Mark R Demos
/photography portfolio
/old africa
If you are interested in buying any of the photographs you see let me know. I can have them printed in a variety of sizes and surfaces, including canvas.
These photos are obviously not mine. I have edited most for better viewing.
They are part of my family history. They are photos of life where my mother grew up, on three different ranches. Two owned and another co-owned but managed by my grandfather, Robert Chalmers.
One of the ranches "Adelaide" was on the South African side of the border with Southern Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe. Another, "Misty Heights" was in the mountains further south. "Dwala" ranch was in West Nicholson about 100 miles into Rhodesia. There were two other ranches my grandfather cleared of man-eating and cow-eating lions for ranching
The ranch "Adelaide" was named after the mother of the co-owner, The Earl of Athlone or Prince Alexander. Many of the photos have info for further information.
Click on image for larger view
This was probably a 400lbs male lion. Many of the lions were man eaters. My grandfather Robert Chalmers, cleared a large area for cattle ranching in the Limpopo region between Southern Rhodesia and South Africa. An article in the Pretoria news credited him or shooting over 350 lions. My mom said he always hated killing and never walked around with a loaded gun.
Great being "Bwana" because you get to hunt from the transport.
Madame Claudia out with Joy and my mom. Claudia was later sent to the Berlin zoo.
My grandfather, Robert Chalmers, at camp while out hunting man eating lions.
Who am I? This Zebra liked being around the horses. He wasn't sure if he had lost his white or black stripes - probably his black one.
My mom had two orphaned cubs growing up, Tertius and Claudia. Claudia pictured here was a little wild but seemed to respond to the Marimba - a hand held musical instrument that had hard metal keys played in a gourd. Who says music or a bit of Sinatra never calmed a savage beast. The musician's name was Slabangoma.
Hunting party off to find some lions.
If you have ever called someone a pile of s$&t you probably never imagined them to be this big a pile. My grandfather next to an elephant pile.