What a beautiful thing it is to see the trees in winter and learning how to be so much at ease in letting things go.
The Garden Route drive we took in South Africa was an incredible experience for us with stunning coastlines, indigenous forests, freshwater lakes, deep gorges and rivers, and, of course, the Indian Ocean hugging the coast almost along the entire route.
The game drive we went for, at Albertinia, was truly unbelievable what with the sight of some of the fiercest wild beauties of the planet wandering around freely in the open, while a bunch of humans (there were 12 of us!) sat on land rovers, watching them steal glances at the odd pair of eyes that rested on them. We stopped, drove and at times, even chased them to a clearing where we could see them up close! They seemed quite at ease with the visitors and their lenses and would even pose at times (or so, I felt!)
At one point we came to this spot where a couple of cheetahs were stealthily following a wild buffalo (spotted in the picture) which kept grazing quietly, on this very patch, while they waited with bated breath, for the perfect moment, to strike. It was one of those moments which one often reads about but very rarely gets to witness first-hand.
Being a tree lover, though, I was torn between watching this hunt and the sight of these trees that stood magnificently right in the heart of the wildlife reserve. Barren and shorn of leaves, the trees appeared to be ready to face the dark cold winter that was just around the corner. Stoic—was the word that came to my mind when I saw them. A sight that often came to haunt me in the later months because of their sheer beauty! Quite a challenge that I managed to shoot this from a moving vehicle, all the while hoping if only this was shot against the setting sun, what an incredible sunset it would have been! Wishful thinking!!
********
Joining Parul today for #thursdaytreelove which is a photo feature on her blog that brings you beautiful trees from different places. If you’d like to join in, do visit her blog to find out more. You’ll love it, I’m sure.
6 Comments
G Angela
Its a perfect click, hats off to you taking this picture from moving vehicle is not easy… enjoyed reading every thing you have written.
Parul Thakur
Wow! Absolutely loved the story and the picture. As I read, I was imagining how hard it would have been to focus. The animals vs the gorgeous landscape. I can’t even begin to imagine the natural beauty. Thank you for linking up, Esha.
Alana
I love the composition of this – stoic is a good describer. I have never been off the North American continent and I have so much of the world still to see. Thank you for taking me to those places.
Esha MD
Thank you very much. So glad that you liked this, Alana. I’m planning to do a series of posts on South Africa on the blog so hopefully, there will be more travel stories coming up soon. Wishing you a very Happy New Year, Alana.
Archana
Wow! Great post! Come to think of it, stoic is the right word for trees in winter…