un sabbatique fantastique en Afrique

Let's face it, the classic stare-down-the lens animal portrait is so overdone. There are many neglected aspects of photographic safaris, not least of which is the magnificent aesthetic potential of African bottoms. We did not spend our safari scaring animals away and just watching their retreating rear ends in the dust. I just developed an appreciation for the derrière, with its shapeliness and range of decoration. The zebra has a natural advantage, with such clear markings (Crawshay's zebra lacks the brownish shadow stripes of other sub-species) and both individuality and repetition. Impala, a common feature of the grassy plains as well as a leopard's lunch stash, also have a distinctive stripy backside and fantastically wiggly tail. Waterbuck deserve a much better picture than this one, as their target-shaped markings form a fine feature of their nether regions. Those that I met tended to be a little camera shy however. Another one...

We promised ourselves a safari experience. Four weeks into our stay here, I am delighted to say that Zambia has well and truly delivered. And as we also promised to deliver on the photography that inevitably accompanies it, here we go. There are a certain set of connotations that I'm sure many people have with the word 'safari'. From the Arabic via Swahili, the term was used for any kind of journey, or travel. This encompassed trading and slavery expeditions, as well as hunting and exploration. The 20th century colonial style familiar from films and literature, involves much canvas, khaki and regaling each other with tales of derring-do around the fire after a day of brisk marching (with plenty of local people to carry all the luxuries of home for you).  I did, though, discover that khaki has a purpose. Firstly, elephants are rather blind, and an angry elephant chasing a person on foot can be fooled by a fairly camouflaged figure standing still (this was not fr...