Very little can compare to the lighting and vistas provided by the late afternoon sunsets on a hot Novembers day in southern Africa. November is also the season for lambing. I will never forget a humid afternoon in November 2010 when I was fortunate enough to watch, from start to finish, the birth of one such lamb. It was extraordinary.
A picture I took back in 2010 minutes after the birth of an impala. Here the mother can be seen licking the afterbirth off. Recently, whilst out on drive we watched as three expecting females separated themselves from their herds and went off alone into the deep thickets. Moving away to deliver more miracles into this world. They tend to do it in the heat of the day, a move carefully orchestrated, in my opinion, so as to reduce the potential for predators spoiling the party.
The male impala look out over a grassy clearing. Clearings like this will be filled with baby impala in about 2 weeks time.
So, the question is will any rangers, trackers and guests get lucky this year and witness one of the most moving and emotional events that the African bushveld can deliver.
The one thing that I love about the bushveld is the sheer abundance of the impala. They look so healthy, energetic and alive!
Rich Laburn is filmmaker, photographer and writer who is based at Londolozi Game Reserve in South Africa. Spending his time capturing scenes of the wild and communicating the beauty of the African bushveld, he runs the Londolozi Blog as a way to entertain and engage people wishing to visit these wild lands.
