Today we got up at sunrise (6am) and headed out on the
research vehicle to photograph the Ngamo pride. The Ngamo pride is a semi-wild
pride that will be released later in the year. All human interaction with these
lions has been stopped and now researchers are seeing how they will do on their
own in the wild. This involves bringing in a kill such as a cow, zebra, etc.
and seeing if the lions find it and how long it takes them to find it. This
helps researchers decide whether or not these lions will do well in the wild.
We sat there for 2 hours while the researchers took notes and we photographed
as the sun rose. The lighting was beautiful on the lions, providing us with
some great photo opportunities. Below are some of my favorite photos from the morning session...
After breakfast, we had horse induction. I was excited going
in to it, and terrified coming out of it. I have ridden Western quite a lot,
but never English. We went into the arena and what were we going to be riding?
English. English saddles, English style riding. This was completely new for me
as I had never posted before. We took turns riding as the lead stable head
walked the horse around in circles. We were basically doing yoga on a horse. Touching
our left hand to our right toe while our right hand was in the air and vice
versa, trotting without holding on to anything, etc. After that, I decided to
skip the quick induction bush ride and the horse safari because I wasn’t
comfortable with that style of riding. I came into it with an open mind, and
left knowing I will never do that again. But, I spoke up and I will not have to
ride here again… I’ll stick to Western!
After lunch, some people went on the horse safari and I stayed
back to rest and edit photos. We are active constantly and we haven’t really
been able to get over jet lag. A bit later, we headed out on a sunset game
drive with the hopes of capturing animals with a sunset background. As they
say, TIA… This is Africa. That didn’t happen. All the animals we came across (which
weren’t nearly as many as what I’m used to seeing in Tanzania) were eating and
the sunset was in the opposite direction. We did see a few zebra, wildebeest, giraffes,
bush bucks, impalas, and antelope but not too many. Here are a few pictures from the game drive ...
It’s been another long day, so that’s all for now.
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