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| Hiking
on Town Marsh island |
page
3, continuing . . . .
My Wild Horse Photo Safari
on the Crystal
Coast
The
third day of my personal safari started as early as the others. But
today I would be joining Bob Decker's Crystal Coast Wild Horse
Photo Safari, a photographers' guided tour to the Shackleford
and Beaufort wild horses. I had to pack up my gear differently since
instead of kayaking, I'd be hiking on dry land..... well somewhat
dry..... uh, actually some of it a foot or two, or maybe three, under
water, but still I'd be hiking. But now I'd have an experienced guide
who was intimately familiar not only with the area, but with the horses
and their habits.
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The
horses soon put on a show for the photographers
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| Morning
Safari: |
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Hiking
Town Marsh island and tidal marsh on Rachel Carson Estuarine
Reserve |
I met up with
the safari group on the Beaufort waterfront. There was guide Bob Decker,
and Jim from Connecticut, and Jeff from Florida. The four of us donned
our camera packs, grabbed our tripods and headed down the street to
take a passenger ferry the short 250 yard hop across Taylor Creek
to Town Marsh. A little morning fog promised to add to the atmosphere
for our photography before it burned off with the bright sun that
was to come.
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Morning
fog on the first day softened the landscape
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Once on the island,
we hiked perhaps ten minutes through cedar trees until we came out
on the edge of the marsh. Two horses were there grazing in the fog,
offering our first shots of the day. Soon more wandered our way while
we drifted toward them, eagerly clicking off shots. Before long the
sun brightened through the thinning fog as we hussled about choosing
angles and clicking away.
Within minutes
a young stallion in the group began putting on quite a show for us.
He apparently had a serious case of spring fever, and tried with all
his might to pick a fight with an older blonde stallion. He galloped
and pranced and harrassed the older stallion for a good ten minutes,
much to the delight of all present, who were making the most of the
action, rapid-firing shot after shot.
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| Wild
horses on the move |
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Shadowing
the wild horses on the tidal flats of Town Marsh
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Shackleford's
wild horses near Cape Lookout Lighthouse
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After this youngster
finished burning off his excess energy, he settled down. Soon our
group of horses moved eastward, farther out onto the flats. They joined
other horses already out grazing, so we shadowed them, setting up
here and there to take more shots of their activities.
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Photographing
wild horses on the tidal flats
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We spent the entire
morning following the herd about the tidal marsh, watching and learning
while we photographed them. As the morning transitioned toward noon
the light grew harsher, and it became time to head out to the pickup
point for the ferry ride back to the Beaufort waterfront. There we
packed up and drove to Harkers Island for our afternoon of photography
of the wild horses on Shackleford Banks. On the way we stopped for
a great lunch before catching another passenger ferry for our ride
out to the east end of Shackleford Banks, across the sound from the
Cape Lookout Lighthouse.
| Afternoon
Safari: |
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Hiking
the dunes and tidal marsh of
Shackleford Banks at Cape Lookout |
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Photographing
a black-maned beauty on Shackleford Banks
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The wild horses
on Shackleford Banks can sometimes be more difficult to find than
on Rachel Carson Estuarine Reserve. While there are three to four
times more horses on Shackleford, they are spread out across a much
larger area, and their family groups, or I suppose the stallions in
any event, seem to be more aggressively territorial. Visitors to Cape
Lookout Lighthouse, which is directly across the sound from Shackleford
Banks, can often see small groups of the wild horses on the easternmost
tip of the barrier island. If that's not the case for us on this trip,
it could become "iffy" finding them.
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Stallion
"6N" and mare "17K"
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The
author (standing) photographing at Shackleford
photo by Jim Esslinger
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| Trekking
Shackleford near the iconic Cape Lookout Lighthouse
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As our passenger
ferry approached Shackleford, it was evident that we would have to
go looking on this trip. Today there were no horses on the tip of
the island where our boat would drop us off. This is one of those
times when an experienced guide comes in very handy. Bob knew the
most likely hangouts, having been here many times. We unloaded our
gear and followed Bob along the shoreline a short way before turning
inland along the edge of a tidal marsh. In just a few minutes we spotted
horses not far ahead.
Many of the Shackleford horses are numbered with a "freeze brand" which turns the hair white, allowing researchers to easily identify and track them for scientific study. They seem to exhibit territorial habits that are believed to be unique among all the horses on the planet.
The group we encountered
included stallion "6N" and mare "17K", a strikingly handsome pair
with long, thick black manes and tails. With them was their colt,
who seemed quite curious about us. The colt was not yet marked with
any identification.
We moved on in
search of more horses, winding our way from the tidal marsh, out across
the island's dunes, but didn't find any more family groups within
range. With such a "hilly" nature to the island's landscape, horses
could be just thirty feet away on the other side of a dune and you
might never realize it. Finally we turned for the beach, on the off
chance there were some horses there, but there were no more to be
found within sight distance. We made our way along the beach to the
pickup point and talked about what awaited us the next day while we
watched for our boat. It would be a full day of exploration, from
sunrise to sunset, with a chartered boat to take us places we couldn't
get to by other means. That was going to be special.
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article - Page Four
