A Minor Rant

Sitting in the living area of spacious bungalow at Talamati Bush Camp.  We left Tamboti at 0430 yesterday morning and took a long drive. Along the way we stopped at Nhlangueleni picnic spot to cook a hot breakfast of eggs, onion, green pepper and bacon.  There are picnic spots scattered throughout Kruger and we’ve learned to pay attention.  They’re located in spots where there is sometimes animal action. They’re attended and the attendant will rent these awesome propane camp stoves to you for 20 or 25 Rand.  There are tables and usually some shade so you can just pull out your cooler, throw your food together and cook.  These stoves are very hot, so it takes literally just a few minutes.  Some guests have pretty elaborate set ups but we go simple. Some plastic forks, bowls, eating utensils and we’re ready to go.  There’s something special about breakfast cooked outdoors in the bush.

When we arrived at Nhlangueleni, a tall, middle-aged man called us over and pointed out some wild dogs tucked in the shade a few hundred meters off.  Wild dogs are special so we were grateful to have the chance to see them, even if it was just to see the silhouettes in the heat haze.  This guy pulled out his photo gear, which included the latest Canon SLR and a 600/F4.0 lens.  Very expensive stuff.  Since it looked like he was serious, I asked him what his strategy was for dealing with the heat haze.  It was very, very hot (approaching 100F already) and the heat haze was very pronounced.  And while heat haze may add a shimmering beauty to video, it generally just makes still photos look blurry and soft. It’s really ugly. I’ve never found any solution to it (and wasn’t contemplating doing any shooting at all in this circumstance) and so was genuinely curious to see if he had some strategy for dealing with it.  Instead his wife chimed in to tell me that the heat haze really adds to the feel of the photo. 

OK, I thought.  Not my experience but I just watched the dogs.  Then this gentleman then struck up a conversation with another visitor, asked what kind of camera he was using (7D or the 7D Mark II) and made a production of it when the visitor wasn’t sure.  He (let’s call him, PA - short for Pompous Ass) then asked the visitor if he was shooting RAW or JPEG and the visitor said JPEG and PA said, “Oh, you must shoot RAW!”  Well, no, you must’n’t.  The visitor said something about his card filling up too quickly and PA told him that he must merely buy bigger cards and how many cards did he have in his camera?  Because PA kept two 64G cards in his camera and that would only be about R3000 (which I’d reckon at just under $300). And the visitor stammered around uncomfortably because, apparently according to PA, he’s been doing this all wrong.

But he hadn’t been doing it wrong and there’s a reason to tell this story.  There’s a certain kind of person, called PA, who has to puff himself up and inflate his (and it’s always ‘his’, isn’t it…) self-importance by pointing out that everyone around him is doing it wrong.  I notice it a lot in photography, though I’m sure exactly the same thing exists in golf, or music or scuba diving, or whatever.  The visitor in this story showed up quite happy with his camera and probably proud of the images he’s taken of wildlife.  My guess is that photography is a small part of his life but that he enjoys it and enjoys showing his friends and family moments that are special to him.  I suspect that he has no desire to step it up and become like PA – an obsessed amateur who’s undoubtedly never had to make a dime in the actual photography business.  It would have been a completely different story if the visitor had said to PA, “Hi. I noticed that you seem to have professional equipment. Can I ask you a question about the pros and cons of shooting RAW versus JPEG.” But he didn’t ask because he is happy with where he is. There was no reason to poop on his morning except for a pathological desire to feel superior by showing off.

I don’t know PA’s real name and obviously haven’t seen any of his stuff, but I’d bet a month’s worth of Starbuck’s espressos that he’s completely devoid of talent. I’m sure he’s published some images (and I’m sure he’d tell you all about them).  It’s actually not hard to get images published if you don’t mind giving them away for free because frankly most editors care less about quality than they do not having to pay a cent for photography.  But I’m confident that he’s a truly mediocre photographer because no one with any talent would feel any need to strike up a conversation with a perfect stranger just to show off. It would never happen.

My irritation with Mr. PA lingered for a while, and it pointed out some life work that I have to do to learn to just acknowledge that some people are like that (meaning, are assholes) and that I don’t need to let them into my life at all.  I can surround myself with anti-PAs.

So, we took a very hot, long drive back toward Talamati.  We’ve never stayed here or even seen it before and we were shocked because as we drove up the place was just teeming with wildlife.  Kruger is at the end of the dry season now and it’s been very very dry. Animals everywhere are suffering.  But Talamati is one of the few places that have a pumped water hole so there is a constant stream of wildlife and there’s a very comfortable hide directly in front of the water hole.  It’s just fantastic.  We checked the accommodations, which are very comfortable (lacking only A/C) and then went to Reception to change plans so that we could stay two nights rather than just one.  After 9 hours in the car with very little in the way of sightings (partly because the extremely heat just makes everything find a bush to stand under), it was great to just sit in a hide and have it presented to you.  That first evening we saw hundreds of elephants, zebra, giraffe, kudu, impala, warthog, cape buffalo, vervets, baboons and then a glimpse of lion (before both elephants and buffalo chased it away) and in the far distance a hyena keeping an eye on things.  Rich bird life too.

So today we stayed put except for short excursion to Orpen for supplies.  We spent 4 hours in the hide this morning and saw much of the same.  The highlight though is that a group of 10 sable antelope came down for water.  Look it up – sable are probably the most beautiful antelope in Africa.  I’ve seen sable a couple of times in the park, but only from a great distance and only one or two at a time.  This was just stunning. 

So, now a break, and then back to the hide for the last two hours of evening.  Then fix a T-bone steak and corn on the cob for dinner.  Tomorrow at 0430 we go for our first bushwalk.  And then, make the long drive down to Lower Sabie.

So far, we’ve gotten our legs under us.  We’re sleeping well.  It’s hot hot hot but beautiful here.  Sitting in the hide this morning, drinking coffee and watching elephants, that is exactly the experience I’d hoped for here.  Loving this.

Oh, and the vervets keep jumping up on the window sills, hoping we don’t notice them.  The Little Bastards have learned to open the window screens so you have to lock all windows when  you’re not actually in the room.  And – to top that – the baboons have learned to open the sliding glass door so you have to keep it looked when you’re not in the room.  I shook my fist at a vervet just now, and he yawned.