As the afternoon faded away, a large herd of sheep, returning from their daily pastures, slowly moved in and covered the slope visible in the picture. This is a small seasonal settlement in the mountains of Turkey, where shepherds keep their herds until fierce winter sets in. We had set up our tents for some semi-wild camping and had already acquainted ourselves with the four or five shepherd dogs. In another moment the peaceful atmosphere turned into commotion. A pack of wolves - I counted four - dashed out of the woods in front of us, at most 100 meters away, and dived into the herd. As we froze, eyes wide open, everything around us seemed to accelerate. All dogs charged upwards instantly. The shepherd hurried towards the action. The shepherd's daughter appeared from one of the shacks and sprinted, rifle in hand. In a matter of seconds they were chasing the wolves through the woods; we heard shouts and incessant barking; shots fell. A couple of minutes later all was silent again. The wolves hadn't been able to grab a lamb, but they had a scuffle with one of the juvenile dogs, which eventually managed to escape unscathed. The shepherd's daughter was carrying back the small dog, covered in wolves' saliva and still shaking from the ordeal. After the excitement had died down we made ourselves comfortable in an abandoned hut, cooked chestnuts over a fire and sang songs...
...wondering whether the night would be safe, especially because we had our kids with us. The vigilance of the dogs gave us some comfort.
Missed photographs can be particularly painful. I wince when I think back to the shepherd's daughter, that courageous young woman, so obviously used to taking matters into her own hands. Clearly, she loved that dog dearly, the way she was holding and caressing the small, black, shaking creature in her arms. What a beautiful portrait that would've been! I believe she would have given me the permission for a picture if I had asked; sadly, I didn't have the presence of mind.
In all the years of hiking and camping in the mountains, I've had quite a few surprise face-to-faces: bulls, wolves, wild boars...even a bear, which to my relief took flight. In my minds eye I can still see it's wonderful shiny fur as it looked back at me one last time before disappearing in the forest. I was so lucky it didn't have cubs. No photograph exists of any of these encounters, only memories.