Learning every day

Wednesday 27/01/2010

Learning more and more every day!

Location : Entabeni Game Reserve/Waterberg

Not much time left for myself…These last few days have been pretty hectic with lectures from 07h30 till 22h00 (with a few smoke breaks in between, brunch and diner). We had awesome lectures about cameras/sound equipment and since Sunday we’re on animal behaviour. I must say that the amount of knowledge I have acquired in a week is phenomenal…! I now know how to write a script and I have pretty good knowledge about cameras (movie cameras and still cameras) and shooting techniques. I feel a little bit more confident now, even though I still need a lot of practice of course!
But what’s for sure is that I found my path and wildlife film making is what I love doing the most! Another thing which is for sure is that it’s gonna be difficult! Competition is very high, broadcasters are more and more difficult and they allow lesser and lesser budget for documentaries. Difficult…but not impossible!
We went on a few game drives and we had lions on a kill twice in 3 days!! These lions are professional hunters…and they love wildebeest! They can’t stay more than 3 days without hunting! I am pretty sure that during our shooting period we will see a hunt. That would be amazing and I would love to film it! Pretty hard though!
Lots of roaring too…At the moment they are around the camp so sometimes we hear them when we are around the fire or when we’re in bed. Not a bad music to fall in sleep with…
Here a few of my best pictures taken these last few days.
ASAP I will take some pictures of the camp and I will download them on the blog.
I will start shooting my subject from Thursday this week for 6 days so I am not too sure if I will have time to update the blog this week. Maybe yes as my topic can be found around the camp so I might not need to be in the bush the all day. But I’ll still have to go and shoot some landscape, time lapses and certain species of animals.
Will update ASAP.

Thursday 21/01/2010

Lions singing happy birthday to me!!

Location : Entabeni Game Reserve/Waterberg

What a birthday day I had on Tuesday!!!

We went on an afternoon game drive and we found a pride of lions resting close to a water hole. Awesome sighting, but the light unfortunately was too bad for pictures as it was getting too dark! This pride consists of 1 male (the father of the one we saw on Monday), 2 females and 2 cubs of 1 year and half. This is Madala’s pride!! And his son is Makulu.

We were busy watching them waking up and all of a sudden Madala started roaring…..! Followed by his females….We had a roar concert 10 metres away from the car!!! We were actually so close that I could feel it vibrating along my spine! It was my first time to hear lions roaring so close to me and it was amazingly beautiful! What a sound! Once they were done (it lasted maybe 1 mn) I thank Mother Nature in my head for this incredible present. Not even 5 mn later they started roaring again…..Second round!! I actually had goose skin and then I thank Mother Nature once again! Not everyone gets lions roars as a birthday present!

On the way back to the camp we spotted a chameleon in a tree…..”Something” uncommon and not easy to spot. Birthday present number 2!
Back at the camp, Chief Piete (our cook) had made me a birthday cake...This touched me incredibly as he doesn’t even know me yet and he had no obligation to make it! Kindness….pure kindness! And when he gave me the cake he told me something I will never forget : “Happy birthday and may you have many more of them in Africa”….In Africa….Yes…in Africa…Present number 3!

Yesterday was St Sebastien and the day had a different flow!

First of all it was raining all morning and then I got stung by a bee right in the neck during my morning lecture. Fortunately I am not allergic to bees so all went well! A bit soar but nothing serious! Very interesting lecture in the morning…Nicole our lecturer at the moment has 22 years experience in wildlife film making and she’s simply amazingly passionate and knowledgeable! 5 hours lecture with her feels like 10 mn!! She’s incredible! She’s teaching us about scripting wildlife films for TV and she gives us some good tricks for our topic. Unfortunately she leaves tomorrow as we’re done now with scripts and it’s time to move on to camera and sound equipment. But we already learnt so much on her side. And the funny part is that she’s also from Hout Bay! She leaves down the road from me!

