Why we love MalaMala

The thing I loved the best about MalaMala was your approach that it is all about quality rather than quantity.  We had done a couple of safaris during our recent holiday before finishing up at MalaMala and it was great at the start of our holiday to tick off as many animals as possible, not having done a safari before.  When we arrived at MalaMala and were told the quality rather than quantity thing, I thought ‘uh oh, I wondered if thye are lining us up to not be too disappointed if we don’t see too many animals’!  But boy was I wrong!  We saw animals galore and I came to understand very quickly that MalaMala was all about finding an animal and sticking with it for a long time so we could see not just the animal but how the animal actually lived it’s life. 

Words can’t describe how much I loved this approach.  I came away with such a heightened appreciation of the animals as unique individuals, and these experiences will stick with me for the rest of my life.  Hence, rather than choosing my 3 best overall pictures, I’ve chosen 3 which convey the ‘story’ of one animal on one night – a beautiful lion we found and followed for about 2 hours as he snoozed, plodded along, marked his territory, roared a bit, snoozed some more, went for a drink and then snoozed some more again!

 

My father actually passed away 7 hours after we arrived back from Africa (we live in Sydney) and I had to dash to the hospital from the airport to say my goodbyes.  He was elderly and it was expected and a relief that he didn’t have to suffer any longer.  I will be forever grateful to MalaMala for the amazing experiences you gave me.  Sitting by his bedside in those last few hours and sharing my stories with my mother and sister was absolutely priceless.

 

I’m not so much trying to win the photographic competition (although I’d love to of course), but rather express my profound love of MalaMala and appreciation of the amazing experiences you and the animals gave me.

 

Best wishes, Jane Price