Regal

Regal

 

It is early morning in the Masai Mara, the sun hasn’t risen yet. A male lion is disturbed from its wildebeest meal by other males of another pride roaring in the distance. He starts roaring too while pacing around protectively. The females take the opportunity to have their fill of wildebeest too – there isn’t much left, but there’s enough left for them not to squabble over it too much. When the lion is satisfied that the other pride has heard him loud and clear he sits just in front of our vehicle – the sun is rising and it illuminates its majestic mane. A breeding herd of elephants approaches in the distance and he watches them with the casual indifference only cats are able to master.

I love nothing better than to spy on the daily activities of animals’ lives and capture those fleeting moments with my camera. The light was golden and gorgeous but I thought this shot worked better converted into monochrome, it looks more timeless. But I do have a colour photo from the same sequence, but that I will share some other time.

Techs: Canon 5D Mark III | Canon 200-400L f4 with 1.4 Extender @ 400mm | f4 | 1/400 | ISO 640