Mouse Hunt.

Mouse Hunt

A mouse nemesis

With every photographic trip I do, I always seem to have one species of bird or animal that becomes my nemesis. Like a spy movie villain, I spend my trip having glimpses or near misses as I try to get near them for decent photos. Always taunting and just out of reach. Sometimes I do get a picture or two, but most of the time, I leave with a few blurred photos of departing tails or feathers.

On my recent Kgalagadi trip, I was once again bested by a creature most foul… the Striped Mouse.

During the twenty-one day trip, they constantly scurried across the gravel roads that I travelled on. When I stopped to try and spot them, they were nowhere to be seen. I tried every measure I could imagine to get a few photos. I even parked at a few bushes to try and wait them out. Nothing.

At last

On the second last day of my trip, as I sped along to a waterhole that I’d heard had a resident male lion, I passed two stones in the road. It took a few seconds for the stripes along the spine of the stones to register. I stopped and looked in the rear-view mirror, and they were still there. My nemesis mouse. I presumed they were dead. Not moving despite the big vehicle tyre that had come within a metre of them. I turned the 4×4 and headed back slowly, but the sun was against me, so the photo wasn’t on. I passed the mice at a snail’s pace and turned around to get the pictures in a better light.

Finally, I got photos that I was happy with and would keep. A Black-shouldered Kite flew overhead, and they ran into a nearby bush. I thought that was the end of the encounter, but as I pulled up alongside a green bush, I saw another mouse that had climbed up to the top, and I got one of my favourite photos of the trip.

The moral of the story is that if you stop looking, you tend to get the shot.

 

"Striped Mouse - Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park"

"Striped Mouse - Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park"

"Striped Mouse - Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park"

 

CLICK HERE for another of my favourite photos from my trip to the Kalahari

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