Tag Team Tactics

[Morkel Erasmus]

Felt like posting another frame from the epic lion sighting we had in the Kgalagadi last November. Can't wait to be back there later this year!
Here the eland was still somewhat alive, and they were dealing the final "blows" before they occupied the kill and nearly finished it (after the 3 females brought it down).

Techs:
Nikon D3s
Nikkor 500mm f4 VR-II
f8.0 | 1/400 SS | ISO-2500
Slightly overcast at dawn, light just beginning to break through

[Andre Pretorius]

Love the action, adrenaline pumping!! D3S handled high ISO well. Crop works, would like little bit of space on LHS and RHS for tails. Leave techs for those more experienced..We are there on Saturday!

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Morkel - great action and love the heads together determination. I agree a little more space on both sides. Your usual excellent techs. There's a halo on the tail on the rhs . Another great one in the series.

TFS,
Rachel

[Morkel Erasmus]

Thanks guys...full frame edge to edge, I was glad to just fit both tailtips in here
Yes, Steve - the 200-400mm

[Stan Cunningham]

Great action shot!

[Loi Nguyen]

Morkel, great image, sharpness, colors. I like the warm golden light coming in from the side, which gives a good 3-D feel. You handled the exposure very well here. Wish for a bit more room on the RHS, but that was already mentioned. Loi

[Roman Kurywczak]

Love the action here Morkel! Very nice light too!

[Andrew Merwin]

A riveting image Morkel. I like the raised paw of the right lion & the light.. Regardless of how "natural" this struggle is, I find it a bit unsettling because of the violence portrayed.

[Steve Canuel]

Nicely composed and framed image. The texture of the image is very nice for my taste, soft yet very nicely detailed and not overly sharpened.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Morkel, I think this is the best of the series, lovely light, better tonal range and content.

TFS
Steve

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Morkel ,
another very good image from this encounter, luckily you managed to get it all in the frame.

Saying it with Steve`s words , i fel the lions can stand some more mid tones and form................. just a feeling!

TFS Andreas

[Carole Deschuymere]

stunning capture Morkel. that must have been one of your best sightings ever! So far I love every picture I have seen from it. Now I can't wait to go back to the Kalahari! The high ISO doesn't seem to affect the image. And if this is the full frame picture, then that's just amazing... great job! Carole

[Gregor Bergquist]

I think this is a great picture, but I think the whole serie is even more special as displayed on your blog. As we have dicussed before, sometimes I wish there could be room for posting small series of photos. Hm...

Best regards / Gregor

[Carl Walker]

Morkel - this is a great action shot well captured here. not sure how you guys get it right with slower SS but it has worked well here. The side and backlit areas on the males makes for a soft tone overall. Detail is great. I wouldn't be surprised if that male received a nasty gash in the back his head from the elands hind leg hoof. Excellent capture!!

[Markus Jais]

Fantastic action and behavior shot. This is awesome.

Markus

[edwardselfe]

Stunning - there's a feel to your images which is instantly recognisable and this could only be one of yours.
Ed

[Morkel Erasmus]

You are all too kind, thanks for the comments.

I'm surprised no-one asked about the mark on the LHS lion's hind leg .

[shane shacaluga]

You are all too kind, thanks for the comments.

I'm surprised no-one asked about the mark on the LHS lion's hind leg .

I was too busy staring at the size of the lions front leg and paw!!!!

[Carole Deschuymere]

I thought it was just a scar. So don't keep us in suspense! what is it?

[Carl Walker]

Looks like a brand mark for ID purposes!!

[Morkel Erasmus]

The Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park is only fenced on the southern border (South Africa), and the western border (Namibia). To the north it is unfenced and forms part of the greater Kalahari wilderness in Botswana. Every so often, male lions break out of the park fences and end up doing some damage on cattle and sheep farms in SA and Namibia. Usually, these lions are caught by SA National Parks, darted and branded. If it's a young male they release it deep into the Park to try and prevent a reoccurance (young males typically break out due to pressure from resident pride males forcing them out under pain of death). This male is a dominant one and probably got out when he was a youngster.

[Andrew Merwin]

Very interesting. In MT, researchers & park rangers radio collar every animal they can capture: bears, wolves, coyotes, bison, elk. You name it, they radio collar it. I mention this as a prelude to the question: are African animals radio collared for research or tracking?

[Morkel Erasmus]

Andrew, animals in Africa sure are collared - both for research and tracking. Typically, when young males become "problem males", one of them will also get a collar when they're put back into the park boundaries...
For many years most female cheetahs in the Kgalagadi were collared for a specific research project to establish how well they raise their young and how many of their cubs make it to adulthood. This project is now completed after concluding that the Kgalagadi is one of the strongholds for cheetah repopulation in southern Africa.