Anyway, we went for a 30 mn game drive yesterday afternoon and we got pondered by rain!! We were actually in the middle of one the most scary thunderstorm I have ever seen!! Lightnings cutting the sky in half and thunders so loud I felt turned a,part from the inside! I saved my camera on the way back but I got to the camp completely soaked!
So, lions singing happy birthday to me for my 28 and stung by a bee the next day! Not bad at all I would say!
Today was a full day in the classroom. Doing different kind of exercises like writing scripts, developing creativity, watching documentaries with a critic eye, etc..
Tonight we sat by the fire for a couple of hours and we heard again a lion roaring, probably Makulu. He was pretty close to the camp! Lovely….
I will try my best to post this tomorrow morning on my blog. Either before or after the morning game drive with some pictures.

List of birds seen on the 19/01/10
- Coqui Francolin
- White faced duck
- Reed Cormoran
- Brown Snake eagle
- Steppe buzzard
- European bee eater
- Speckled Mousebird
- African black duck
- Mountain wagtail

List of mammals seen on 19/01/10
- Rhinoceros
- Impalas
- Giraffe
- Klipspringer
- Blue Wildebeest
- Zebras
- Cape Eland
- Warthogs
- Waterbuck
- Lions (roaring – 1 male, 3 females and 2 cubs)
- Jackals

List of reptiles seen on 19/01/10
- Chameleon

pictures to come later

Sorry guys but internet is so slow here...i will reduce the quality of my pictures to be able to download them tonight or tomorrow..probably tomorrow tho as am gonna get back late tonight from the game drive!

Trying my best, i promise!

Monday 18/01/2010

This is it!

Location : Entabeni Game Reserve/Waterberg

Well….Here I am!!! Seating in front of my computer in a basic but cosy wooden bungalow, facing the bush! This is the best office in the world!!
Arrived yesterday afternoon under the rain but today the weather was nice. A bit cloudy in the morning and then sunny in the afternoon.
The camp is basic but I give it more stars than a 5 stars lodge in the Sabi Sand! What I love about it is that it is not fenced off so animals can walk though it….yesterday evening we had some blue wildebeest right in front our bungalows! And apparently three nights ago they had lions walking though the camp! Awesome! We’re sharing the camp with a bunch of youngsters who are for 6 month doing their FGASA level 1 and 2. We will get to know them as we go along and I am sure that they have some interesting stories.
I woke up this morning at 5h30 after a great night under the sound of the bush. My alarm o’clock was actually a burchell’s coucal singing right next to my window! My real alarm o’clock went off at 5h45 but by that time I was already dressed on my “balcony” with a coffee and a cigarette in my hand!
We had two awesome game drives today though the scenic Waterberg. This region is new to me and I must say that I’m loving it! A combination of mountains (Entabeni actually means Mountain) and bushveld with some open fields filled with zebras, gnous, kudus, warthogs…
We saw quite a lot of animals in two game drives. I will put the list below.
The schedule from tomorrow is going to be quite hectic with early and late game drives and lectures in between so I don’t know how often I will be able to update the blog! But I will try my best!
Time to go now…to the internet room to put this on the blog and check some mails. Then diner and then I guess, bedtime! I feel like I had a all week in one day….and it’s going to get worst and worst! No sorry, it’s going to get better and better!! 

Bird list observed on morning and afternoon game drives:
- Hamerkop
- Natural Francolin
- Pin-tailed Whydah
- European bee eater
- Red-eyed dove
- Little Grebe
- Common Fiscal Shrike
- Red collared widow
- African Wattled Lapwing
- Long tail widow
- Burchell’s Coucal
- Woodland kingfisher
- Rattling cisticola
- Red bishop
- Common Waxbill
- Orangethroated longclaw
- Grey lourie
- Black and white flycatcher
- Spurwinged goose
- Common Buzard
- White Winged Widow
- Yellow billed hornbill
- Glossy starling
- African paradise flycatcher
- Rufus naped lark
- Guinea fowls

Mammals list observed today:
- Blue wildebeest
- Blesbok
- Waterbuck
- Lion (1 male 5 years old)
- Giraffe
- Kudu
- Warthogs
- Black back jackal
- Baboons
- Zebras
- Hippos

Reptiles list observed today:
- Crocodile




Lundi 18/01/2010

Ca y’est!

