Mystic Winter: A photographic essay

colours of summer has vanished months ago, replaced by subdued hues of orange and yellow. Almost all of the deciduous trees are now barren and the insects have gone quiet. A lack of summer rains has made this winter particularly dry. In the late afternoons, the land glows orange and the horizon gets dotted by clouds of dust following game drive vehicles like ion-tails following comets.

This is the season of the predators. The nights are long and the herbivores are getting weaker by the day as the vegetation that is so crucial to their well being is making way to dusty plains. The Eyrefield pride spends most mornings lazying about, warming themselves in the winter sun. They don’t go very far from the river as they know the river will attract herds of buffalo and other herbivores. The hyena den to the East of Buffalo bush dam is now home to two new members of the clan, providing the rangers and their guests with hours of entertainment.