Day 3 –Chitabe Camp, Okavango Delta

We had a photographically slow morning, however we did see some amazing wildlife. The morning started off with a civet, followed by a pair of honey badgers fairly close to the vehicle. General game followed, however the morning was more slower than normal. Perhaps the full moon kept all of the animals up all night and thus they were inactive and lying down for the morning. During the slow times I like to work on photographic techniques with people, and help introduce new approaches to wildlife photography. One of the first things I like to introduce are the benefits of using the rear autofocus button on cameras. Another is working on lighting and how to position the vehicle to take advantage of the light.

Back to camp near noon, then a nice brunch, and then some down time for everybody. We typically meet up at 3:30 for afternoon tea, and today was no exception. We left for our afternoon game drive at 4:00 and we were ready to get our shutters working hard after a slow morning.

Phinley tracked a lone female leopard just outside of camp, who has the nickname of  ‘Karuru Female’. This was the same leopard that we photographed yesterday, and she was still calm in our presence. Positioning the vehicles turned out to be a bit challenging, as the ground was littered with dead tree limbs. It actually made for a great teaching opportunity in how we get clean backgrounds and how to photograph a leopards in a tree with backlighting. The last vehicle position for me yielded a fussy background, however I enjoyed having rim lighting on her chin and lower leg and paw (see image below).

We stopped for a sundowner drink on the way back to camp, and there were smiles and high fives all around after 3 successful leopard shoots in 2 days. It is always great to have great leopard sightings early on in a safari, as this is something that all travelers look forward to.

Note: All images in these daily blog postings are very very rough edits of the things we have seen, and I often omit the photographs that take too much time to process. I don’t take much time off during the day, as I am working with people with their photographic needs. All of my images in these posts will have to be re-processed when I get back home, and they are only included in these blog entries for illustration purposes.

Nikon D700 + 200-400mm f/4 VR, 1/500 @ f/5.6, ISO 3200

Nikon D700 + 200-400mm f/4 VR, 1/200 @ f/5.6, ISO 6400

Day 2 –Chitabe Camp, Okavango Delta

We were up at 5:30 and out of camp by 6:30 this morning, and it wasn’t as cold as I have been expecting for this time of the year. It wasn’t any cooler than the upper 40’s or lower 50’s, which was kind of nice, and made for an easy morning. When we left camp we wanted to follow up on some lion roars in the distance, and it took us around 45 minutes to locate two adult males. It took us some time offroad, but it only took a couple of roaring sessions for us to home in on their location.

The male lions were good examples of how majestic big cats can be, as they had very dark and large manes. My guests appreciated the early sighting, however the sun never came out during our time with them. On a perfect wildlife photography day we would have a bright and warm sunrise, followed by clouds for the rest of the day for soft light, and then the last hour of light would be warm, direct light again.

After our lion sighting, we located a pair of adult cheetahs, a male and a female. They put on a great show for us, and there were smiles all around. A cheetah on a clean perch, such as a termite mound, is a great thing. Two cheetah on the same perch are an even better thing, indeed. 5 stars!

On our way back to camp, we saw circling vultures overhead. We took the time to check out what was going on, and saw an adult female leopard climb up into a tree when we arrived. What excellent luck on our first full safari day: the 3 big cats all on one game drive. The light wasn’t the most ideal, however we did get some good vantage points to watch her on a low limb in the tree.

We took a break for lunch and returned in the mid afternoon to watch the leopard again. She had not moved an inch since we had left, and we all enjoyed watching and photographing her from different vantage points until after sunset. What an excellent safari day!

Note: All images in these daily blog postings are very very rough edits of the things we have seen, and I often omit the photographs that take too much time to process. I don’t take much time off during the day, as I am working with people with their photographic needs. All of my images in these posts will have to be re-processed when I get back home, and they are only included in these blog entries for illustration purposes.

Day 1 – Johannesburg / Maun / Chitabe Camp, Okavango Delta

We left Joburg this morning on Air Botswana with no hiccups, as usual. The flight is an easy to do 10am flight, which allowed me and my guests to get a good night’s sleep after a long journey to this side of the pond. After our 2 hour flight from Joburg to Maun, Botswana, we grabbed our bags and hopped on our bush plane flights to Chitabe Camp in the Okavango Delta. I normally arrange for an extra plane for additional weight allowances, and this trip was no exception.

