A South African wildlife photographer has left millions of social media users in awe after sharing a clip of a bunch of meerkats sitting on his head chatting.
Nick Kleer has been a safari guide and wildlife photographer for over 14 years and recently visited Botswana in Southern Africa while hosting a private tour.
The 35-year-old had chosen this particular region due to the high likelihood of running into meerkats—but had no idea just how up close and personal the animals would get.
In a video that has over seven million views, Mr. Kleer has a brilliant encounter with the animals, who perch on his head and refuse to move.
“Here the meerkats are watched and researched daily and so they have become used to people,” he said. “If you are still enough, they may come over and use you as a higher viewing point twitch out for predators. I decided to make myself easily accessible by lying flat to then photograph on their level hoping that one or two may climb up. I was then used by the colony as both a lookout point and babysitter.”
Mr. Kleer said he had been waiting near a known burrow of meerkats before sunrise so that he could see them when they came outside at daybreak. “It’s the best time to photograph them!” he said.
In the clip shared on social media, a bunch of meerkats can be seen climbing onto Mr. Kleer’s head. The cute animals chatter away as he stays completely still, leaving viewers in awe.
The video has garnered thousands of comments.
One social media user said: “Hakuna Matata.”
Someone else joked: “‘I don’t get it, what are we looking at?’”
Another added: “They’re just saying ‘Hakuna Matata, bros.’”
Yet someone else wrote: “I like how two of them are using him for that extra height to peep the scene.”
Mr. Kleer has worked extensively with animals throughout his career but found this encounter particularly special.
“All I did was talk gently and remain still while they looked out from up on my head,” he said. “I think that they and all animals can pick up on a sense of calmness and acceptance from a human which is why they were so relaxed.
“Ironically I use a rather expensive DSLR camera to photograph wildlife with and this was filmed on selfie mode on my iPhone as the meerkats were a little closer than expected.”
