Speed

One of the images I wanted to capture on my trip to South Africa was a running Impala.  Unfortunately, up until today, all the impala were running away from our vehicles, which only lent itself to a butt-shot.  Not what I had in mind.  But this morning, on our last game drive at Zimanga, we saw numerous herds of impala (nursery herds, bachelor herds, mixed herds) and many of them passed in front of us which made for great panning opportunities.  I had my lens on this beautiful male and was trying to get some nice static shots when he suddenly bolted.  Thanks to animal detection on the new mirrorless cameras, I was able to stay with him all the way across the road.  Out of 20 or so shots, this was my favorite as you can see his front and back legs crossing each other.  What beautiful animals they are.

After our game drive, we returned to our rooms for a brief 45 minutes to get our bags out, pack up camera gear and meet our drivers who took us to the main entrance of Zimanga where our mini-bus was waiting to take everyone to Durban.  On our way to the entrance, we saw so many small herds of animals - it was a fitting end to a magical trip.  The trip to the Durban airport takes about 3 hours so there were quite a few naps happening.  Safe to say, all 12 photographers were exhausted but grinning ear-to-ear.  Ten of our group was dropped at the airport, then our driver dropped me at my lodge which was only a few miles from the airport before taking the last member of our group to Umhlanga.  

Tomorrow I will begin the very long trip home with a hard drive full of images and memories to cherish forever.

Thanks for coming along on my adventure.

xo
Debbi