Page 18 - Silver Lakes July 2021

LIFESTYLE

Pride males
A PHOTOGRAPHIC SAFARI

By Albert Roos

ome of you may not be aware that
I am a tour operator. In this article, I
Swant to share my recent experience
of hosting an educational photographic
safari. You may wonder what an
educational safari is? Educational trips to
lodges are reserved for travel agents and
tour operators, and will generally cover
several lodges in an area on the same
day. This specific safari however occurred
over a weekend and was on an invite-only
basis for a select few photographers who
are well-known on social media platforms.
The purpose of this educational safari was
to create awareness of the reserve and
photographic safaris on offer on social
media.

I had a difficult time choosing the five
photographers that would eventually
accompany me to the reserve. But what
a group they turned out to be! The
photographers I invited to join us for this
rare opportunity were an exceptional
group of people.

My father (also a seasoned photographer)
and I travelled to the reserve on
Wednesday afternoon to finalise
arrangements and to do location scouting
before the group’s arrival mid-Friday.
There was a possibility that one of the
guests (Ds. Thinus) would need to leave
the group one day early for his Sunday
morning service. We therefore arranged
for him to arrive early at the reserve and
to join us on the early morning game
drive at 05:30.
With very little sleep, an extremely eager
Ds. Thinus arrived at 05:30 and off we
went. It turned out to be well worth his
effort as we soon found the lions in the
dark. The pride had split into two groups
and we realised why quite quickly: they
had made two kills. Time flew by as the
lions offered splendid photographic
opportunities and soon it was time to
Elephant Bull

16 INTRA MUROS JULY 2021