Roger and Pat de la Harpe are on photo safari in the Bushveld. Every day brings its own photographic opportunities and on the last afternoon participants experimented with taking pictures in low light and after dark.

 

Dr Trix Jonker of Bloemfontein has won the 2012 My Addo competition with her dramatic pictures of a lion catching a warthog.

If you have big cat fever after reading the autumn 2012 issue of Wild magazine, it’s time to get into the bush. Remember these tips to take better shots when you come face to face with leopards or lions.
 

Game capture is fast-paced, fraught with danger and as unpredictable as the wildlife it targets. Photographer Karin Schermbrucker joined an elite team of vets and rangers for a capture operation in Mokala National Park.

Joe McDonald has been photographing wildlife and nature since 1966 and is the author of several award-winning photography books. Mario Fazekas chats to Joe about how he got started, his wildlife photography and favourite destinations.

Photographer George Schmahl visited the Vulture Hide at Giant's Castle in the Drakensberg during September last year. He was rewarded with this spectacular photo sequence. 

If you’ve looked up at a bateleur flying in the sky, you may have noticed it sway from side to side. The name bateleur is derived from the French word ‘baastel’ meaning acrobat and relates to this rocking motion brought about by their short tails. The Kruger National Park is known for bateleur sightings and if you’re as lucky as photographer Dean Polley, you may just get your perfect shot.

The idea for this book came about after a marketing meeting held in Pretoria. Henriette Engelbrecht, the Marketing Manager of South African National Parks (SANParks) in the Northern Cape, was given the task of creating a marketing campaign completely different to anything done by SANParks before.

’n Groep fotograwe was getuies van ’n uitsonderlike paringsritueel by dwergvalkies in die Kgalagadi Oorgrenspark. Deur Albie Venter
 

If ever there was a book that made you want to get into the wilds, and preferably a national park NOW, it is this collection of wildlife photographs. Taken by professional and amateur photographers, inspirational doesn’t begin to describe it!

Valmai le Grange watched this jackal as it scavenged for insects on the road ahead of her. "He then suddenly hastened toward what we thought was a centipede but turned out to be an exhausted puff adder!"
 

This photograph of a Pel’s fishing owl was taken by Chris Alberts whose photographs of this elusive bird won the 50/50 VeldFokus competition last year. Chris was photographing the Pel’s when a fork-tailed drongo took exception to the raptor’s presence in his territory.

The drongo repeatedly dive bombed the fishing owl, but according to Chris the bigger bird wasn’t in the least perturbed. “It reminded me of a dog chasing a car," Chris says. “The drongo seemed satisfied with its efforts, but the fishing owl didn’t seem to notice.” See the sequence below.

Black rhinos are solitary animals and seldom seen in our game parks, not to mention mating! Roger and Pat de la Harpe managed to snap some photos of black rhino mating and get a video clip while they were at it.

In the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park Daniel Dolpire came across about nineteen black backed jackals as they fought over a wildebeest carcass. "Only six could feed off the carcass at a time, but every now and then, another couple wanted to get their share and then the fighting began!"

Playing with snakes is not advised unless you are a lightning-quick ground squirrel with a big bushy tail as decoy. Malan van Zyl stumbled upon this scene between a Cape cobra and ground squirrel while visiting Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park. “After tiring of its provocative game, the ground squirrel sat there eating its snacks and staring the cobra straight in the eye – a final act of defiance. Eventually, the snake, defeated and defied, slithered away. “
 

See the best of nature photography on exhibition at the Iziko South African Museum in Cape Town. 

We were amazed to see such a range of beautiful images in our Amarula Capture the Sunset competition.

The first round has come to an end and ten finalists have been chosen. Scroll down to see the winning images selected by our judges. We want to know which one of these images is your favourite.

Send us the name of the photographer who took your favourite photo and you could be the lucky winner of an Amarula hamper to the value of R500. The photographer whose picture has the most votes will earn themselves a R500 voucher from Cape Union Mart.

Send your vote along with your contact details to competition@tipafrica.co.za before 30 November 2010.

Wild reader Duncan Noakes writes: "On a recent trip I entered at the southern gate of the Addo Elephant National Park and took a slow drive along the gravel track. I soon noticed a heron swaying in the wind. This is typical behaviour of these birds when they are hunting. I stopped and got my camera ready. With my camera resting on a bean bag I settled down to wait for some action, expecting the heron to catch a locust or something similar. After about 10 minutes of waiting I was rewarded when the heron suddenly struck and caught a large vlei rat. Within less than a minute the heron had devoured the massive rat whole! Passing cars, on the lookout for greater sights, had no idea what they had missed."

Duncan used a Canon EOS40D together with a Canon 100-400L Lens, as well as fill in flash from a 580EXll at -1 stop. Settings were ISO320, f7.1 and 1/500th second.

Karin Schermbrucker has visited the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, Agulhas National Park, Tankwa Karoo National Park and more recently the Kruger National Park were she captured the magnificent photos that make up the feature on women rangers in the Winter 2010 issue of WILD. Kate Collins chats to Karin about her photography and work for WILD. Watch their video below.

THOSE with a flair for photography and a passion for nature stand a chance of winning prizes worth thousands of rands by capturing the essence of the greater Addo Park. Competition closes 31 October.

Wild chat to Koos van der Lende about photography, his secret tips and favourite wild places.

Article by Santi van Niekerk

Henriette Engelbrecht, SANParks’ Communication and Marketing Manager for the Arid region could hardly contain her excitement after the first round of the Captured Experiences photo competition.  “The entries made me realise how much patience visitors have to have in order to capture those moments when nature opens a window of opportunity.” After judging almost 2000 entries for the first round, Henriette commented that “the process allowed me to look at the parks with “new eyes” through the lenses of visitors.”