Over a month ago, a dear friend asked me if we could go for a boat cruise together and I agreed.
At the beginning of the week we were supposed to go for the cruise, I felt unwell but at first I just assumed that it was an inevitable case of flu but I wasn’t getting any better. At some point I got worried because we were still right in the middle of a pandemic and the symptoms were familiar to those of flu. I went to get tested for Covid-19 and was so relieved when the results were negative. On the morning of the cruise,I woke up with swollen eyes and I realised that I had lost my voice. I panicked because I had thought that I was getting better. And I just couldn’t postpone the trip. I had my camera ready and as cold as it was going to be, the passion kept me warm and I had to honour my friend’s request.
We got on the boat and the wind on the water on a winter morning was unforgiving to say the least. The boat was speeding and I was excited to see the one bird that I had wished for so long to capture, the Pied Kingfisher. We kept seeing more of them and as they flapped their wings, I tried to capture a shot but the speed of the boat didn’t allow me to lock in a good shot. I was frustrated but I also had hope that at some point it would move slower but the guide seemed to be in a hurry because we had left a bit late. I started seeing some elephants, particularly the one that had a hole that looked like it was perfectly drilled into one of its ears. And a little later, we spotted a giraffe that looked like a loner. It was strange because we were already in Moremi Game Reserve but saw very few animals. The birds however, were in abundance. The African Jacanas, Great Herons, the African Darters, the Squacco Herons, a couple of Arican Fish Eagles and very few Malachite Kingfishers.
VIXEN ON THE MOVE 