VIXEN ON THE MOVE

There is something fun about planning a trip and seeing everything falling into place. I have been blessed to be part of a team that has the same passion for exploring the wild while forming a bond in the process. We embarked on another trip this past weekend and we visited the Saguni Bush Safari Lodge. The trip there was exciting, I guess because we were in a different part of the jungle. On our way, we saw some elephants and tsessebes (Tshesebe in Setswana).

We arrived to a warm welcome, after being on the road for almost four hours. After having our lunch, our guide said that we had about 2 hours to rest or nap, so that we could be ready for the afternoon game drive. I suck at taking naps, so instead, I went through my camera to check the few images I had taken and also charged the battery. 2 hours later, we were off to search for the cats. Everyone was looking forward to seeing them and when our guide drove towards another vehicle that was parked not too far from we were, he kept saying that he believed that there might have been some lions in sight. Lo and behold, two lionesses and two cubs were seated under the shade. It was beautiful to watch.

It was amazing to watch the cubs moving from one lioness to the next, to feed. It was also a strange experience and when I asked, the guide that they could feed from any female lion that was lactating at the same time with their mother. The more I learn about animals and their behavior, is the more fascinated I get. We waited there while i tried to get the best shots and in about thirty minutes, the lionesses got up and their cubs followed suit.

Not too far from we were, they disappeared into some bushy trees and we were told that there was a dead cub under there and they were all eating it, as a way to “bury” the cub.

The next morning, while others slept, me and my roommate got up to catch some sunrise magic. And nature kept blessing us over and over again. The breeze on the drive there, which I unfortunately couldn’t capture in a picture, was amazing.

We had to head back to the camp so that we could get ready to leave. Through the unforgiving scorching heatwave, we finally got back to the other side of the buffalo fence, with wonderful memories of the trip. Until the next visit to the wild.

I have been yearning to take a picture of an eagle so much that last week while on my way from work, I spotted one on its regular spot and said it out loud, fortunately the people that I was with were too deep into what they were discussing and didn’t hear me.

I had tried one time to take a picture of one closer to my workplace but it didn’t come out as I thought it would, so on my drive home on Thursday, while going through the Makgadikgadi Pans National Park, I spotted one and tried to take a picture, but it was too far and eventually flew away.

In a few minutes, I passed by another one and I just had to make a u-turn for it.

Even as I walked out of the car towards it, it remained still long enough, allowing me to position myself and get my camera settings right.

These pictures were all taken by a Canon EOS800D and went all the way to the maximum focal length of its lens. The results from Panning worked well.

As it flew away, I had to remember that I was still in the park and that dangerous animals might be watching me from behind the grasses, so I hurried back into the car and carried on with the journey. I was fulfilled.

It has been a while since I last posted something here but we are surely still on. The journey still continues.

I really must admit, I enjoy taking pictures of big birds and I had been eyeing some at Riley’s Hotel in Maun for weeks now. The first time I went out to capture them, I was let down by my not so long lens but it was exciting nonetheless. I asked the staff at the hotel to let me in and closer to the birds. It was a thrill trying to take pictures of them moving from one high tree to the next, other times they flew over the Thamalakane River and I kept taking my shots.

A friend told me that they are called Grey Herons. And another told me that they eat fish. I enjoyed the sounds they made as they flapped their wings, which unfortunately I can’t share on the pictures.

I need a bigger lens for sure, until then, I will wait patiently.

For a while, I would pass by the Power Substation and wish that I wasn’t on my way to work because something kept drawing me towards it. I imagined just how a picture of the sun rising would look like if I moved closer to those erect structures which I have come to find out that they are called guntries.

A few weeks later, when the yearn to take pictures couldn’t let me be, I decided that I would go to work an hour earlier and just like the earliest bird, I was rewarded with the fattest worm.

In a few minutes, because I had to hurry to the office, I took my last few pictures and had the most beautiful day.

I had been looking forward to capturing a zebra crossing the road, hence the title of this post. The roads in midtown have parts where the pedestrians cross over and the motorists have to obey the signs and stop. One day someone said that sometimes people walk on zebra crossings so slowly that you would think that they are the actual zebras. So, on the past trip to Francistown, I just to stop while the zebras were crossing the road and take a few pictures.

It was such a rewarding experience but we still had a long drive ahead of us, so, these pictures were enough for the day. Until next time.

I had every intention to take my camera out for some bird-hunting this past weekend and just along the Toteng- Maun road, I saw some big birds on top of several trees. I stopped and was glad that I did. As I approached the trees, the birds flew away but allowed me to test what I had recently learnt about Shutter speeds and flying birds. I had my settings right and captured one of them as it flew away to another tree.

The thing that I unfortunately couldn’t capture for you though, was the amazing flapping sound from the wings of these huge birds as they flew away to the nearby trees. It was just magnificent to my ears.

The next day, the hunting continued and I was lucky to find atleast two different types of birds to capture.

I am definitely going to go back to this fun experience and surely come and share with ya’ll.

The Corona virus has definitely taken away our freedom to be loitering the streets or going to eat out at the restaurants. My 11 month old son can’t wait to get outside. He has been such a great sport and allowed me to continue taking pictures of him and it has helped me keep sane. 22 more days to go in confinement…

This is not a usual photography post. It’s a reaction to the pandemic.

31/03/2020 at 0830hrs: Three cases have been confirmed in Botswana, it was announced on the 8pm news last night.

