Social media is full of high-impact, impressive images and videos which are a curated selection of events from the whole experience that is being promoted. This is true of the feed created by individuals as much as it is of companies hoping to sell their wares. And it’s not that surprising; we have become conditioned to amazing images with huge emotional impact so our benchmark is constantly increased.

Images which are poorly presented, or depict something commonplace are overlooked by their first few viewers and are quickly relegated by the algorithm to the bottom of the scrolling feed. I am not a social media guru by any means, but I can see this with my images. Those depicting big cats, predators and any kind of action receive the highest engagement; following that are lower quality images of big cats, predators and the very best images of iconic subjects such as elephants, zebra and giraffe; further down the popularity list come images of birds, trees, landscape and antelope, which seem to suffer heavily at the hands of the algorithm.

When choosing which images to post, I tend to focus on the high impact images which loom large among the thousands of image thumbnails on my phone. I tend to skip over images which capture lesser-known species or which don’t have the wow factor that I know some of my images do.

It’s a shame as it seems to be self-perpetuating. The more we choose to post the high-profile images, the more the appetite grows. That is why I have always maintained my blog — archaic as it may be — as a way of presenting longer, more “realistic” content about the experience on photo safari with me in Africa.

If I only got a thrill from finding the headline species, I would have tired of safari long ago (or become exhausted from the effort trying). Fortunately, there is a lot more to see on any outing in to the bush, and I want to celebrate some of that here. After all, I have always hoped that my safaris are “a first class wildlife experience with outstanding photographic opportunities and tuition”. The safari experience is uppermost and prioritising this has always rewarded me with the best photo opportunities.

I am fortunate to live year-round in the Laungwa so I’ll keep posting more general updates of life in the bush, which are a truer, and more honest, representation of life in Nature than is presented by the social media feeds that has driven so much of the appetite for consumers’ decision making in recent years.

Here follows a short update from a quiet and serene morning in the bush in April:

Wildlife image from south luangwa national park by edward selfe
Two young hippos play in the shallow water of a small lagoon. The abundance of grass and forage for mega-herbivores during the rains makes them able to enjoy energy-intensive activities such as play.

Red-necked falcon courtship behaviour on show in wildlife image from south luangwa national park by edward selfe
The squeal of small birds and the descending trill of a squirrel drew my attention to a courting pair of red-necked falcons circling the open area around us.

Red-necked falcon courtship behaviour on show in wildlife image from south luangwa national park by edward selfe
As they drew close to each other, the female inverted and I thought they would lock talons, but they passed by without touching.

Red-necked falcon courtship behaviour on show in wildlife image from south luangwa national park by edward selfe
Small, but wonderful moments such as this can be found every single time we enter the bush.

Red-necked falcon courtship behaviour on show in wildlife image from south luangwa national park by edward selfe
With a camera in hand, or binoculars for observing, it’s a joy to watch these special and remarkable moments.

Wildlife image from south luangwa national park by edward selfe
Nearby, we came across one of Nature’s most impressive spectacles…the massing of Red-billed Quelea in numbers unimaginable to feast on the abundance of grass seeds available as the grasses dry and start to drop their bounty……

Wildlife image from south luangwa national park by edward selfe
…we watched as streams of these small seed-eaters filed past, for almost 30 minutes. There must have been over a million of them. Occasionally, there would be a slow-down as some dropped to the ground to feed, but almost immediately they would rise again, responding to some hidden threat, and continue their swarming movement. It’s mind-blowing.

Wildlife image from south luangwa national park by edward selfe
It was my first day with a Canon R5 in my hand, which I had borrowed from a friend. On leaving the park, there were several Alpine Swifts hunting over the river at the main gate; I decided to try out the new AF system….and was mightily impressed! You’ll see lots more of my R5 images in blogs from 2022 (I bought my own in May) but it was testament to the system that I could pick it up and immediately capture sharp images of some of the fastest moving birds around!

Wildlife image from south luangwa national park by edward selfe

Wildlife image from south luangwa national park by edward selfe

By many standards, a quiet morning in the bush. No big predators, no dramatic action, but at least 3 moments which made the trip worthwhile and it’s always a pleasure to spend slow time in Nature.