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In February 2005, I was privileged
enough to go on a photographic safari to a part of the Kalahari Desert in
northern South Africa. The park I visited is called the Kgalagadi Transfrontier
Park.
This special place stole my heart in one
short week. The photo opportunities were nothing short of magical
and I am already planning my visit in 2006. I will be going
for at least two weeks then…
Photography Safari Trip:
If you look at successful
wildlife or nature photographers that has visited Southern Africa, you will find
that a lot of them have been to the Kalahari, and produced award-winning
photographs there. Those photographers operating mostly in Southern Africa have
taken a good percentage of their published work here.
The photographs of Suricate
taken here are world-renowned and everyone marvels at the opportunity to
photograph these social little creatures. All this tells you one thing. If you
want good photographs, this should be one of your first choice destinations!
What is the Kalahari? It is an
arid semi-desert region that covers the far north of South Africa, big parts of
southern and central Botswana and parts of Namibia.
The Kgalagadi Transfrontier
Park consists of the old Kalahari Gemsbok National Park of South Africa and the
old Gemsbok National Park of Botswana. It is a peace park, and there is no
physical boundary between the two countries inside the park.
We visited the South African
side of the Kgalagadi only, and this section of
African nature photography discusses
the park itself, the photographic opportunities and the subjects on offer for
photographers on safari in this part of the park. A pleasant surprise indeed!
The Kalahari is a prime spot
for photographers. Mainly because photography in the Kalahari yields better
results than many other places in the African wilderness.
So, what exactly distinguishes
photography in the Kalahari from photography elsewhere?
 Crisp desert air
"Hazy? I am not sure I
understand what that means..."
This is the typical reply you
will get if you mention the hazy air almost constantly experienced in places
like Cape Town, to a Kalahari resident. Why? The air here is crisp and clear.
Crisp desert air assures that
photography in the Kgalagadi delivers high quality, sharp pictures.
Openness of desert savannah
When talking to a fellow nature
photographer while we were in the Kalahari, we discussed photography in the
Moremi Game Reserve and Chobe National Park of Botswana.
Northern Botswana is one of my
favourite photography destinations, so it came as quite a surprise when this
experienced photographer said he disliked this area because of the dense bush
and its effect on nature pictures.
The Kalahari is an open, arid
semi-desert, so no dense bush will interfere with your photography in the
Kalahari. This is one of the main reasons why the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park is a favourite among
photographers.
Good photo subjects on offer
The Kgalagadi does not boast the
big five, and this is quite understandable as it is a dry desert region.
However, it offers you a very good chance for high-quality lion, cheetah and
leopard sightings. The latter does require some luck, as always.
Some believe that the dry Auob
riverbed between Twee Rivieren and Mata-Mata offers you the best chance of
witnessing a Cheetah kill in the whole of Africa. However, lion numbers have
increased in the past ten years, leading to a decrease of Cheetah numbers.
Apart from the big cats, you
have a chance of seeing the African Wild Cat and the Caracal. The other main
predators are Spotted Hyena, Brown Hyena, Black backed Jackal, Cape Fox and
Bat-Eared Fox.
The birdlife is superb.
Especially the Birds of Prey! These are plentiful and good sightings are
guaranteed. We saw four different owl species, not to mention all the Eagles,
Kites and Hawks.
The plains mammals also offer
you good photo opportunities. Oryx or Gemsbok, Springbok, Blue Wildebeest and
Red Hartebeest are plentiful. More importantly, they are constantly in good
view. If you spend some time with these herds you will witness something
special.
Thunderstorms in summer
During the time of our visit,
there were thunderstorms on most afternoons, and even some mornings as well.
This made for great dramatic skies in my landscape pictures. This is a big plus
for photographers for obvious reasons.
Low visitor numbers
In summer it gets so hot that
the general public prefers to stay away from the park. This means that if you
have an air-conditioned car, and can face some high temperatures, you will be
one of very few visitors in summer. Visitors at this time are in any case mostly
photographers.
The low visitor numbers also
help prevent the notorious lion traffic jams that are so common in the Kruger
National Park. One morning we had a kill site right next to the road with 7
lions, including Blondie, the enormous black-maned male. Yes, Blondie is not so
blond anymore... I think there were about ten cars only through a period of five
hours. Now that's what I call low traffic!
Needless to say, I took some
marvellous photos.
What equipment to take to the Kgalagadi
I took my Canon Digital SLR
camera, my favourite telephoto and wide angle zoom lenses, sturdy camera support
for inside the vehicle and a tripod (although you can only use it in rest camps
and picnic spots). This setup proved sufficient for photography in the Kalahari.
My telephoto zoom, a Canon
100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM proved to be a good choice (as on all my other
trips) except for a few shots where a longer effective focal length would have
been preferred.
The 100-400mm lens offers 640mm
effective focal length (efl.) on my camera (as a result of the 1.6x crop
factor), and at times I wished I had an efl. of about 1 000mm to 1 200mm. I have
since purchased a Canon Extender EF 2x II. This gives me an efl. of 1280mm, but
with manual zoom.
Camera support inside your
vehicle is very important for photography in the Kalahari, as you will not be
allowed to leave your car and use a tripod except in the camps. I use a door
bracket and a tripod head, and also some beanbags. These are highly recommended.
Obviously, if you are a digital
photographer you would want to take sufficient memory cards and a laptop or
other storage device. Since photography in the Kalahari yields such good
pictures, I can assure you you will want to take plenty of pictures.
I took almost 2 000 photographs
in six days!
Final thought
If you are a serious nature
photographer, and like African subjects, you should seriously consider visiting
the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park. If there ever was a perfect fit for nature photographers, this is
it!
Related Content:
(opens in a new window)
More
African nature photographs taken by Dries all over Africa at his
website.
Official
Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park website. Accommodation, activities, tariffs,
maps, reservations...
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