Location : Entabeni Game Reserve/Waterberg

Bon voila j’y suis!! Assis devant mon ordinateur portable dans un bungalow rustique mais parfait à mon gout, face au bush !! Le meilleur bureau au monde !!
Je suis arrive hier sous la pluie mais aujourd’huis le temps etait de notre coté. Un peu nuageux dans la matinée (parfait pour le safari) et plus ensoleillé dans l’après-midi.
Le camp est rustique mais je lui donne plus d’étoiles qu’un lodge 5 étoiles dans le Sabi Sand. Ce que j’aime sur ce camp est qu’il n’est pas clôturé donc les animaux peuvent le traverser a tout moment…Hier soir nous avions des gnous juste en face du bungalow ! Et il parait qu’il y avait des lions dans le campement il y a de ca 3 jours ! Génial ! Nous partageons le campement avec des jeunes sud af qui sont la en formation pendant 6 mois pour leur examen FGASA niveau 1 et niveau 2.
Ce matin je me suis réveillé à 5h30 après avoir passé une agréable nuit, bercé par les sons magiques du bush. Mon réveil s’est avéré être un Burchell’s coucal qui chantait juste sous ma « fenêtre » ! Mon vrai réveil a sonné a 5h45 mais j’étais déjà habillé sur mon balcon avec un café et une cigarette dans la main !
Je ne connaissais pas la région du Waterberg jusqu’à maintenant mais je dois avouer qu’elle est tres belle. Les paysages se composent d’une combinaison de montagnes (Entabeni veut d’ailleurs dire Montagne) et de savanne arborée avec quelques zones ouvertes ou l’on retrouve de grandes concentrations de gnous, zebres, kudu, phacocheres….
Nous avons vu beaucoup d’animaux aujourd’hui pendant nos safaris and je vais afficher plus bas la liste.
Le programme de la formation est très chargée avec des safaris de bonne heure et tard le soir et des cours en milieu de journée. Donc je ne sais pas si je pourrai mettre a jour le blog aussi souvent que je le voulais….mais je vais faire au mieux !
J’ai l’impression d’avoir déjà écouler une semaine dans une journée et ca risque d’aller de pire en pire….Non, pardon, je voulais dire de mieux en mieux !! 
Liste des oiseaux observes dans la journee:
- Hamerkop
- Natural Francolin
- Pin-tailed Whydah
- European bee eater
- Red-eyed dove
- Little Grebe
- Common Fiscal Shrike
- Red collared widow
- African Wattled Lapwing
- Long tail widow
- Burchell’s Coucal
- Woodland kingfisher
- Rattling cisticola
- Red bishop
- Common Waxbill
- Orangethroated longclaw
- Grey lourie
- Black and white flycatcher
- Spurwinged goose
- Common Buzard
- White Winged Widow
- Yellow billed hornbill
- Glossy starling
- African paradise flycatcher
- Rufus naped lark
- Guinea fowls
Liste des mammifères observes dans la journée:
- Blue wildebeest
- Blesbok
- Waterbuck
- Lion (1 male 5 years old)
- Giraffe
- Kudu
- Warthogs
- Black back jackal
- Baboons
- Zebras
- Hippos
Liste des reptiles observes dans la journee:
- Crocodile

On the way / C'est parti!

Saturday 16/01/2010

On the way!

