Photographing wild animals has certain risks. But often, the potential hazards are worth it—something photographer Barbara Jensen Vorster
can attest to first hand. In July 2018, she was snapping pictures of a
lion pride in Botswana, until a local lioness stole Vorster’s Canon 7D
after she accidentally dropped it on the ground. (The “thud” piqued the
big cat’s interest.) Luckily, Vorster had another camera on hand and
captured what happened next.
Once the camera dropped, the lioness
mother growled and approached Voster’s group. They withdrew to their
vehicle and watched the drama unfold. “The camera fell with the lens
looking up,” Voster recalled,
“she gently flipped the camera on its side and picked it up by the
barrel of the lens.” The lioness then brought it to her cubs who started
to playfully pounce on it. “They dragged it through the dirt, chewed on
the lens hood and then, fortunately, like most kids, soon grew tired
with their new toy.”
Eventually, Voster was able to fetch her
abandoned camera. She found that it still functioned fine, but the
lioness left her signature. “There are two huge teeth marks on the
rubber focus rings of the lens and small teeth marks on the plastic lens
hood, both of which I decided not to replace.” She spent roughly £200
getting the camera fixed, but the cost was worth the photos she snapped
that day. Calling it a “priceless experience,” she also puts it into
perspective: “What photographer can boast that their lens had been in a
lion’s mouth?”
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