VALLEY TRAVEL \1 ^


winning wildlife shot. . There's a knack to photographing the Lit­


Atr T


tle Bee-eater. The picture you want is this: The.bird is in mid-flight, its green shimmer­ ing wings flung wide and a just-caught bug clamped in its beak. Precision timing, a steady hand and a little specialist knowledge are all essential. With the last of these, your pictures are transformed into the sort of images to grace a nature magazine, and without it you are doomed to an endless succession of empty branches. If you're lucky, you just catch a claw disappearing out of shot. Paul Goldstein has that specialist knowl­


edge. An award-winning wildlife photographer who has coaxed, cajoled and demanded the best from amateur snappers for years. I joined one of his safaris in Kenya's Masai


Mara, hopeful of returning with pictures wor­ thy of a frame. Within minutes of arriving at our luxurious


camp, we were bouncing along in one of Paul's specially converted vehicles (don't, whatever you do, call them vans) in pursuit of a cheetah and her two cubs. After barely half an hour in Paul's company,


it was aiready abundantly clear he takes no prisoners. "Stop mincing!" he yeiled, as I fum- bied with my kit while the vehicle jolted across


• the dry savannah. My just-out-of-the-wrapping digital SLR


body was eventually attached to a lens the size of a rocket launcher, borrowed from a fellow traveller who hired something even more substantial for this expedition. We found the cheetah family bathed in


honeyed afternoon light, with the mother look­ ing wistfully into the distance. The scene was beautiful, but my companions had other ideas. "They're hungry," said our guide Patrick,


setting off a flash of excitement in Paul. "She'll hunt!", he cried, "Go, go, go!" We swung away from the deceptively lan­


guid scene, adrenaline racing, our eyes scan­ ning the countryside for potential prey. In the distance, a juicy-looking Thomson's


gazelle grazed near a thicket. Small and spry - an ideal feast for a peck­


ish big cat - the gazelle munched on rough, scrappy grass while we raced to find a perfect view should the cheetah give chase. She was on the move by the time we


'


stopped, slinking through the brush to within feet of the gazelle. Then, she pounced. It was over in a second, the predator so


close there was barely a chase.Tlowever,'for ~ - a novice wildlife photographer, the thrill was intense.


Only afterwards did I realise I had caught


the action on camera: The cheetah lunging from a swirl of dust, front paws stretched out to whip the gazelle's back legs from under it. I was helped by the fact my camera was


primed with the shooting action, with aperture and shutter speed set to Paul's specifications.


, This was a relief. Had I missed it, words from our leader would not have been flattering. The Mara has life in mind-boggling abun­


dance and often we found sightings of the area's smaller characters as enjoyable as the big predators.


. - We were not forced into a rigid itinerary Valley page 16


- simply ticking off sightings and moving on - but we could stop for twenty minutes to watch a kingfisher, proud and portly like a town mayor, or delight in the antics of a warthog family, racing away at first glimpse of a camera lens, their tails straining towards the sky like television aerials. The BBC's Big Cat diaries were filmed in the


Mara, and many animals we saw on our trip were celebrities with - much to Paul's disdain - cutesy western names. So famous is Shakira the cheetah that one fellow photographer described her as "the cover-girl for Safari Vogue". - Olive, from a much-loved leopard dynasty,


provided the most memorable experience of our trip, leaping into a tree only feet from our vehicle with her cubs to retrieve a kill. Seeing a leopard at all is a privilege, but


w/e could see the twitch of every whisker, the ripple of every muscle beneath the rich coat, her majestic heaci, intelligent-eyes and really,- - really big teeth. It was breathtaking. Leopard-spotting revolved around an area


accurately described as 'Smelly crossing', a stomach turner in the morning with its sul­ phurous stench. Leopards love dense thickets around the


edges of the stinky waterway and wild basil soothes the nose with its sweet, citrusy aroma as the jeep beats a path through the brush. Huge crowds of wildebeest gathered for


annual crossings of the Mara heading for the Serengeti and Tanzania, and we watched in wonder as animals fought to cross the river, unperturbed as crocodiles picked off the oc­ casional snack.


Our wonder grew when some on the other


side forgot themselves and crossed back over. Wildebeest, a sensitive' species, can take


hours to build up the courage to cross. So, we took lunch, gazing at fish bone clouds drifting across the cornflower sky and hearing Paul's flamboyant language and pungent wit. Of his jokes, the cleanest I can remember was: "Bat­ tle dress: warthogs!" (War-togs). Fat crocodiles were "like Republicans at a


breakfast bar", and when you are-looking for advice: "Just ask the doctor - the surgery is always open." "We work you hard, but we set the bar high,"


he said, after one particularly long day. He was not exaggerating. We left the de- ■


lightful surroundings of our tents around Sam every day, before the sky betrayed even the first blush of morning. Often we were still out at sunset, chasing


the dying light for a spot to take in the great bjllowing clouds as they bruised against a hot red sky. At these times, photographs came second to soaking up the astonishing beauty' of the dying Mara day with a cold beer. Returning to a hot shower and a drink around the campfire, we buzzed from the


■excitement of the day and waited sheepishly for Paul to appraise our shots. "What is this?" he asked contemptuously of


an unfortunately-framed lion. "You've cut its feet off. Delete!" An attempt at panning was treated with


■ more enthusiasm, not least because I had the audacity to try it on a leopard. To pan you use a slow shutter speed and follow the animal with your camera while taking the shot, so the


background is a blur of movement with the head sharply focused. That's the theory anyway - most of mine


were all movement. and little focus.. Paul likes you to experiment, to approach


photography with the same fiery passion that he has, and to sit tight and wait for the shot - all day if that's what it takes. You are well rewarded for your patience,


with a deeper knowledg'e of your camera, wonderful memories and, of course, some beautiful shots. Much is made of the idea that we have sim­


ply progressed from shooting wild creatures with guns to using camera lenses. While there are similarities - you must learn an animal's habits to predict its movements - hunters aimed to stop the wildlife in its tracks, but we wanted the right light, a good camera and of course action. Thanks to the eagle eyes of our guides, and


Paul's knowledge and unwavering enthusiasm, we hadalijn abundance.'


• Kelly Macnamara was a guest on an


Exodus Photographic Safari, with award-win­ ning photographer Paul Goldstein and local guides. Group sizes 4-12, min age 16. Nine-day package, from £2,699, incl. six nights' tented camp accom., return Kenya Airways flights ex-London, internal flights, and transport by open-sided four-wheel-drive vehicles in the Mara. Regional connecting flights incl. Manchester from £35.40 (single), Glasgow from £32.50. Next departures are in June and September. Exodus reservations: 0845 863 9601 and www.exodus.co.uk


11


The Drifters . George's Comedy Club Brendan Cole Live & UnJudged The Swing Commanders


John Cooper, The Sam Wills Jms^gia


July


2 George’s Comedy Club 12 Their Finest Hour featuring Hay I ey yVesten ra ______


MC Dave Williams, Greg Cook, Janice Phatye, Seymour Mace


Toby Hadoke, Dan Nightingale, Andy White, Martin Bigpig


Jonathan Mayor t -W - F i


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ake a trip to one of the most photo­ graphed countries in the world with expert Paul Goldstein, and get that


King George’s Hall DarweN BOX office: 0844 847 1664 www.kinggeorgeshall.com


LLL KINGGEORGESHALL


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