The bush plane flight only took about 15 minutes from Maun, and we landed, met our guides BB and Phinley, and headed off to camp. There is much water th is year in the delta, and the normal road back to camp was still underwater. This year has more year than last, and last year had more water than the year before that. I can only anticipate what it will be like in 2011. It isn’t really a bad thing, but it can be challenging when you are trying to take the quickest road to somewhere.

We arrived in to camp, said hello to Dawson the manager, grabbed our rooms and met back in the main area for tea and cookies. Game drive time! Since it was late in the afternoon, we didn’t have a long game drive today. We saw some great congregations of greater kudu, as well as ostrich. What a great day to go from a big city to the wilderness in only a short period of time.

We stopped for a sundowner drink after sunset, in front of a beautiful acacia tree. Wine, beer, sodas and gin and tonics were served, and there were smiles on faces, happy to be in the wilderness of one of Africa’s greatest wildlife gems: the Okavango Delta. After some time jib jabbing away, we headed back to camp, freshened up, and gathered around the campfire in anticipation of a wonderful dinner. After dinner, I am sure it didn’t take long for people to fall fast asleep after a long journey. Tomorrow we will be up at 5:30, and will head out for a morning game drive after a quick breakfast.

Joe and Joan Johnson from Really Right Stuff, excited for their first game drive

Phinley and I take a second to say cheese.

Acacia sunset shoot and time to stop for sundowner drinks.

Palms and Cranes

...and finally, drinks by the campfire before dinner

Off for Botswana and daily blogging

I am off for Botswana, and be sure to check back daily on this blog, as I will be updating it every day with stories and photographs. I am able to do this because of one key technology item: a Hughes 9201 BGAN satellite terminal. It is an incredible piece of electronics!

My safari begins tomorrow afternoon, so check back often for updates.

Cheers for now.

Aerial photography has been added our September Namibia workshop

Great news! We have been working behind the scenes to setup some aerial photography time on the September 20-30, 2010 Namibia landscape workshop. I cannot tell you how amazing the workshop is going to be, as it combines my favorite and most photographically rich locations in all of Namibia, excellent leadership by John Paul Caponigro, and now aerial photography while flying over the biggest, baddest sand dunes on the planet. 

Here are a few bullet points about the workshop: 

• Aerial photography in the Namib-Naukluft area (optional excursion)
• The famed Deadvlei trees at Sossusvlei
• The tallest sand dunes in the world
• The remote landscapes of the Skeleton Coast
• The deserted mining town of Kolmanskop
• A small, intimate group, led by John Paul Caponigro

Imagine being able to fly over the most dramatic dunes in the world with no doors on the plane. It's you, your camera and the dunes below. Here are some photos from my last trip to Namibia over these majestic dunes (I haven't had the luxury of flying in Namibia on photo-specific flights, and the ability to take the doors off the plane and shoot unobscructed, with a safety harness, is a great benefit).

 I have heard from many travelers that aerial photography in Namibia is something that is on their list, and now I have the proper people in place to make it happen. Email me at info@andybiggs.com if you would like to join the September 20-30, 2010 Namibia workshop. It will be one heck of a good time.

Safari-time!

Ok, I am off for Africa soon, and I will be all over the place. Here are a few places where I will be:

• Chitabe Camp, Okavango Delta, Botswana (1st camp on my first safari)
• Savuti Camp, Okavango Delta, Botswana (2nd camp on my first safari)
• Mashatu Game Reserve, Botswana (1st camp on my African Wildlife Photography Boot Camp)
• Rattray's on Mala Mala, South Africa (2nd camp on my African Wildlife Photography Boot Camp)
• Tuningi Safari Lodge, Madikwe Game Reserve, South Africa (to spend some time with friend Gerry van der Walt)

Unlike like most of my past safaris, I will be taking a few days off in between my first and second safari, and it will be rest that will be well used. I will have a BGAN satellite system on my safaris, which means I intend to update this blog frequently (daily?) from the bush. I did this a few months ago from Tanzania, however technology was easier there as I could update the blog from my Blackberry Bold mobile phone. I didn't upload any photos, though, as I was shooting film on that safari (long story).

