Photo of the day 12

trevor.george (67)in #photography • 8 years ago

I got mugged while on holiday in Tanzania. but I got a photo of the culprit, even though he got away.

There I was, sitting on the grass, minding my own business, eating my lunch, when BAM! I was robbed from behind.

To be fair we were warned about this. Our guide had told us that the birds in Ngorogoro Crater were very cheeky and we'd best be on our guard. And so I was.

I told the small sparrow-like bird hopping close to my feet and looking up hopefully at the leg of roast chicken in my hand, that I knew all about his game, and he'd best be off.

Smiling smugly to myself as he flew off, I brought the leg up to take a bite. That's when the eagle hit me from behind, grabbing the chicken leg out of my hand as I was literally taking a bite.

I was left with no chicken and a wary feeling that I had been set up. I turned and looked skyward behind me to find about ten more of the birds hovering in a holding pattern just above us. Then like feathered stuka bombers they dive bombed us, grabbing what they could on the way through.

It was an experience I'll never forget. And it was the only time I was robbed in Africa, which is a better score than the three times I was robbed in South America. But that's another story :-)