74 SAFARI 



a lion seems to enjoy giving a few defiant roars at 

 daybreak just before he goes to sleep for the day. 



We reach the blind in about an hour. The boys 

 have put it together the day before with thombush, 

 piling up the sides and top to cut out the light. For 

 successful camera work an animal must not be able 

 to detect any movement inside the blind. We go in 

 the blind and set up the camera, arranging the 

 different lenses so that I can get to any of them 

 quickly. The boys push in the thombush door at 

 the back and hang a blanket over it so no light can 

 filter in. The inside must be dark, with the exception 

 of what comes in from aroimd the lenses in front. 

 Having focussed my lenses on the waterhole I wait 

 until something shows up. 



I have a small peep hole arranged from which I can 

 constantly see out. I must keep watching, for the 

 game makes almost no noise as it goes to the water. 

 As my blind is from fifty to seventy yards from the 

 hole, I cannot hear the animals even when they drink. 



From nine in the morning until eleven, and from 

 two -thirty to four- thirty is the best time for photo- 

 graphic work, for the light is good. In dry weather 

 the atmosphere seems to catch dust to such an 

 extent that in the late afternoon the light becomes 

 murky. A light rain settles the dust and washes the 

 air. The trouble is that rains are few and far 

 between in the waterhole season. In the rainy 



