In 2024, my sister suggested that we go on safari to South Africa, and my first thought was there are two requirements for a successful safari; firstly, take a rifle and secondly have a slower runner behind you. She explained that where we were going, we would be driven on game drives and that the animals don’t see Land Cruisers as prey. Good!
We would be staying in the Welgevonden Game Reserve in the Waterburg region, about three hours north-west of Pretoria. The Waterburg is an area of wooded hills and the foliage would be at its densest and the reserve at its wettest, as we would be visiting in February 2025, in the Southern Hemisphere’s summer.
The reserve is known as a place where the African ‘Big Five’; elephant, lion, leopard, rhino, and buffalo can be seen. The name was apparently coined by big-game hunters, who considered these the most difficult animals in Africa to hunt on foot. I hoped we would be fortunate enough to see all of them, but even with a Land Cruiser and an experienced guide, sightings were not guaranteed. In the event, luck was with us.
Searching for the “Big Five” on safari
My sister had previously stayed in the iBhubesi Lodge, where we planned to base ourselves. Our group of seven would occupy the whole lodge, and we would bring our own food to be cooked by the lodge staff. The lodge has five thatched chalets with en-suite facilities and the Land Cruiser used for the game drives could seat a maximum of ten guests, but seven was an ideal number.
Pondering which kit to take
I’d thought about which cameras to take and had enjoyed Wayne Gerlach’s Macfilos article in December 2024 entitled Travelling Light on Safari with a Panasonic FZ1000: Photographing ‘The Big Five’. As I have a Panasonic FZ200 with a Leica branded 25-600mm equivalent lens, I decided to bring it, along with my Leica X Vario with its 28-70mm-equivalent lens.
I could use the X Vario for general family or environmental shots and the FZ200 to capture animals at a distance. I knew the image quality from the FZ200 with its small 1/2.3″ sensor would not be as good as a camera with a larger sensor — even a 1″ sensor on a newer bridge camera — but accepted its limitations.
Getting there
The drive from Johannesburg to the main gate of the reserve was uneventful. Our game driver and guide Ellard greeted us as we arrived at the reserve and loaded our gear into a trailer.
With that done, we climbed into the Land Cruiser and were off into the reserve and on safari proper. We didn’t have to wait long before we saw our first animals, and the forty-five-minute drive from the main gate to the lodge became our first game drive. When I asked Ellard if he had emailed the animals to ask them to stand by the road so we could see them, he replied that he had WhatsApp’d them — but only received one tick. We were off to a good start.
Our own safari picture window
I was pleasantly surprised to see the animals grazing in an open area just beyond the terrace of the iBhubesi Lodge. During our three days stay most of the grazing animals passed by — zebras, giraffe, rhino, and warthog, although we didn’t see any lions which we were told had passed by recently.
In the reserve, the animals divide into two groups, the prey (the grazers) and the predators. Outside the lodge, and on the nearby plain, zebras, giraffe, rhino, wildebeest, antelope, and warthog grazed together without conflict.
They always faced in different directions, with the baboons in the trees above, keeping an eye out for the predators — the lions, leopards, and cheetahs. At the first sight of a predator, alarms are sounded and all the grazers run away from the threat. Ellard constantly listened out for such warning cries to help him locate the predators for us to see.
When we arrived mid-afternoon, we had time to find our hut and unpack before meeting back at the lodge for our first proper game drive at 16.30. I took my Billingham Small Hadley camera bag which was large enough for the FZ200 and a small pair of binoculars whilst the X Vario hung around my neck. This was the way I took my gear on all the drives.
Cooling off
Our first stop on that game drive was at the nearby dam, where Ellard pointed to a group of hippopotami and a crocodile. I used the binoculars to find them and then the FZ200 to photograph them. I was pleased to have been fast enough to capture the hippo actually doing something apart from just sitting in the water looking around. Not only that, but I wanted my photos to communicate something by capturing a gesture, or the animal staring directly at me, for example.
