俺有个朋友，波兰人，工程师, 拿过国际摄影杂志奖，曾有 Vegas 牛人邀他入伙拍模特，据说还可赚$$$$, 被他回绝。俺听了狂流哈拉子。他的网站在此：,这是从那儿“借”来的。 - - - 简直

Text and Photography Copyright &copy；；；；；； 2001 George Kaczmarek. All rights reserved.

I had been to Kenya before, but I was never lucky enough to encounter the breathtaking view of Mt. Kilimanjaro, the cunning leopards, or the vanishing rhinos. This safari would definitely be different, this time around I dedicated my safari to witnessing the things I had missed from the time before. On this particular morning we left the Ark, located in the Aberdare Park, and started our journey to the Samburu National Reserve. I was happy to leave the Ark because it made me feel as if I was trapped inside the cages of a zoo, and the animals outside were the spectators of me inside the Ark. The drive to Samburu was a treacherous one, driving in the van for six hours. The drive was harsh because half of the time spent was driving off road through mounds of rocks.

Our drive finally came to an end when the kind staff of the beautiful Samburu Game Lodge welcomed us. After a quick check in and a delicious lunch we were ready to shoot some animals, with a camera of course. I knew the second we reached Samburu and Buffalo Springs there were many animals around, and I began expecting to see some surprises, hopefully something new.

We headed out for our first game drive at around three o’clock. After driving for about two hours I had only shot the usual, some giraffes, dikdiks, and an assortment of birds. I began to feel a bit of disappointment, two hours and nothing. My daughter could read the disappointment on my face, she even once turned to me and said, “Dad, don’t worry this is only our first day, and first game drive.” I knew she was right, and that animals don’t make schedules for us to shoot pictures of them, they could be anywhere.
The two most important factors in finding the animals are to have luck and a good driver. I wasn’t sure if I had any good luck, but I knew we had an exceptional seasoned driver, who knew the terrain well. To kill some time, I began to shoot some pictures of the landscape. Anthony, our driver was busy driving and communicating in Swahili to some of the other drivers on the radio. I was able to pick up on some of the Swahili words, particularly animal names, but I wasn’t really paying attention to what Anthony was talking about. Something was definitely going on because Anthony put down the receiver and started driving like a mad man.

Dust clouds began to form, and as a result I covered my camera and lens to shield them from the dust. After 15 minutes of Anthony’s chaotic driving we came to a hault near the river where a couple other cars were already parked. Everyone was staring at the bushes in front of them, but there was nothing there. Then suddenly my daughter whispered to me “Dad look, a leopard!” I tried to follow her eyes, but I still couldn’t see it. Suddenly the leopard’s tail emerged from the bushes, just like a periscope does from a submarine when out at sea. I began to shot pictures, like a mad man. Our driver re-started the car and re-positioned us, but unfortunately I lost sight of the leopard. Anthony already knew where the leopard was going to go, so he positioned us where we could get the perfect shot. Anthony’s knowledge of the leopard’s behavior must come with his 17 years of game driving experience.

After a couple of minutes I was able to see the beautiful creature climbing up into a nearby tree. You could hear all the gasps from all the people witnessing this close encounter with the leopard. Our driver began telling us that she is a female, when all of a sudden out from the bushes her baby appeared. We were parked directly in front of the tree branch that the two leopards chose to rest on. It was perfect. My daughter who usually sat at the window to shot her photos, was already standing and shooting pictures. I began to shot with my new Kodak 760 digital camera, with a Nikon 300mm, 2.8 ED lens. My daughter was taking her pictures with a Nikon F5, with a Nikon VR 80-400mm lens. Since we were both using a Nikon F5[注：Kodak 760 和 Fuji S2Pro 一样都是采用Nikon 机身。此兄把大半收入都砸在摄影爱好上] , I kept asking her about her setup. After several times verifying each camera’s setup, it appears that they both work in the exact same way. Sadly, it began to get dark, but I already had about 50 pictures. The dark wasn’t going to stop me, I began using my flash, with L.L. Rue Teleflash System. My daughter had already stopped shooting, because of the dark. Finally my IBM micro drive was now full, with 117 pictures of leopards. It was now time to go back to the lodge and check out all of the photos on my notebook. While I was packing up my gear, during the drive back to the lodge, my daughter looked at me and said, “I told you so.”