In Africa, there’s a multitude of creatures that can kill you in a heartbeat. In fact, I think the list of animals that can’t kill you is significantly smaller than the list that can.
In order to enforce their no feeding the wildlife policy in Kruger, they lock you inside camp at night and let you out again in the morning.
It’s a little unnerving and feels like you’re in a Jurassic Park movie with the tall fences topped with strand after strand of electrified wire. But watch a hyena crack the femur bone of a zebra and you’ll be glad you have the protection.
The downside to being fenced in is that you’re captive until they open the gate again in the morning.
Since it was my first trip to Africa, I wanted a classic sunrise with an Acacia tree silhouetted in the foreground. Now Acacia trees are plentiful but finding one that has a clear background and close to the camp is a tough.
Before I left for Africa, I printed off a sheet of the sunrise and sunset times and the headings for each.
So I could tell where the sun was going to rise as well as when.
On February 1st, the gates don’t open until 5:30AM. The problem with that is the sun rises at 5:34AM. Not much time to get to a great spot.
I had tried earlier in the trip but overcast skies prevented any attempt. Since the gates opened at 4:30AM in January we would have had a decent amount of time to find our spot and get ready. But, it wasn’t meant to be.
So, every afternoon I’d look for a location that was close to the camp we would be staying at that lined up with where the sun would rise the following morning.
Close to the end of the trip I awoke to find stars overhead. That meant with a little luck the sun would show itself this morning!
Getting the gear packed we headed towards the gate and were the first in line, ready to head out the moment they opened.
It was tough watching the sky get brighter and brighter as we waited behind the locked gate.
Finally the guard opened the gate and we were off to try and beat the sun.
During the African Summer, the sun rises so fast that you can actually watch it climb into the sky.
You have just moments from the time the sun peeks over the horizon to when it’s above the horizon and getting brighter by the moment.
Luckily the spot we picked out the day before was close enough that we were able to capture the sunrise not long after it cleared the horizon.
It’s not the perfect postcard shot that I had hoped but with literally two minutes to drive, set up and shoot, I think it turned out pretty well.
Africa: A Moment in Time
Back in January and February, I had a fantastic opportunity to travel to Africa and try out as of then an unannounced camera for Panasonic, the HPX-300.
In previous posts I’ve documented the experience but never really posted any footage.
I have a habit of editing footage together while I’m on a trip so when I get back, I have something to show my friends and family as soon as I get off the plane. Africa was no different.
We arrived home late but still broke out the laptop to show everyone some of the fantastic wildlife we encountered while we were there. My intent was to always go back and re-edit the piece since I had juts taken bits and pieces from each days shoot and put them all together. I still intend to do that, but while you’re waiting for that, I thought I’d show you the footage that I had put together when I stepped off the plane.
A big thanks to Jan from Panasonic for believing in me and letting me take this camera to Africa. Course, I guess a bunch of footage from Iowa wouldn;t have had the same “wow” factor. 🙂
I hope you enjoy the footage. You can view it by clicking here.
If you have a moment please leave a comment and let me know what you thought of it as well as what else you’d like to see posted on this blog.