When Hairy Met Silly in Kruger National Park, South Africa

It rained all night and the mountains now are floating in a sea of frothy fog. For a minute one may think about the Japanese paintings where fog lets each viewer understand nature according to past experiences.

When I stay home, I paint, write or search my photography files for that photo I missed to use or did not appreciate enough. All my photos are printed under my 1950s enlarger, and then scanned.  So I do not have to look through interminable numbers of shoeboxes as I once did…

… I came across a thick envelope containing 8x10 photos from South Africa and Zimbabwe. I have posted many of them in various entries about these countries, but found a few that I had not.

So, here is a couple from Kruger National Park in South Africa.

To start, I have to say that while all going through the park had digital wonder cameras with lenses that can capture the smile of a flea on a sleeping lion’s nose; I took with me my 1960s Mamiya 645 medium format camera and its 90mm lens. As a backup, I had a 1954 Canon L3 rangefinder 35mm camera which I enjoy using more than any Leica of the same era.

Ok, so we were in an open safari car looking for a leopard. Of course these magnificent animals hide in the tall trees, and even if our guide would spot a leopard, my lenses would take a photo of the tree only. All the wonder cameras with unlimited storage of pictures would win the photo shoot by zooming across a 100 or so meters.

We drove for a while without seeing a leopard. But we saw a tick-covered male lion sleeping at the side of the road:

And groups of gazelles filling the fields by the thousand:

Our guide told us that they call these gracious animals “Mc Donald Fast Food” for the lions…

We were about to finished our morning tour when a handsome male lion came out of the forest. He seemed oblivious to us and the two cars that made our caravan. He was a few meters behind our car when I took this photo

The slapping mirror sound of my Mamiya made our guide forbid me to use that camera! He was worried that the lion would be intrigued by the sound and jump into our totally open car… (Of course, I never understood why they cannot have cars with minimal protection for the passengers). So I used the Canon rangefinder for the next shots.

The male lion sniffed the air toward the forest from where he came out. Then a magnificent lioness appeared with that feline walk that would turn anyone’s head.

And it did. Very quickly, the lion and lioness engaged in an amorous tandem exercise just a few meters from our car (photo at the top of this entry). I have to admit that while it may not be unusual for them to do so, witnessing the king and queen of the jungle so intimately was a once in a lifetime experience for us, the humans sitting in an open car peeping on the love making of the strongest cats in the world!

… And then, as if to tease us pudic and prude humans who think of J.J Rousseau as being too close to nature, the content lioness laid on her side next to the king of the jungle for a short post-coital nap.

The look of the lion is almost anthropomorphic – it is kind, caring and proud!

So, as a street photographer this series does not fit into my portfolio, but I thought it captures a behavior many on the streets I have met across the globe would identify with.

And would give a high five to the Lion and Lioness!

I ended the day with a salute.

September 26, 2019

©Vahé A. Kazandjian, 2019