Grace
Turning around and continuing our drive, we dropped back down to the plain and stopped to watch whichever animals we saw. A giraffe made a nice subject, and I used the X Vario at its 70mm-equivalent and cropped to get the composition I wanted.
After stopping at an open area for drinks and to stretch our legs, we headed back to the lodge. With the X Vario around my neck, I was quickly able to capture a real-life zebra crossing in the dusk. In the UK, pedestrian crossings without stop-lights are painted in stripes and known a “Zebra Crossings.” The most famous example is in London, where The Beatles were photographed on a zebra crossing for the cover of their Abbey Road album.
Abbey Road on safari
On arrival, the cameras’ batteries were put on charge while we sat down to dinner prepared by the lodge staff. The high-quality South African steaks and wine completed the day nicely, but we soon turned in for the night. I’d been careful to pack strong torches for the walks between the lodge and our hut.
Years before, a friend had told me he’d decided at the last moment before leaving his house in Africa one night to take a torch, only to find a puff adder lying across his garden path. And I’d read on the internet about there being black mambas, spitting cobras and vine snakes at Welgevonden and that one might see them “if you are very lucky”. I wasn’t, thankfully.
When the coffee machine is up early
The morning game drive started at 05.30 so at 05.00 we met around the coffee machine in the lodge for a quick espresso before climbing into the Land Cruiser, agreeing who would sit where in the three rows of three seats.
The sun had risen as Ellard drove us back up towards the dam. On some safari drives, notably as seen in videos about Botswana, one person drives and another acts a spotter, sitting in front of the driver on a ‘jump seat’.
In the Welgevonden reserve, the lodge drivers act as both driver and guide. This could be because the hilly, rocky terrain is unsuitable for having a spotter on the front of the vehicle. In some places where the gravel road climbed steeply out of a valley, concrete had been laid to give the wheels more traction.
Given the difficulties of driving in that rough environment, I was more than happy to have the driver concentrate on the road ahead. But this meant that if we wanted to see animals away from the road or behind us, we had to keep our eyes peeled.
Leopard!
Suddenly, my brother-in-law Norman called out ‘there’s something’ and we stopped and looked. Ellard quickly pointed out what the excitement was about — a leopard. I brought the X Vario into action and took the photo below, which shows the roadside barrier and leopard. The next is a crop of the same picture, which illustrates nicely the ability of the images from the X Vario to withstand a bit of cropping and processing.
As the leopard was in no hurry to move, I dug out the FZ200 and took a close-up of it looking at me, exactly the sort of gesture I’d hoped for before I came. The photo is not of the quality I’d get from a full frame camera with a true 600mm lens, but it’s good enough for me.
Don’t mess with us
Continuing on, Ellard spotted rhinos resting beside the road. Not a case of viewing rhinos from 500 yards (ca. 457 m) away across the plains; they were right beside us. I used the X Vario as they were close, but then swapped to the FZ200. In terms of composition the results were similar but as it happened the baby rhino moved its horn to where it was more clearly seen whilst I was using the FZ200, so I have included that photo here.
Ellard took us to an open plain, brought out the table, mugs, hot water and cafetière and made us a very welcome coffee. “What about a toilet?” “The bush toilet is fine, was the reply”. And so, it was. I mentioned this to a friend who had also gone on safari to Welgevonden, and he told me an entertaining story.
When you have to share with a warthog
A woman on his game drive had gone off to use the bush toilet. The group was disturbed by her loud screaming as she ran, not fully clothed from one side of a bush, whilst a warthog bolted from the other side emitting a high-pitched squeal and heading away as fast as possible. He didn’t know who was more scared — probably the warthog!
The drive back for breakfast, prepared by the lodge staff, was uneventful, and we settled down to pass the time until the evening game drive. The leopard sighting had been enough to satisfy us all, and with the rhino, I had crossed off two of the Big Five from my list.
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