The BGAN satellite is a very nifty piece of technology, as I can surf the web and send emails at 492kbps, which is plenty fast. The kicker is that it costs around $6 per megabyte, so I will only be using the system to read and send emails via a web page. I am renting the system from a friend, and this is a good way of figuring out if I should invest in the technology going forward.

If anybody has called Gura Gear or have sent us an email, you will likely be familiar with who Troy Covey is. Troy is my right hand man, and he will be coming on my second safari to shoot video. I am a video dummy, so Troy is coming to gather footage that we can use for marketing purposes. We want to convey what it is like to be on one of my photo safaris, as well as how people use our Gura Gear Kiboko bag. I know he is going to have to do tons of audio editing, as I tend to laugh a little too much. It is a personality flaw of mine, and now that I have admitted it I only have 11 more steps to go. :-)

Leslie will be joining me near the end of my second safari, and this will be the first time since 2004 that Leslie has been able to join me. Why the long wait? Let's just say that our having 2 boys in the span of 28 months can alter one's adventures in life. Leslie will be at Mala Mala and Madikwe with me, and I cannot tell you how happy this makes me to have her back on another adventure with me. Shared experiences is a good thing.

While in Madikwe, we will be spending some time with friend and photographer Gerry van der Walt, who runs Photo-Africa.com. I am not sure what kind of trouble we will find, but I am sure it will be fun whatever we end up doing. I just think that all Leslie wants to do is to sleep late and to not have little boys climbing all over her. At the same time I don't even know how to relax, as it isn't in my vocabulary. Relaxing usually means being out on game drives by myself with a guide and perhaps another friend or two.

I have tons to do before I leave next week, and near the top of that list is to update my 2011 safaris on andybiggs.com. I have a few more safaris to add, such as a June 2011 Tanzania trip with Chris Gamel, and an August Tanzania safari with Randy Hanna. If you haven't met Chris or Randy before, you should know that they are excellent trip leaders, photographers, instructors and all around good guys. I couldn't be more happy to be working side by side with them.

B&H Lectures in NYC on July 6 and 7

If you are in the NYC area, please come and hear me speak at B&H on July 6 and 7. You need to RSVP for each talk, so click on the links below for more information and to confirm your RSVP. Here are the details of each talk:

The Perfect Print

Tuesday, July 6, 2010  |  3:00 PM - 5:00 PM

Learn the latest digital printing techniques from Master Printer and African Wildlife photographer, Andy Biggs. Andy will cover ICC Profiles, color management, how to choose inkjet papers, types of printers and how to build the ideal digital print studio.

A Year in the Life of an African Wildlife Photographer

Wednesday, July 7, 2010  |  11:00 AM - 1:00 PM

Come and share two hours with renowned African wildlife photographer and workshop instructor Andy Biggs. Andy will share a typical year in his life as a wildlife photographer by discussing the myriad safari locations he travels to in Africa. From the wide open savannah of the Serengeti in Tanzania to the seasonal waters of the Okavango Delta in Botswana, Andy will tell you how he travels from jet planes to bush planes and helicopters to Land Rovers. Receive practical advice about how to photograph wildlife and discover how Andy travels internationally to hard-to-reach locations. Andy will share his award winning photographs, along with the stories behind each image, and what equipment he used to create beautiful images.



Digital Printing lecture in Santa Fe, June 24

I will be in Santa Fe, New Mexico next week to do a 2-hour lecture on digital printing. The event will be held at the Santa Fe Camera Center from 5:30 to 8pm on June 24. If you live in the Santa Fe area, please come by for some free refreshments at 5:30, and my talk will begin at 6:00pm sharp. The event is free.

Here is a lecture synposis:

Learn the latest digital printing techniques from Master Printer and African Wildlife photographer, Andy Biggs. Andy will cover ICC Profiles, demystifying color management (do’s and don’ts), how to choose inkjet papers, how to properly calibrate and profile displays, types of printers and building the ideal digital print studio.