild fish-eagles cry. You'll always hunger for the bush, For the lion's rasping roar, To camp at last beneath the stars And to be at peace once more. C. Emily Dibb Original art available. Marsh Babies Size  79cm x 156cm Beautifully framed in a white wood frame Can ...

My new title for my blog Travelling Light has a multilayered meaning and travelling light certainly also has something to do with how lightly we tread on the earth. It is my personal aim to make my own footprint as light as possible and to do as little harm as possible to my environment and the earth around me and it is in this light that I felt I should reflect a little on the past week's momentous reaction. This lion is not Cecil but a magnificent specimen who roams the plains of the Serengeti in Tanzania It is indeed strange what galvanises the human being into action. This last week we have seen momentum growing around the barbaric and senseless killing of a lion called Cecil. Before last week very few of us knew who Cecil was and probably most didn’t care. And then we can add that some still do not care. But then along came a crossbow hunter (Walter Palmer) from the great USA who decided that it was great sport to kill a lion in a most inhumane manner.  The shocking ...

The wilderness of Africa is a shrinking concept in the face of an exponentially burgeoning human populace that is encroaching more and more into areas that for millennia have belonged only to the savagely wild and wonderful beasts that roam its plains. Reaching these now isolated pockets of wilderness means travel of thousands of kilometers for those wishing to share in its magic. And so it is that after two days of travel I find myself sitting at the gates of Etosha National Park in Namibia. It is day five of a seven day sojourn that we decide the day will be well spent next to a waterhole for the whole day. We’re there just as soon after sunrise as we can muster and we settle down for the day. The first very curious visitor to our vehicle is a Pied Crow who spends the day hopping from car to car looking for something to eat. Bets are on that he is regularly fed titbits from disobedient tourists! The first visitors to the waterhole in large numbers are some ...

There is a certain quality to the African sun in midsummer that defies description. A thousand needles being punched simultaneously into skin perhaps comes closest to being accurate. Yet, here I am, sitting in the blazing sun, completely oblivious of the discomfort, on the deck of a lodge, watching keenly as a pride of lions stalks an unwitting warthog family. The elevated view of the deck affords a bird’s eye view of the hunt going down. From the right flank two lionesses move surreptitiously through the long grass, they separate and while one lioness moves directly towards the target the other starts flanking the prey by moving further south. Carefully they crawl through the blades of grass stopping every now and then to monitor the movement of the warthogs who are blissfully unaware that they are being keenly watched. North of the warthog group is the rest of the lion pride lazily spread in the cool shade of the acacia trees. The lionesses continue their hunt, stealthily they move i...

The divine brunch prepared by the Sorceress in the kitchens of Tree Camp at Londolozi goes down a treat. Then it’s off to our heavenly “chateau” – you can’t call the digs at Londolozi “rooms” – it is tantamount to an insult to the glorious luxury in which we are ensconced between the game drives.  After a quick spit and polish and a short 40 winks it is time to head off again. The rain has lifted slightly and although there is still cloud cover the quality of the light is encouraging. Decision made we head back to the Lion sighting of the morning. More likely than not, the Lions will have found the unfortunate Wildebeest as the Vultures had been gathering when we left the sighting earlier. From a distance we can already see the circling Vultures. As we near the sighting the presence of the birds of doom is overwhelming. They adorn every tree and bush while there is an ominous gathering taking place on the ground. The Wildebeest is no more and one of the coalition Lio...

The fine water droplets gently caress my skin. I am ensconced in a waterproof envelope and my gear is buried in layers of waterproofing. I pull my hat down over my hair as we set off with dawn breaking on the horizon. Barely 100 meters outside the camp we stop at the waterhole. On a dead tree in the centre of the small dam are two Pied Kingfishers desperately feeding a screeching juvenile. In the background a Giant Kingfisher is also searching for its breakfast and off to one side a little Malachite Kingfisher flits to and fro. In the water we can see a small Crocodile patrolling his territory while a Hippo keeps surfacing with a short spray and snort before disappearing again. Sadly, the light is really so bad the best trade off is to simply sit back and enjoy the spectacle. Our next encounter is with a young male Hippo heading determinedly towards a very small mud pool. He approaches the pool and with a hefty slump he falls into the mud. It would seem that he has been ousted ...

Its early morning, the sun has not yet emerged and the stars are still gently flickering in the distance. Soon the inky skies softly turn Titian and expectantly we wait for that glorious break when the fireball emerges above the horizon. Today we wait in vain. A dense blanket obscures those wondrous rays and we are left with a soft subdued light that struggles to light the banks of the Luangwa River. Our destination is a dead Buffalo and a Lion pride. The headlamps of the vehicle throw harsh bands of light across the macabre scene where one life has been sacrificed for the benefit of others. The remains of the Buffalo exude a putrid stench that wafts in the air while the primary beneficiaries of this feast lie close by with their bellies distended by a night of gorging. Three heads turn instantly towards the noise of the vehicle as we approach and their disquieting glares remind us that we are in their domain. As we throw a spotlight over the scene we see the growing nu...