Going viral with close to 700 000 views within a week of a wildlife video being posted on the internet was not what local amateur photographers and nature lovers Hannes Joubert and Johann Eloff anticipated when capturing an attempted kill in Kruger National Park over the past long weekend.
They merely intended to share Joubert’s video of a blue wildebeest getting the better of two lionesses, who tried to bring the bull down after an hour of stalking and the one being injured during that late Monday afternoon drive in the park, with the world.
With the clip posted last Tuesday and currently averaging around 5 000 hits an hour, it had already had 668 822 views by Tuesday morning. The clip has seemingly been popular among internet users in South Africa, Europe, America and India and is still climbing in popularity as it has apparently catapulted to the most watched on the website it was initially posted to. In the meantime the clip had been secured by the likes of worldwide publications such as National Geographic and Daily Mail in the United Kingdom, said Joubert.
The scene of two lionesses attacking the fiercely fighting antelope that managed to shake off two adamant felines within little over two minutes as it injured the one cat by locking its horns into her side, was filmed by Joubert. All along Eloff was taking an estimated 50 still photos with a recently acquired 70 – 500 mm lens he was still putting to the test.
Already witnessing the incident was a fluke as it was the second kill of the day they had come across as a pride of eleven lions taking down a blue wildebeest bull on the way back from Olifants Camp late that same morning, they remarked. Joubert elaborated by explaining that they had returned to Satara Camp, where they stayed over, when happening upon the unfolding scene of the pack of lions closing in on one of two blue wildebeest bulls. They couldn’t manage to get proper shots and returned to camp with the intention to return to the spot late afternoon in the hope of getting photos of the aftermath of feasting lions
The late afternoon attempted-kill-gone-wrong occurred some 25 km from camp when they noticed five vehicles parked along the road, the occupants observing two lionesses having two respective blue wildebeest bulls in sight, they added. Only about an hour later they had closed in on the second blue wildebeest bull while he was frolicking in the dust distance away, according to Joubert. The next moment both lionesses simultaneously pounced. “It was the cherry on the cake to have been able to videograph something like that,” declared Joubert.
Eloff emphasised that it was good fortune witnessing two such extraordinary occurrences in nature within one day, as one might visit Kruger National Park without getting to witness such a scene.
But their story has a twist in the tale, he excitedly explained as he mentioned a close shave with a herd of elephant early the previous afternoon when they had found themselves on a narrow enclosed gravel stretch where they stumbled upon the grazing mammals. They recalled a youngster in the herd immediately starting to trumpet, which caused the rest of the herd to storm their bakkie from the front. As more elephant were approaching from a river to one side of the road Joubert, who usually takes the wheel to give Eloff ample opportunity to capture photos on a drive, swiftly reacted by reversing the vehicle out of the danger zone.
When going through their archived collection of thousands of images and clips mostly of bush scenes, it is evident that their love for nature finds a strong footing in a shared interest in photography and the varied media they are inspired by.
They expressed the belief that their personalities were being displayed in their photography. Whereas Eloff appreciates still photography, Joubert has a penchant for action and movement.
Joubert stressed the emotional experience attached to wildlife photography that was often characterised by seeing animals getting killed. “You want it to happen in order to get the best shot, but when it does it remains a shock because you wouldn’t want to watch something die.”
Having been caravanners for the past year they are regular visitors to Kruger National Park and, as Eloff put it, they knew that one had to adopt a different rhythm upon entering that environment. To this Joubert added that one couldn’t be in a hurry when on such an excursion.
As they revisited their all time favourite photos of two male lions on patrol against the backdrop of the African bush and one of a cheetah kill showing the Lebombo Mountains in the background, they expressed the wish to see their photos in a book that would likely centre around the Kruger one day.
View the video on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSlmRBvFaic.
Story: YOLANDE NEL
>>observer.yolande@gmail.com
