Day 7 –Savuti Camp, Linyanti Concession, Botswana

We left camp and drove north to the woodland, along the Linyanti River, and there we tracked an adult male leopard, known as the Duma Tau male, and we spent quite a few hours with him. He was relaxed and let us spend time with him as he was lying down on a termite mound. He left after a while and then he spent the next hour actively marking spots with his scent, and he eventually took a viewing position up in a n African ebony tree (jackalberry tree). His position was difficult to photograph, as he was on the end of a small branch in the canopy.

After some repositioning, we found a nice spot where we could photograph him as he came down the tree. This big male must have had a large meal, as he had a huge belly and moved quite slowly. After he left us, he headed towards the mopane forest and we disengaged and didn’t follow him. 2 hours was plenty, we thought.

On our afternoon game drive we left camp and headed towards an area known as Mmantshwe, which means ostrich. Since the Savuti channel is flowing again, the area is better for elephants and buffalo. There we tracked and located a single adult female lion, and for the first time in a few days the sun came out from the clouds and we had the best light one could ask for. She was obviously searching for something, and Goodman told me that she has a few 4-month old cubs and she probably was searching for them.

After an hour of following her along the edge of the Savuti Channel, we realized that her cubs were on the other side of the channel. Cha-ching! This meant that it was likely that she was going to cross the channel to reunite with them. The only thing we needed to do was to figure out where she would cross, and then make sure we were in the most optimum shooting position to take advantage of the crossing.

The lioness let off some mild roars, and the 2 cubs appeared on the other side of the channel. We moved our vehicles to a spot where we could watch her from a 90 degree angle, and we got lucky and also had the light over our shoulders. The water was a crazy cobalt blue, and the light on her was so amazingly orange, and I could hear the cameras shooting away in the background as she swam across the channel.

After a few minutes of watching and photographing the happy reunion, we moved away and stopped for a sundowner drink just as the sun was setting in the distant sky. What an amazing day. Absolutely amazing. These kinds of sightings are what make Savuti one of my favorite locations in all of Africa. There are other camps that produce just as many good sightings, and I cannot wait to visit them on future trips.

Tonight was a braai (BBQ) night at camp, and we dined in the outside boma, set by a roaring fire in the middle. Today was a great day, capped off by a wonderful dinner with happy guests.

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.

Duma Tau male leopard

Duma Tau male leopard

Duma Tau male leopard

Our beautiful lioness for the afternoon

Lioness about to cross the Savuti channel

Goodman, one of our amazing guides

Lets and Kane take a break from finding the best wildlife around

James and Joe take time to do some chimping

Day 6 –Savuti Camp, Linyanti Concession, Botswana

Today we had yet another overcast day, and it never really got cold at all. Perhaps the mid 50’s isn’t cold for wintertime, and I am sure future days will get cold again. We drove to the open woodland, along the Linyanti River, and we saw herds of giraffe, elephants feeding on the tall grass, baboons and a few wildebeest. We heard some commotion and saw some hyaenas feeding on a day-old giraffe carcass. After 30 minutes, two lionesses came back and wanted to reclaim their kill and the hyaenas quietly walked away. I suspect there was so much meat on the kill that there was enough to go around without too much displacement.

One of the female lions was quite pregnant and should have cubs soon, and the other female had a ‘milky eye’ and was a bit more aggressive. We watched them do the typical dining activities, and we broke off after a little while to go have some coffee and tea. Kills are always a great thing to see, especially for the first time, however it doesn’t always produce the types of photographs that people anticipate.

After lunch we worked with the local wild dog researcher to locate and photograph a pack of wild dogs. Wild dog sightings are rare to begin with, and this one was special because they also had 5 puppies with them. The pack was 17 strong, and we just sat and watched them sleep and play for the afternoon. What a treat. The dogs had a temporary den that they will keep for only a few days, and we worked with the researcher to locate the pack using a radio collar, and it took a fairly decent offroad drive over mopane trees to get there. This sighting was definitely a challenge photographically, because we never did get a good, open area where they were playing.

On the way back to camp, we sat and watched a large herd of elephants cross the road in absolutely perfect light. What a 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 5 –Chitabe Camp / Savuti Camp, Botswana

Today was our last day at Chitabe Camp, and like the previous mornings, it wasn’t too cold when we started out. It was overcast and more windy today than the past few days. On the days when we are leaving one camp and heading to another, we typically have a shorter morning game drive to allow for an early brunch, packing of duffle bags and time to get to the airstrip.

