NOVEMBER 2011 – A Rhinoceros at the Mapungubwe National Park in South Africa. © Mark Zanzig/zanzig.com
The story behind the image
We spent just one night at the Mapungubwe National Park which is one of the mostly unknown jewels in the portfolio of the South African National Parks. It sees very little traffic from foreign visitors, at least when compared to the Kruger National Park. But this is unjustified in my view. Back in 2011, we were deeply impressed by both the landscape and the wildlife.
After a healthy breakfast in one of the cabins we packed our bags and explored the park further. We did not expect to see a lot of exotic animals as the park is much smaller than Kruger, and so we were surprised when this rhinoceros appeared from the bushes next to the road. We stopped the car and took a number of photos. The rhino had still its horn, so the encounter was as authentic as it possibly could get. Just looking at the horn was scaring me a bit. (After all, we wanted to return the rental car in a good condition.)
Fortunately, the rhino seemed to be as scared as we were. It was watching us and really could not decide what to do. It would turn away, just as if to sprint away, and then turn back and look at us again. Maybe there are shy rhinos, too?
About five minutes later, the rhino slowly walked back into the scrub, and we were stunned about the awesome experience.. Mapungubwe National Park – if you can spend the extra time, go for it!
The high resolution image
| Capture Date & Time | 29-NOV-2011, 09:07 |
| Location | Mapungubwe National Park, South Africa |
| Camera | Canon EOS-1D Mark III |
| Lens | Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM |
| ISO | 500 |
| Exposure | 1/1250 sec at f/5.6 |
| Digital Image Source Format | Canon Camera RAW (CR2) |
| Edited Image Format | JPEG, 24 bits/pixel, sRGB |
| Edited Image Dimensions | 3888 x 2592 Pixels |
| Copyright | © by Mark Zanzig/zanzig.com |
Zanzig.com Photo Hub 