Part of Mana’s allure is the allowance for patrons to exit their vehicle and photograph animals on foot. When presented with the rare opportunity to photograph fornicating felines framed by the holy heart-shaped trunk of an Ana tree, I joined the pair of lunatics my wife and I occasionally camp with, and then proceeded to kneel, aim the lens and capture the orange big cats, contrasted by the cool blue haze reflecting off the Zambezi River and onto the escarpment.
As fortune would have it, Mana’s main attraction appeared: Boswell began to feed in the background. Undeterred by a torn meniscus and advanced age, I squealed my way to my feet and waddled off to capture the scene from a different angle. The iconic two-legged pachyderm now stood centered between the lions, with the Ana tree playing a major supporting role in this fairytale.