Location : Home / Hout Bay

Eyes….dilated!
Pulse…250 beats/minute!
Hands…sweaty!
This is it!! Tomorrow is Day D!!
Tomorrow will be my first day into the wild…my first day into Entabeni Game Reserve…the beginning of a new life as a wildlife filmmaker…the beginning of a dream coming true!
Last week, I took some time off with my brother in law (Kevin) to Jeffrey’s bay to get some good surf and to fish but unfortunately the weather there wasn’t on our side! The wind was blowing like hell and the ocean was too choppy to surf! We did, however, fish a little bit on the garden road (Mossel Bay and Knysna) and we did catch a few big Red Snipers and Mussel Crackers but we released them and we forgot to take some pictures!
Just kidding…the fishes are still laughing at us in the ocean! Good for them!
I will update the blog ASAP from Entabeni. In the mean time, here are a few pics taken on the garden road on our way to Jeffrey’s Bay.
We stayed in Island Vibe Backpacker…Awesome vibe, that’s for sure…!!!I recommend it to anyone going to Jeffrey’s Bay! If you’re looking for a ‘roots’ place with good music, cheap booze and friendly people, I.V.B is your place! And it’s got an amazing view over the beach with awesome surf spots in a walking distance!
But for your health I wouldn’t recommend you to stay more than a week…You might need to put your name on the list for a new liver if you stay there too long…

Have to pack my bag now so cheerio and speak to you from the bush!!

Samedi 16/01/2010

C’est parti!

Location : Home / Hout Bay

Yeux….dilatés!
Poul…250 pulsations/minute!
Mains…moites!
Ca y’est, j’y suis! Demain est le Jour J!!!
Demain….le début d’une nouvelle vie en tant que reporter animalier…
Demain….le début d’un rêve qui se réalise !
Demain…la concrétisation d’un projet qui me tient à cœur depuis mon enfance !
La semaine dernière je suis parti avec mon beau-frère (Kevin) sur Jeffrey’s Bay pour surfer et pêcher mais malheureusement le temps n’était pas avec nous ! Un vent à décorner les cocus et un océan trop déchainé pour surfer ! Cependant, nous avons quand même pêcher un peu sur la Route des Jardins (Mossel Bay et Knysna) et nous avons attrapé quelques belles Carpes Rouges mais nous les avons relâché avant de prendre les photos !
Quelle blague…elles sont toujours au fond de l’eau à se moquer de nous! Et tant mieux pour elles !
Je mettrai le blog a jour des que possible à partir d’Entabeni mais en attendant voici quelques photos prises sur la Route des Jardins en allant sur Jeffey’s Bay.
Nous étions à Island Vibe Backpacker pendant 4 nuits et l’ambiance y était vraiment très bonne ! Je conseille ce backpacker a quiconque qui va sur Jeffrey’s Bay ! Si vous cherchez un endroit un peu « roots » avec de la bonne musique, des bières pas chères et des gens très amicaux, I.V.B est pour vous ! De plus, vous avez une superbe vue sur la plage avec des splendides spots de surf à proximité.
Mais pour votre santé, je ne vous conseillerai pas d’y « dormir » plus d’une semaine…Vous risqueriez d’avoir besoin d’un nouveau rein…
Voici quelques photos des endroits d’où nous avons pêché!
Je dois faire mon sac! Prochain article sera à partir d’Entabeni!!!

Freedom / Liberte

Saturday 09/01/2010

Location : Home / Hout Bay

Done! am free! May the adventure starts! yesterday was my last day at work and last night i went to celebrate it in a pub with all my collegues!! It was lots of fun!My friends were really encouraging and one my friends actually gave me her favorite lucky charm to be with me during my new adventures!

Now i have a week off before going into the bush so I decided to take a trip to Jeffrey's Bay for surfing, fishing and taking some pictures! I should be back by thursday 14/01 or friday 15/01 with a tan and some nice pics!

Samedi 09/01/2010

Location : Home / Hout Bay

Ca y'est! Je suis libre!! Que l'aventure commence!Hier etait ma derniere journee au boulot et hier soir je suis alle celebrer l'evenement avec mes collegues!! C'etait une soiree vraiment sympa!!Beaucoup de gens m'ont dit des choses tres gentilles et une amie m'a carrement offert son porte bonheur prefere pour m'accompagner dans mes nouvelles aventures!

