“Overall I really enjoyed the creativity of some of the photographers. There were some images entered where the photographer created the image instead of just taking it.
I love the two lions in sepia. I also like the elephant dust bathing. The curl of the elephant’s trunk mirrors the curl of the dust it was throwing over its back. The black and white image of the zebra works well, even though its legs were amputated. One can almost say it works well because of that. It’s good to see photographers trying to create these images.”
Well done to Viljoen Jordaan on the sepia lions, Tasha Van Den Aardweg for the black and white zebra photo and Andrew Taylor for the dust elephant.

As mentioned previously, over 200 photos were critiqued and assessed to reveal the Top 20, Top 10 and finally the Top 5.
Two photos that made it into the Top 5 were the elephant at sunset taken by Ranger Mike Brown from Southern Camp and sunset lioness captured by River Lodge’s Head Ranger Stefan De Weeld.
” The Elephant with the sun behind it is well captured and it is great to see photographers using backlighting and shooting the sun.” – Heinrich added.

And then there were three…
The Top Three
This left the following three photos to claim the spots of Third place, Runner-Up and Winner!
Third place went to the Giraffe mom and baby, taken by Kapama River Lodge Ranger Rassie Jacobs
Heinrich explains why this was selected: “The lighting makes this photograph. The contrast between the beautiful light and the dark background makes the Giraffe standout. The colours are beautiful and the fact that the animals are a different colour from the grass and bushes, and that the background again is a different colour, creates an image with three distinct colour shades, which really works well. The subject is perfectly captured and exposed. And it helps that the baby is cute.”

Runner – Up went to the Buffalo in Water, once again by River Lodge Ranger Rassie Jacobs.
“This is a brilliant photograph. I love the composition of the buffalo framed by the branches- not only above him but also in the reflection in the water. The subject and the frame of the branches are the darkest part of the image, which gives it its visual power. It is simple and striking. Well done.”
Rassie was awarded a gift card to the value of R2 000 from Outdoorphoto in Waterkloof Glen, Pretoria, for 3rd place as well as a gift card of R3 000 for the runner-up photo.

1st place – Went to Stefan De Weeld – Kapama River Lodge Head Ranger
Heinrich highlighted why this Lioness & Vulture image made it to number one out of the entire collection.
“This is the kind of action you don’t often see, never mind photograph. The photographer captured the decisive moment when the Lion’s legs were perfectly in place and the vulture had its wings down and face visible. The eye looking at the vulture makes it a great image and the perfect moment to photograph it. What makes the image even better was the other vultures in the background. They create a story behind the action of the main characters. Brilliant photograph.”
Stefan was the lucky recipient of a Two-night getaway for two.
Christiaan Basson, General Manager – Tourism, once again handed over the prizes to the deserving winners at the official prizegiving held at the new River Lodge reception area, opened in November.
The level of photography of our Rangers is growing from strength to strength and we are looking forward to seeing what scenes of nature are captured in the next Ranger Competition of 2019.
