A RED Dragon in Africa; Inspired by RED Collective

[Tom S]

As a kid, I was obsessed with Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom, especially the shows about big cats in Africa. The RED Collective piece on Russ MacLaughlin and his wife Shannon Wild (The Wilds) hit the same nerve in me. I must have watched it 20 times. I reviewed their instagram accounts for gear selection, bought a 150-600mm and booked a flight to Kenya for a month. I planned to be in the Maasai Mara for 3-weeks. It was amazing.

I highly recommend making a trip to the game reserves of Africa. It feels like the set of Jurassic Park with vultures flying around herds of elephants, giraffe, lions, cheetah, hippo, cape buffalo, and leopards and rhinos if you are lucky. If you want to do some photography/cinematography, I recommend booking a private driver. I liked the freedom to stay with some lions/leopards for up to 8-hours because they sleep most of the time.

I used a local Kikuyu guide, Kevin Kori (kakus886@gmail.com, +254722357813). He has connections with the park Rangers and other guides, so he can find out where the animals are every day.

The circle of life is amazing. It is both beautiful and brutal. Not to mention, every animal and location is so photogenic.

This one is a little difficult to watch. It is a family of female lions hunting a newborn Cape Buffalo baby.

 

[Tom S]

 

[Kwan Khan]

Nice, Thanks for the links

 

[Robert Hofmeyr]

Fantastic Tom. So great that you got to follow you dream. And that lion kill footage is incredible.

 

[Clark Dunbar]

Very Nice!

 

[Josh Birch]

I feel bad for saying great stuff haha. I was well attached to that little newborn Cape buffalo

 

[scott devitte]

I feel bad for saying great stuff haha. I was well attached to that little newborn Cape buffalo

Nice work!

I hate to say it too, but once on a walking safari in South Luangwa Park in Zambia we ate Cape buffalo, The best meat I ever had, the lions know their shit.

 

[Tom S]

I feel bad for saying great stuff haha. I was well attached to that little newborn Cape buffalo

Yes, not only was it difficult to watch, it messed with my head for a couple weeks. How is this acceptable? In what kind of world, does this make sense? I did know it would be inappropriate to get involved so I just documented the event.

I kept waiting for the mother Cape Buffalo to leave, but she never did. We had to leave when it got dark, but I wonder if she made it through the night. These are Blackies' females. If he arrived, I'm sure he would kill her. Blackie has about 7-8 offspring. With a pride of around a dozen, there are many lions that need to eat. I was also shocked by the ferocity of the lions defending their meal.

Three male Cape Buffalos came to inspect, but once they saw the baby was dead, they left. Also, a herd of elephants came right through led by a a baby elephant, but the lions moved away. The elephants are king.

 

[Sterling Williams]

Was the 150-600mm a sigma? And would you mind sharing what the wilds gear list was?

 

[Tom S]

They have both heavy and light gear set-ups; I decided on light. I left the O'Connor 1030D and 400mm 2.8 at home in favor of the Tamron 150-600mm and Sachtler FSB 6 with Manfrotto 535 carbon fiber sticks. I was at 600mm about 80-90% of the time. I went with an EF mount so I could use the same lenses on both RED Dragon and Canon 5DII. Next time, I would leave the tripod at home and bring a window photography sandbag. You aren't really allowed to use a tripod in the Maasai Mara and in most instances wouldn't want to do it around the big cats anyway. The mistake I made was not bringing ND filters, so I ended up shooting mostly in slow-motion. I brought 3 dynacore 150wh batteries and was just fine.

The KWS guards aren't paid enough to support a family, so a few "soda" dollars goes a long way with goodwill. A driver with good relationships to the KWS guards and other drivers is important to finding the big cats/rhinos as they have large ranges. We found the Sand River lion brothers about 10 miles from where they were the previous day. A good driver can also help figure out lodgings and good prices. I liked being flexible and never planned too far in advance, so Kevin Kori (my Kikuyu driver) was really helpful.

 

[Russell MacLaughlin]

Hey Tom, man thanks for this, and knowing our collective inspired you to get out to Africa!! I take my hat off to you!!! - How about coming to join us for a couple weeks over 2019 whilst we work on our latest Nat Geo Wild film on lion? We just started it recently and busy working out our scehdule for next year but would love to get you out in the field with us.

Love your shots!!

Russ