A different lens on Mara (1) - Space

Ashok Nair
Jan 2
3 min read

Updated: 7 days ago

This is the first of three posts on what I tried to capture in my last visit to Masai Mara. You can find some context in my last post.

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It’s dark. It’s chilly. We dig deep in our seats, hugging ourselves, stealing whatever warmth we can find. There’s an easy silence in the vehicle. An air of calm, quiet anticipation. Each of us are lost in the wonder of what magic the day has in store for us.

A startled hare suddenly appears in our headlights, frantically trying to outrun us for a few manic seconds before bolting off into the safety of the darkness.

The first signs of colour hesitantly appear in the distant eastern sky. A sliver of orange is peeping out, wondering if it will be polite to disturb the quietness of the dark. The skies directly in front of our vehicle are lightening up too painting a shy shade of magenta.

Today, the skies are not going to make a bold announcement. They would stealthily tiptoe in and whisper the news.

A new day is about to begin.

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The wide open landscapes, broken by the occasional uneven line of shrubs. The lonely acacia trees standing up against the infinite skies. If you go looking for it, there is drama unfolding all around you. Yet, you could easily choose to side with the calm and stay unaware and unaffected by the excitement.

These images explore that sense of space and quiet and also the balance of the drama with calm.

I have kept the images simple and minimalist. I have toned down the colours not wanting its richness to hijack the emptiness. In a few instances, I have translated the light and space into a feeling of a few lazy brush strokes in a water colour painting

Step in and find out what these images tell you.

Few creatures can match the grace of a leopard. And when a leopard is climbing a tree, all eyes are on the tree. Nothing else matters.

The lonely acacia tree outlined against the sky is such a quintessential Mara motif.

So is a leopard on the tree.

It was an idyllic scene in many respects, even if the martial eagle was feasting on stolen piece from a gazelle kill...but that's how nature works.

I tried to give it a feel of few light brush strokes in a painting

An amorous royal couple engage in a fleeting moment of passion under the shade of a tree. I overexposed the image in camera and went a little wide to give the feeling of space

Few things can be as calming as a mother elephant with her calf. That made it easier for me to resist the temptation of increasing the contrast in the sky. There was no drama in this scene.

Just an incredible sense of quiet.