People have sort of been waiting for these news with bated breath, as if to say, at long last, looking back at just how everyone kept asking why we don’t have any confirmed cases while over a ¾ of the globe is having escalating stats of people either dying or new numbers of people who contracted the Corona Virus. 

The past couple of weeks have been nothing short of painful. About a month ago, I travelled about 700kms to attend my classes and another 500kms to visit my lover, amidst the Corona Virus outbreak. Honestly, like most people,I also basked in the bliss that came with my ignorance. I imagined China and just how far it was from Botswana. I concluded that it was just one of those China diseases and even when they said it had budged into the European households and smeared its filth all over their streets, I still sucked on my ignorance lollipop. 

I remember that, 2 weeks before, I had such a horrible flu, matching most if not all the signs of the Corona Virus. I didn’t take time away from work, silly mistake number one, but then again, sometimes our jobs seem to be more important than our health. We push on and hard, even when we are at our weakest, mentally and physically. But that is a topic for another day. The second silliest mistake I did was not taking the antibiotics I was prescribed, because I just concluded that they would make me nauseous. The flu I had, kept getting worse and the fever hung around close enough to make me regret going against the nurse’s orders. I had this cough, so dry and painful that even towards the last drop of the Benylin for flu syrup, all I felt was a high from the alcohol and everything else remained still. A friend, after hearing me cough so bad, bought me the Vicks cough syrup, convinced that it would definitely help. It didn’t, the cough persisted. 

At some point, I started Googling “Pneumonia” and “Bronchitis”. The feedback freaked me out and you should have seen me getting home, making sure that I took my first antibiotic. Coughing, fever, aches, headache, the possibility of having any of the two was becoming more intense. And there was an even bigger monster looming in the horizon, the games had to stop. My health came first. This is really a stupid confession because 3 days in, while I had been religiously taking my antibiotics, there was a small party, a farewell for one of my dearest colleagues. I tried and pulled against the tide to go and join the party, but the truth is, I failed and by the end of the night, I had drunk alcohol, setting myself many steps back from the course I was on towards completely healing.

People, like myself, tend to ignore, dismiss and even pass jokes about serious situations. I really don’t have any reason why that is, maybe Psychology can explain this. We had taken the Corona Virus outbreak for granted when it first started being the topic on the news in December 2019. Even when Japan started its lockdown on February 27th, we still carried on like they were the jokers. Now the joke is on us. Last week, all my focus was on work and carrying the exercise to stock up supplies for the next two months. It was only after completion of the task, that my anxiety started kicking in, finding me in an idle mode because I had nothing else to keep me preoccupied. 

I had also decided to stay away, as far as possible from social media. I had consumed enough of the updates, the videos circulating around, of Indians being beaten up by the police to get off the streets, of increasing confirmed cases, of those dying and of the care-free youth dancing on the streets, drinking and as loud as their young lungs can screaming “Corona!”. The Covid-19 Alert update looks like the line-up during the Olympics, of countries competing against each other for the number one position. At first China was leading, Italy took over, Spain made it up there as well, as of today, U.S.A holds the highest number of confirmed and death cases and at last, Botswana has also joined the list. The recoveries are not even something to celebrate yet because the viral monster is still on the rampage, more people are getting infected. 

Our neighbour South Africa announced the total lockdown last week and it slowly became real for us Batswana, since most of our supplies are imported from there. A friend told me that the shops in SA were mostly empty and that she was home with her family, without much to do. We didn’t get much into how she was coping but I could imagine their distress. I also intentionally avoided asking a lot, for my sake and to also allow her to process the situation gently. After the president posted on Twitter that the lockdown in our country was imminent, I did what most people did, I rushed to the shops to buy whatever I could. The thing is that, I have gone to the shops, bought the basics and have gone back three times after. I would get home with what I had bought and realise that I might have forgotten to buy one other thing. Uncertainty is painful, it’s uncomfortable and downright shitty. From hindsight, I feel like even with all the dry rations packed up in containers in my house, they are still not enough. 

31/03/2020 at 0948hrs: The president has just announced Botswana’s 28 days lockdown starting from the 2nd of April 2020. It has become more real now. I just remembered that I had left the toilet paper in one of the shops I went to on Sunday and totally forgot to check in another shop. The queues were too long, everyone impatiently waiting to get inside and collect as much as they could, and some waiting to cash up enough money to sustain them during this challenging period. I just hope that we have not forgotten anything else we will need while locked down in our houses. I have just had an interesting thought while typing this, about the animals that go into hibernation and how they prepare for it prior. But people are not animals, we like freedom and going wherever we want, eating what we like, even if it puts our lives at risk, stupid at times. If you don’t believe me, watch the videos circulating on social media, they will tell you stories of ignorance and carelessness. And it is very sad how the police and soldiers are finally finding pleasure in beating people up, lucky for them, it might be an outlet to help them distress. Some people might be stuck right, unable to think clearly and have no one to talk to about how they really feel.

For me personally, it is going to be a challenge to be indoors for 28 days for sure, but the silver lining might present for me and my kids, a chance to bond more. I have been working crazy rosters and have barely stayed home long enough with my family to enjoy each other’s company and relax. Maybe this will be the time to play, to plan, to breathe, to sleep,to read, to resume my writing, to be grateful and probably, to introspect. May we all be safe, calm, learn the potential lessons from life, survive and have good stories to tell after this pandemic.