When the Hunter (almost) Becomes the Hunted

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.If she did this to a poor bird just a few minutes afterwards,
what would have happened to me if she hadn't missed the strike?!
Photo: © Daniel De Granville, 2007

Do you remember one of last month’s post, where I talked about a mother caiman that I was trying to photograph? Well, today this stubborn photographer decided to take his chances again and go after the young caimans, this time “a bit closer”, to get details from one of them alone. But now, maybe due to the cold and rainy weather that is ruining my shooting days, the lady shown in the picture above was not nearly as tolerating as before… and decided to strike against me when I was lying by her swamp, about 2 feet away from the baby. But, c’mon you crocodilian dude, I’m the one who should be in a bad mood because of the lousy weather!

Luckily the years of experiences in the Pantanal taught me that I must always beware of these animals, so that nothing bad happened (except for the inevitable adrenalin discharge). So today the “image hunter” almost became the prey. Too bad that I didn’t have my camera pointed at her – I’m sure that those sharp teeth sticking out from a huge mouth coming towards my head would make some real cool shots.

An anaconda squishes a whistling-duck in Bonito (Brazil) –
scenes like this require a lot of patience, persistence,
knowledge and a great deal of luck for the photographer
Photo: © Daniel De Granville, 2005

FINAL REMARK:
One of FotogramBits’ frequent reader has just written me to comment that the current text seemed to contribute for increasing the fears that many people have regarding such animals. I agreed with her, and therefore found it important to mention that caimans, as well as other creatures stigmatized as ferocious beasts – anacondas, jaguars, bats, sharks – solely play their role in nature. No animal will attack humans just for fun, they do it upon feeling threatened or in rare cases of ecological changes caused by ourselves.

The caiman tried to scare me away because at that moment I was representing a lethal threat for its young. It’s always good to keep in mind that we must be ethical and respectful with our photo subjects at all times – and this is an issue for an upcoming post.

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A Day for our Indians

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Guarani Indians from the “Tekoha-Añetete” (“promised land”)
Indigenous Reserve, in Southwestern Brazil.
Photo: © Daniel De Granville, 2007

Today at FotogramaBits, just a short post in honor of our indigenous peoples on this April 19, when Brazil officially celebrates the “Indians’ Day”.



(Next week I’m back in Iguassu Falls to conclude my photo assignment with Itaipu. More news soon!)

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All Over Brazil

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.Inside (but almost out...) of a doorless helicopter
photographing the vicinities of Iguassu Falls National Park
(border between Brazil and Argentina)
Photo: © Daniel De Granville, 2007

April has just begun, but this year I have already roamed through 7 states of 4 Brazilian regions, photographing and doing other jobs on environment and ecotourism.

According to my accounts, during the past 3 months I traveled about 23.000 km (14,000 mi) by air, land and water, passing by places that I had already been and also knowing new regions with an amazing variety of animals, plants, people, climate, food, accents and problems. From the indigenous people that live by the Amazonian rivers to the German colonizers in the south; from the traditional fishermen at the seaside to the Pantanal cowboys on the Paraguayan border.

This incredible diversity makes of Brazil an extremely interesting and photographable country, that deserves to be known firsthand by us all – while this is not possible, I try to show you some of it through my photographs!

Follow the red dots and find the ways that I have roamed
since the beginning of this year (some stretches more than once)!
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