A Frican good time
Shooting on safari is one part gear, one part idea … and one part being charged by animals in heat. James Artaius recounts his hairraising African adventure
We’d been sat in our Toyota Hilux, still as statues, for five full minutes. Those 300 seconds felt like an eternity, as the elephant paced towards us. We’d come face to face with the bull, blocking our path. We were in his way, so now he was agitated. Charles Ndhlovu, our guide, had immediately cut the engine and instructed no noise or movement.
Elephants don’t always break branches and kick up dust before they charge; even when hot-tempered, they possess a reputable intelligence. He was being territorial. As he stomped his way past the 4x4 and around to its side, though, that reputable intelligence suddenly terrified me.
The path in front now clear, Charles saw his opportunity and started the engine. The noise angered the elephant and, despite the guide’s efforts not to rev too much, he felt that we were now challenging him. He trumpeted as we pulled away – and, as I mourned the poor acceleration of the Hilux, he charged us.
It was a beat-for-beat recreation of the T-rex chase scene in JurassicPark. Charles drove the vehicle as fast as it would go down the dirt track, but our speed never seemed enough.
Clearly, we survived to tell the tale. The bull gave up chase (though not before pretending to slow down, giving us a false sense of security, then resuming full charge), and from then on we regarded every elephant – despite being mostly placid – with trepidation.
INTO THE WIL D
We’d travelled to Davison’s Camp in Zimbabwe, a private concession in Hwange National Park run by Wilderness Safaris. The group offers authentic African safaris with integrity, operating community and conservation initiatives that protect wildlife areas and ensuring that financial benefits flow back to the region.
The aim of the trip wasn’t just to photograph animals, but also to visit local
villages, work with anti-poaching units and see projects tasked with invigorating one of Africa’s most challenged regions.
One of Wilderness’ latest initiatives is a partnership with Olympus. Each camp offers loan kit to visitors, and the guides are skilled at advising on the best shooting opportunities. As we were travelling to the camp by light aircraft, I had to pack very selectively.
I knew that Olympus’ professional camera duo, the OM-D E-M1X and E-M1 Mark II, would be light enough to travel yet powerful enough to the job – particularly with their weather sealing, as dust would be a big issue. The slightness of Micro Four Thirds lenses meant I could take the M.Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8 Pro (a 24-80mm full-frame equivalent), 40-150mm f/2.8 Pro (80-300mm), 300mm f/4 Pro (600mm), along with the 9mm f/8 body cap lens (18mm) on my E-M5 Mark II as a vlogging camera. Plus, I had both the MC-14 1.4x teleconverter and the new MC-20 2x teleconverter at my disposal, giving a total of three bodies and a focal range of 18mm to 1200mm – all in a 10kg bag.
THE LI ON SLEE PS TONIG HT
Each morning at Davison’s Camp we heard a 5am “Wakey wakey!” call from a guide, after which we set off for an early game drive. We struck gold on day one, as a pride of lions was casually feasting on an elephant carcass at a nearby watering hole. I took the opportunity to shoot some footage for my vlog.
Pairing the 300mm lens and MC-20 teleconverter, exploiting the 5-stop Sync-IS of the E-M1 bodies, it was possible to shoot 4K video at an equivalent 1200mm focal length handheld. I knew that Olympus’ stabilization
was fantastic for stills, but this video performance blew me away. The lions didn’t stay sleepy for long. A buffalo had wandered nearby for a drink. Charles drove us to a better vantage point. Hot-swapping between the two bodies and their 40-150mm and 300mm lenses, I was able to shoot the lions as they flanked the buffalo – though the full bellies were their downfall, as the buffalo was able to fend off their half-hearted offence.
Some of the E-M1 pair’s other tricks came in handy elsewhere on the trip, namely Pro Capture – a feature that starts buffering frames as soon as you half-press the shutter. By recording the last 15 frames before you fire the shutter and the 20 frames afterwards, you never miss that decisive moment – perfect for capturing birds in flight, cubs wrestling, or a cloud of dust on a sand bathing elephant.
•Special thanks to Olympus for its help with this feature. Discover more about the Olympus OM-DE-M1X and E-M1MarkII cameras and the family of M.Zuiko lenses and accessories at www.olympus.co.uk.