A selection of the best readers’ photographs submitted to the Getaway Gallery photo competition for June 2016.
Getaway Gallery is a prestigious showcase of the best photographs our readers have to offer. This year we bring you our biggest competition yet, with travel and equipment prizes to the value of over R160000.
Take a look at our May 2016 Gallery for more inspirational images.
June’s finalists
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- The roar of lions and the sounds of fighting hyena kept us awake for most of the night. When dawn arrived we found the most incredible scene playing out at the Klein Namutoni dam in Etosha National Park. This image shows a young male lion taking on 36 hyenas over a kill. – By Morne Jurie Terblanche, Aberdeen. Nikon D800, Nikkor 200-400mm f/4G II, ISO 640, f/5, 1/1000 sec.
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- When captioning this photo taken in Chobe National Park, it was with shock that I discovered that hippos are listed as vulnerable (population decreasing) on the IUCN Red List. I guess this is indicative of how we are polluting and mismanaging water sources and rivers all across Africa. I photographed this particular specimen as the sun set one summer’s afternoon on the Chobe River, and hordes of bugs took to the air as the temperature dropped. I love shooting into the sun in the golden hour, and as our boat approached the hippo reared and gave a bit of a display; I was ready for it. – By Morkel Erasmus, Secunda. Nikon D800, Nikkor 500mm f/4 VR, ISO 250, f/4; 1/500 sec.
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- We were sitting in the Giant’s Castle hide when this jackal buzzard appeared from nowhere. It screeched just prior to landing, announcing its arrival. Once on the ground it “marched” straight at me, interacting with ravens on its way to reach the carcass. Later on I reviewed my images and noticed this its very unusual pose, when he resembled an old man marching with attitude. Not a difficult image to take, but one of those lucky moments when you get that shot in a million. – By Clint Ralph, Pretoria. Canon 1DX, Canon 500mm f/4L II, ISO 2000, f/6.3, 1/1250 sec.
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- This is one of two dominant males of the Rooiputs pride, found in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park. Between them they successfully defended the pride (which included two young cubs) from a coalition of three young males attempting to take over the pride during January 2016. – By Rudi van den Heever, Pretoria. Canon 7D Mark II, Canon 500mm f/4 L lens, ISO 400, f/8, 1/200 sec.
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- I was photographing the birds in my back garden one afternoon, when they suddenly all disappeared. I didn’t know what was going on until I looked over my camera and saw this little mongoose approaching. It climbed onto a branch of a tree and sat still for a few seconds before disappearing in the bushes again. It isn’t very often that a cape grey mongoose pauses for an image like this and I had the chance to make use of the afternoon sun and backdrop of dark bushes to complete the image. – By Willem Kruger, Bloemfontein. Nikon D4, Nikkor 600mm f/4, ISO 2500, f/8, 1/6400 sec.
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- We drove early one morning to Sable Dam in Kruger National Park. A Southern Yellow-billed Hornbill was perched in a bush next to the hide. Being used to people, it allowed for some close-up shots with both eyes looking into the camera. – By Anna-Carina Nagel, Hoedspruit. Canon 7D Mark II, Canon 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L, ISO 800, f/9, 1/500 sec.
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- I took this photo at a game park near Mossel Bay. It was taken at 16:24pm and we had an amazing light and sighting; the white rhino was standing in an open field of short grass right in front of the vehicle. – By Mark Winckler, Bryanston. Nikon D90, Tamron 70-300mm f/4-5.6, ISO 100, f/5.6, 1/500 sec.
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- I crept up to this frequent visitor to Satara restcamp in the Kruger National Park and I was able to get within a few meters of her before she darted up a tree. The resulting images through the branches of this elusive African Wildcat had amazing depth as she peered at me curiously. – By Curtis Xavier Moodley, Phalaborwa. Nikon D750, Nikkor 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6, ISO 2500, f/5.6, 1/25 sec.
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- A young giraffe calf sought the safety and warmth of his mother during winter, whilst looking straight into my camera lens. This is an image from the Kruger National Park. – By Rudi van den Heever, Pretoria. Canon 7D Mark II, Canon 500mm f.4L, ISO 500, f/4, 1/500 sec.
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- After driving out at sunrise on a rainy morning I stumbled upon these cheetahs scouting for prey in the Kruger National Park. The cloudy skies created a great background and offered perfect portrait opportunities as the curious cub stared right into my lens. – By Curtis Xavier Moodley, Phalaborwa. Nikon D750, Nikkor 28.0-300.0 mm f/3.5-5.6, ISO 1000, f/5.6, 1/100 sec.
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- I took this image using a remote control and tripod at Thompson’s Bay beach, just before sunrise. – By James Harris, Mpumalanga. Nikon D90, Sigma 10-20mm, ISO 200, f/16, 28 sec.
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- This image was taken in the late afternoon in the Naibosho Conservancy in the Masai Mara National Park. The mother and cub were relaxing and provided good opportunities for photography. The cub was playful, but at the same time wanted the mother’s attention. – By Sarel van Zyl, Kenya. Canon 1Dx, Canon 600mm f/4L, 1.4x teleconverter, ISO 1000, f/7.1, 1/800 sec.
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- This photo was taken about 2km south of Kji Kji water hole in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, at around 9:00 in the morning. During the night, a group of lions killed a gemsbok. When we arrived at the site there were two lions still eating. Around the kill were about 15 black-backed jackals lying waiting for the lions to leave so that they could have a bite. When the lions finally left the kill, this is what happened – the jackals started to establish dominance amongst each other. – By Willem Kruger, Bloemfontein. Nikon D800 camera, Nikon 600mm f/4 lens, ISO 2000, f/8, 1/4000 sec.
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- This tuft of grass looked stunning in the afternoon light on the sand dunes of the Kalahari’s Witsand Nature Reserve. I laid down on my stomach to take the photo. – By Christiaan Mauritz van den Heever, Pretoria. Nikon D200, Sigma 10-20mm f3.5, ISO 100, f/8, 1/160 sec.
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- Earlier this year I started getting withdrawal symptoms from a lack of bush and wildlife. I decided to head out to Pilanesberg Game Reserve at 4:30am for a quick day trip… it turned out to be the hottest day of the year – 44C° at one stage! – and not even warthogs were keen to walk around. However, I could see loads of zebra, which prompted me to think that wearing a black and white striped t-shirt may be the best way to fight the heat. In this case we were able to park very close to the dazzle of zebras. Instead of going wide I zoomed in to 400mm and got a nice combination of depth of field between the zebras in picture, and sharp detail in the mane of the one in front. – By Dirk Uys, Berario. Canon 7D Mark II, Canon 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L, ISO 250, f/6.3,1/800 sec.
