It was a lovely hot sunny day for a change. The last couple of weeks have been overcast with a sprinkle of rain thrown in here and there.
And even with everything feeling and looking so fresh I just wasn’t having much luck in finding my filming subjects, or any subject, to film.
Banyini had its usual friends of impala, wildebeest, zebra and giraffe and the couple of young waterbuck that have recently taken up residence in the area. And the bird life had increased dramatically over the last week.
Even a pair of Crowned Cranes had arrived in the area. I haven’t seen them in this area before, but they seemed quite happy with life picking away at the millions of flying ants on the loose.
In the late afternoon I filmed this storm dropping what looked like a complete cloud on the southern area, a long way from us.
When we got down onto the savannah it was already passing to the north having totally missed Banyini.
I was having fun filming the savannah with this stunning dark backdrop when suddenly it was upon us. I was frantically hassling to get the cover of the vehicle, my equipment and my daughters. They stayed semi dry and I got soaked. The rain came down like I don’t recall seeing before and within minutes I was standing in 3inches of water that flooded the savannah like a vast lake. It kept coming and coming and the winds almost swept me off my feet. And then just to add a little more it hailed briefly.
I stayed out the car holding down the tarpaulin as the wind and rain ripped at it. For some 30minutes it kept up this onslaught and then eventually slowed down a little. We made out of there before the water had time to settle in and turn the place into one huge mud wallow.
Amazingly not even a kilometre away the rain had hardly fallen. We must have had a lone cloud just dump itself on us.
I wonder what happened to that pair of Crowned Cranes. Had they taken off as the storm approached or had they sat it out somewhere?
Recent Comments