Through bushland, thick and thin, along almost dry river beds, over sandy areas which made you slide back one step for every three steps taken forward.
They showed me and explained the tracks of various animals whose paths we were crossing.
From afar we spotted Cheetah, Elephants, Kudus and many other denizens of this area.
After the first 10 kms we took a little rest, when one of the rangers talked about the fact that they had "shoot to kill" orders in the event that they should come across poachers with a dead Rhino or Elephant, but that the poachers had better rifles and better telescopes than they had and that whoever saw the other first, would shoot first. Therefore, he said with a pained smile on his face, my red shirt would not be the best camouflage I could wear.
At the edge of the Chobi dessert.
A family of Kudus, with the male, on the far left, proudly displaying his curved horns.
Through a part of the Chobi dessert, with Maponi trees barely surviving in the sand.
Elephants at one of the few watering holes.
Four Cheetahs on the prowl.
This shot was taken with a 500 mm telephoto lens, since, on foot,
one cannot get as close to these animals as one can riding in a vehicle.
It is my theory that animals are conditioned to fear man,
whom they recognize by shape and smell.
Man, riding in a vehicle, such as a land rover, the animal does not recognize
the square shape of the vehicle, and the smell of the exhaust fumes
overpowers the smell of the human.
For these reasons one can approach animals much closer when riding in a car
than when walking.
Second rest stop:
I am still the one in the middle
and I'm still wearing the red shirt.
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