Maintenant j'ai une semaine de vacances avant de partir en brousse donc j'ai decide de partir sur Jeffrey's Bay pour surfer, pecher et prendre quelques photos. Je devrai etre de retour jeudi 14/01 ou vendredi 15/01 un peu plus bronze et avec des belles photos!

decision taken / decision prise!

Wednesday 02 December 2009

Locatiion : Home / Hout Bay

I have decided to write again a journal….but this time on my laptop! It’s more practical!

A page of my life is turning at the moment so that’s why I feel the need to write about it!
Yesterday I have quit my job! The meeting went well and my employers understood my decision….Quitting everything to become a wildlife film maker! They encourage me in my pursuit of happiness and all my collegues are on my side as well. It’s a good feeling!

On the 17/01/2010, I will go into Entabeni Game Reserve for a month to get trained by the Wildlife Film Academy. During this training I will have to make a 5mn documentary, professionally. This doc will be my new CV. Today I have sent some documentary ideas to the academy and I am waiting for their feedback. I thought about making a 5mn presentation of the reserve (landscape, wildlife, activities on site etc…) which could be used at a later stage as a tourism tool. Another idea would be to film one of the two wildlife projects on site (lion project or cheetah project) or why not both?

2010 is going to be an interesting year….A “make it or break it” year!
One month training into the bush and then finding a job! Either as an assistant camera man or either as an assistant editor. Doing both would actually be the best!

It wasn’t easy to take the decision of quitting my job and re-starting in a complete new industry! Especially after investing 4 years of my life in Tourism. But I can feel that I won’t regret it! I had to do it and it was now or never! It’s been a very long time since I felt so good!

2010 is going to be a challenge, a personal challenge, but what a challenge! And that’s why I would like to write a Journal…I’d like to keep a trace of this journey…may it be positive or negative! But positive would be better of course!

In the mean time, I still have to work a few more days….


Mercredi 02 decembre 2009

Location: Home/Hout Bay

J’ai décidé de me remettre à écrire….mais cette fois ci sur mon ordi portable ! Ca change et c’est plus pratique.
Une page de ma vie se tourne en ce moment et c’est pour cette raison que je souhaite reprendre mon journal. Hier j’ai démissionné de mon boulot ! Le meeting s’est bien passé et mes employeurs comprennent tout à fait la décision que j ai pris. Ils m’encouragent à réaliser mon rêve et tous mes collègues de travail sont de mon cote aussi.

En effet je vais tenter ma chance dans les documentaires animalier….Le 18/01/2010 je pars dans la réserve d’Entabeni faire une formation d’un mois avec la Wildlife Film Academy. Suite á cette formation j’aurai réalisé une petit documentaire de quelques minutes qui sera mon nouveau CV. J’ai envoyé quelques idées de documentaire par email today á Geta de la WFA. J’attends sa réponse avec impatience pour savoir ce qu’elle en pense. Je lui ai propose de faire une présentation de la réserve d’Entabeni (paysages, faune sauvages, activités sur place etc…) ou de filmer l’un des deux projets qui ont lieu sur place, á savoir le projet sur les lions ou le projet sur les guépards. Ou pourquoi pas les deux ?

2010 va être une année intéressante….Ca passe ou ca casse !!
Cette formation d’un mois puis la recherche (j’espère fructueuse) d’un travail soit comme assistant camera man soit dans les montages audio-visuels. Pouvoir toucher aux deux serait l’idéal !!
La décision de démissionner et de tout recommencer dans une nouvelle voie n’a pas été facile à prendre…mais je sens que je ne vais pas la regretter ! Il fallait que je la prenne et c’était maintenant ou jamais !Ca faisait longtemps que je ne m’étais pas senti aussi bien !
L’année 2010 va être un challenge personnel mais un beau challenge ! Et c’est pour cette raison que j’ai repris mon journal….je voudrai garder une trace écrite de ce parcours…qu’il soit négatif ou positif ! Mais bon, positif serait préférable !

En attendant j’ai encore quelques jours à tirer à mon boulot !