guide Get it. Do it. See it.
HEADING THE FIELD If fitness gains are your goal, says farm gym pioneer Tom Kemp, you reap what you sow
THE WORLD IS MINE
How new AR spin-off game Minecraft Earth will change the way we view our environment
HOT DATES
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Our pick of this month’s essential gigs, shows and sporting events
GRAEME PURDY
COOL FOR CATS
There’s only one way to get the perfect close-up of Kenya’s cheetahs, lions and other mighty beasts. A photo-safari veteran puts us in the picture… PAGE 86
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Do it
The photographer and his crew get into position beneath an acacia tree for the next dream shot
KENYAN PHOTO SAFARI
WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE Gazelles giving birth, an epic elephant parade, lions peeing on you – on a photo safari, you can experience all this and more. Wildlife snapper Graeme Purdy takes us there…
I
can barely breathe. A male lion has just run past our car on the opposite side to where I’m standing, and only now is the realisation starting to kick in. It’s pitch black and we’re 75m from camp on the edge of the Maasai Mara, using the headlights to view
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a pack of shrieking hyenas devour a dead wildebeest… at least until the lion arrives to spoil their feast. When my shaking has subsided, I lift my camera, but through the bluster of the wind I hear the thud of paws. Thrump… thrump… There’s no roar or warning growl
Purdy has 16 years’ experience of safari photography in Kenya
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Kenya
TRAVEL TIPS
JOIN THE JUNGLIST MAASAI
Before you pack your camera, here are a few things you should know about one of Kenya’s largest game reserves…
Cheetah mothers and their cubs are welcome guests on Purdy’s excursions
Kenya Nairobi Maasai Mara
The Maasai Mara covers around 1,510km2 and forms the northern quarter of the Serengeti ecosystem. It is home to many endangered species, including the African elephant, African lion and black rhino.
All vehicles are open-sided, so there’s nothing between the snappers and the animals
TALK (SWAHILI)
GRAEME PURDY PHOTOGRAPHY
RACHAEL SIGEE
PAY as another male thunders by – down my side of the car this time. He’s just 2m from me and I feel the breeze as he runs past. “Don’t worry,” I say to the person next to me. “They’re only interested in the kill, they’re not interested in you.” In my 16 years of safari in Kenya, I’ve learnt that for the most part, the big cats – of which the Maasai Mara has just about the highest density on the planet – aren’t a danger to humans. It’s the buffalo (notoriously grumpy) and elephants (unpredictable) you need to be careful around. But the whole point of being here is to get up close and personal with these animals. I’ve been a professional wildlife photographer
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Once, a lion walked up and sprayed pee over us. He showed us who was boss for decades, and in the past I’ve taken guests on photo safaris. Now, I’m opening them up to the public, teaching people how to take pictures of wild animals in a high-energy environment. I run two week-long trips in November, at the start of the rainy season. Not only does this provide dramatic, stormy skies, but also the animals are more active when
KENYAN SHILLING 1 shilling = 100 cents £1 = 128 shillings
Naona chui I see a leopard Hebu Let’s search tutafute tembo for elephants Wapi mtoto Where’s the wa simba? baby lion?
KNOW 1. The Maasai Mara is near the equator, so it receives around 12 hours of daylight 2. It sits at an altitude of more than 1,500m above sea level. 3. The first part of its name comes from its inhabitants – the Maasai people – and Mara means ‘spotted’ (as in ‘spotted land’) in Maa, the Maasai language 4. Wildebeest are the dominant inhabitants of the area. Their numbers are in the millions
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Kenya
HAKUNA MATATA
PICTURE PERFECT
Purdy shares professional tips and wisdom from his many years of shooting wild animals in the Maasai Mara
BRING THREE ESSENTIALS FOR A PHOTO SAFARI
3. “Bring twice as many memory cards as you think you’ll need. I’ve never met anyone who has gone on a first-time safari and brought too many memory cards. On my first safari I took 12,000 photos. Now I know what to look for, I take a lot less.”
Purdy says there are no pre-requisites for safari participants: “Enthusiasm is all you need”
REMEMBER 1. VULTURES EAT QUICKLY “A flock of 70 vultures can completely strip an animal carcass in just 90 minutes. If the animal has died of natural causes, the only way in for a vulture is through the eye or the bum.” 2. BABY ELEPHANTS ARE CLUMSY “There are more muscles in an elephant’s trunk than in our entire body. But babies less than a few months old can’t control their trunk, so it wobbles and shakes when they run. 3. HIPPOS NEED SPACE “The hippo was once regarded as the most dangerous animal in Africa, because people used waterways for transport, but generally one won’t attack you. Just don’t get in its way.”
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Kenya’s glorious sunsets provide ample opportunities for that once-in-a-lifetime shot
it’s a bit cooler. Groups of guests from all over the world make the 45-minute flight from Wilson Airport in Nairobi to the Maasai Mara, and we start shooting as soon as they land. Our camp has no fence around it, so animals are free to come and go as they please. You’re always walked to and from the tent by a guide, and there’s usually someone lurking with a spear, just in case. Each morning, we’re out in the Land Rover 40 minutes before sunrise. All the vehicles have been customised for photography and are completely open with the sides and roof cut away. There’s nothing between you and the animals, and you never know how they’ll react. Once, a male lion walked straight up to the car and sprayed pee over us. He showed us who was boss. Just 10 minutes before the sun comes up, a great wall of 20 elephants suddenly appears through the fine morning mist. All is completely still as they wade silently through the grass like something out of Jurassic Park. The pre-dawn light makes for an epic photo, but we have only seconds to capture it. Things change fast here, so you need to react quickly.
About an hour before sunset, when the light is best, we find a cheetah hunting Thomson’s gazelles. It doesn’t matter how many nature documentaries you see, it’s just unworldly to see a cheetah run at full pace in real life. We’re all rooting for her, right up until she makes the kill. Everyone in the car wells up. Nature isn’t Disney; everyone is just trying to survive. When we head over the hill, metres from where the cheetah has just cut the gazelle population, we see that a new addition has been born. The gazelles are grazing with some impala, and this tiny baby wobbles over to a huge male and looks at him as if to say, “Are you my mummy?” The impala drops its head and nudges the young gazelle so that it faces its mother. It’s just priceless. Immersing yourself in the wilderness is almost spiritual. After 36 hours in the Mara, you won’t know what day it is. I’m always supercharged with optimism when I awake, knowing so much will have happened during the night, and my eyes will be falling out of my head with excitement about what I might find. To join Purdy on safari, go to purdy. photography/photographic-safaris
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RACHAEL SIGEE
2. “You can actually do a pretty good job with nothing more than an iPhone camera. I use Moment clip-on lenses that transform the view
into wide-angle, telephoto or anamorphic video.”
GRAEME PURDY PHOTOGRAPHY
1. “I use a Canon EOS 5DSR with a range of lenses. My favourite is a 300mm lens, because the wide angle suits my photographic style.”