Charlie Peel Photography - The Magic of Africa

Africa not only offers wonderful landscapes but also intense and colourful experiences, which are simply impossible to forget. It may be these indelible experiences which cause people to return time and again as if spellbound by the magic of the dark continent.

Let me share one experience which I especially remember. One night while peacefully sleeping in our tent at the Selinda camp, we were woken up by the resident pride of lions in the very early hours of the morning. The semitransparent fly-netting of the tent and the light of the almost full moon meant we could see all that was going on outside, and there they were, ten or so lions wondering through camp, playfully tossing the cushions off the sun loungers in front of our tent and their deep roars in the middle of the otherwise quiet night, were enough to impress the bravest of adventurers. However, if you’re asking yourself, were we scared, no, it was simply magical. Later on that same day we were able to see the lionesses playing with their cubs from a mere few feet, though from the safety of our vehicle.

The wealth and diversity of wildlife doesn’t let you rest for a minute: a group of buffalo charging off into the distance leaving a huge cloud of dust is an impressive site to behold, but no less impressive are the elegant giraffes, the stylised cheetahs or the gracious impalas… Paul our guide during our stay and of whom we keep an excellent memory, always knew how to explain what we were seeing so that we got the maximum enjoyment from each moment. His knowledge and respect of nature ensured that we felt safe at all times.

Another wonderful scene that we were lucky enough to witness featured a family of elephants. We were canoeing down the Zambezi river when we spotted the elephants coming to the river’s edge, so we pulled into the bank and sat quietly. They soon started to form a single file behind the matriarch and cross over to a small island, amongst them a youngster who held on to mum’s tail with his trunk.

Our first night was spent on the banks of the Zambezi river, soaking in all the new sensations, one in particular is hard to forget, the sound of a pod of hippos communicating amongst themselves. This is undoubtedly one of the most characteristic sounds of the trip, it is hard to describe but maybe if you can imagine a deep melancholic laugh… On the first day it is hard to tell whether this laugh is far out in the middle of the river or whether the hippo is standing at the end of the bed about to tickle your feet!!!

As the days go by the different noises become familiar, the anxiety they caused at first disappears and they soon become a bedtime lullaby without which it is hard to sleep. So once back to civilisation it's back to dreaming of the magic of Africa and the return trip, whenever it may be.

Weight restrictions seriously limit our luggage allowance. On the other hand this is a once in a lifetime photographic opportunity, what should we take and what to leave behind?

My gear consisted of two camaras (Canon EOS3 & EOS30), a 28-135mm IS lens, a 300mm f4 IS and a 2x converter. A good alternative to the 300mm would be a 100-400mm zoom, always ensuring that it is as fast as posible.
A 1.4x converter will be very useful to provide that extra reach, without loosing the autofocus capabilities of our camara (the 2x is not as useful due to loosing autofocus capabilities as well as 2 f-stops)
We can leave the tripod at home as most of the shooting will take place from a vehicle where a tripod is not practical. A beanbag on the other hand, such as the one offered by Kinesis, will be of great help stabalising our camara. The beanbag can be filled with sand on arrival.
The most useful filter will be a polariser, especially a warming polariser such as the one offered by Singh-Ray. A UV filter will also be helpful to keep dust off the front element of our lens.
Take loads of film, it's better to have some left over than having to buy some out there as it will be very difficult to find. My personal preferance was Fuji Velvia because of the high saturation, though the new Velvia 100F has that extra stop of speed and maintains a high saturation.

The mornings are cold while midday is warm, so it's best to dress using layers which we can remove as it warms up, so that we are always comfortable.
There should never be more than two people per bench in the vehicle if we wish to photograph comfortably and effectively.
Dust will be the major problem for the camara. A tight cloth bag or even a plastic bag to protect the camara while in the car and especially when changing lenses is very important, the rucksack won't work as you need to have instant access to the camara.
If you are using a digital camara you should find out what facilities are available to charge camara batteries and download memory cards, etc. Take double care about dust getting onto the sensor.