The Kingfisher pride
Some sightings are about the animal. Others are about the whole scene, and this was one of those.
We found the Kingfisher pride on one of Marataba’s long, open roads, and they simply started walking. Straight down the road, one after another, with the mountains rising behind them. For a photographer that’s about as good as it gets: a clean line through the frame, a background with real depth, and animals moving towards you at their own unhurried pace.
We kept repositioning, letting them come to us, shooting and moving again. Every few meters the light, the road and the cats lined up into another frame. Wide shots to show the landscape, then longer lenses to compress the mountains behind the pride. It’s the kind of sighting where you look at the back of your camera afterwards and can hardly choose.
Forty minutes with a leopard, from the water.
One of the things that makes Marataba special is that you can explore it by boat as well as by vehicle, and this trip showed exactly why that matters.
Late one afternoon, out on the river, we found a female leopard working her way along the water’s edge. We cut our pace, kept our distance and drifted alongside her. For 40 minutes we moved with her as she followed the bank, stopping, watching and carrying on, while the light slid from gold into sunset.
Photographing a leopard from a boat is a completely different experience. You’re low, close to the water’s level, and the reeds and reflections become part of the picture. No gravel, no jostling for position: just the river carrying you along with her. Forty minutes with a leopard at water level is a sighting you just don’t get from a vehicle, and I could see on our guests’ faces that they knew it too.
Why I keep coming back
Marataba gives you range. Mountains, open plains, riverine bush and water, all in one reserve, which means the backgrounds and the light change from drive to drive. Add the boat and you have angles most reserves simply can’t offer. For a private photo safari, where we can shape every drive around light and the animals, that’s a gift.
A huge thank you to our guests for sharing these four nights with us, and to the whole Marataba team for looking after us so well, on land and on the water.
Join me on safari
If a trip like this sounds like your kind of safari, there are two ways to come along:
Join a scheduled photo safari in 2027. Small groups, with me in the field. The Kalahari Photo Safari (28 May – 3 June 2027, four guests only) is the next one I’m especially excited about. https://francoisfouriesafaris.com/kalahari-photo-safari/
Ask about a private photo safari like this one, at Marataba or elsewhere, built around your dates and your photography.
Get in touch: francois@francoisfouriesafaris.com
