Floodplains of Fantasy

[Morkel Erasmus]

There is a place that will connect you to Africa in a way that few other places can...
A place where you walk with wild elephants, lions, buffalo and painted dogs...
A place where trees dwarf the elephants and the elephants dwarf the man...
This place is called Mana Pools National Park in Zimbabwe, and it's a UNESCO World Heritage site.


We mainly visit it for the fantastic wildlife experience, but the beauty of the place has really gripped me since my first visit. On previous trips I found it difficult to portray the endless winterthorn forests and floodplains using a wide-angle lens, instead resorting to a 70-200mm lens for compression and panoramic framing of the trees themselves.

The last sunset of the recent wildlife photography safari I led there provided some nice high clouds, and I found a spot along the banks of the Zambezi river where a composition does somewhat justice to the place.


Techs:
Nikon D800
Nikkor 14-24mm f2.8 @ 14mm
f8.0 | ISO-200
Blend of 3 exposures for the dynamic range

[Don Railton]

Hi Morkel, What beautiful colour gradient in the sky...! I like that you have captured this colour and still have retained good detail in the trees. (D800 huh...) the trees and the distance riverbank nicely portray an enviable ' office' for you... No suggestions.

Regards
Don


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Diane Miller]

Gorgeous composition, doing justice to the wonderful trees, and I also love the color gradient!

[Andrew McLachlan]

Hi Morkel, one of your finest landscapes to date...I love the comp and the color too!

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Morkel - Simply gorgeous. I love the comp with the sky through the tree and the beautiful colors.

TFS,
Rachel

[Morkel Erasmus]

Thanks a bunch, folks!!