We knew we wouldn’t be out for more than about 3 hours, so we chose to search for game closer to camp. We found a healthy-sized cape buffalo herd, and chose to spend the bulk of our time with them. When photographing buffalo, if you wait for a long while you may end up with them on all sides of your vehicle. We didn’t have the time to accomplish that particular approach this morning, due to time constraints. We were able to find quite a few red billed oxpeckers on their backs and faces, and chose to home in on the symbiotic relationship between the two.

After a nice brunch, the Chitabe staff sent us on our way with smiles and full bellies. We made it to the airstrip before our pilots arrived, and we took the time to tell bush stories and just chew the fat. On all of my safaris, we always provide whatever it takes to allow people to bring enough camera gear to make the safari successful. On this safari we have provided for a pair of Cessna Caravans for our group, which significantly increased the weight allowance from only 44 pounds to more than double. This is a huge benefit if photography is your main goal from your safari.

After only a 30 minute flight to Savuti, we disembarked our planes and jumped into our safari vehicles. I also had a chance to see my friend and guide Kane, which is an excellent safari photographer and guide. You can see his photographs at www.kanethebushman.com. I helped him setup his web site last year, and he updates his site often.

After a 3:00 tea, we headed out for our first game drive at Savuti. Right outside of camp, we were stopped by a large group of elephants on both sides of the road. A lone bull elephant decided to walk towards us and dined on a healthy diet of minerals about 10 feet from us. We had a great time zooming in and grabbing intimate details of his face, ears and tusks, and when he was through putting on a show for us, he picked up some loose dirt and flung it in our faces. I actually had to turn my D700 + 70-200mm lens upside down just to get the dirt out. Talk about a fun time with a very very relaxed bull elephant that all in the vehicle will remember.

As the sun started to get low in the sky, we worked the edges of the Savuti channel in hopes of picking up lion or leopard tracks. We did track a lion for the better part of 2 hours, however we never could catch up with it before we had to head back to camp.

On the way back to camp, we stopped to photograph a lone bull elephant crossing the channel. The channel is more flooded now than in recent years, and the water is flowing all the way to the Savuti marsh, inside Chobe National Park. This is a significant change since the early 1980’s, as the channel hasn’t held flowing water since that time. The area is lush and green, and elephants are crossing the water quite often.

We were back to camp on the early side, as we didn’t stop for anything on the way back. An early dinner awaited, and now I cannot wait for tomorrow’s game drives, as we have heard of the local wild dog pack’s movements near our camp.

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.

James Weis strutting his photographic stuff with BB, our guide

Lone elephant, crossing the Savuti channel at sunset

Day 4 –Chitabe Camp, Okavango Delta

We were out of camp early today, and spent the bulk of the morning photographing the animals and birds that make Africa tick: kingfishers along the water’s edge, herds of impala, warthog, hornbills, bateleur eagles, all 3 categories of vultures (rippers, gulpers and scrappers), zebra, wildebeest, elephants, giraffe and all of the other species that can fill up a day of game drives. I didn’t take any photographs this morning, primarily because I was working on teaching panning techniques to people, and how best to do pan blurs depending on each subject and how fast they are moving. It can take quite a bit of time to work on, for sure, but pixels don’t cost anything except temporary CF card space and battery life. If they don’t work out, just delete and try harder.

We had a challenge with the water today, and odds caught up with us and we got stuck for a while. It wasn’t a big deal, as we just went and took some dead wood, jacked up each tire and placed the wood underneath each tire and went on with our business.

The weather on this safari has been much warmer than anticipated, and most mornings aren’t any colder than 50F. The skies are usually cloudy for most of the day and evening, so the lack of clear skies and a lack of any cold fronts are preventing from the colder days. No complaints from me, for sure.

I spent the middle of the day after lunch teaching Lightroom 3 and Nik Software’s Viveza 2 plugin. I have found that this combination really works well for my own photography, and it is a great combination for wildlife photographers. Perhaps this is good content for a future blog post?

This afternoon we tracked a pair of cheetahs into the mopane forest, and it turned out to be the same adult male and female cheetahs from our first full day in Botswana. We had a difficult time getting clear shots of them, as they always seemed to stop in a location where we would have a tree or termite mound in the way. That’s ok, as it teaches patience and good things will come to those who try harder. As you can see I included a few shots of one of the cheetahs, as the other one was rarely in a good position to photograph.

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.

Grant, giving his best sour face

BB, one of our excellent guides at Chitabe

Whoops

Just a little behind-the-scenes of what goes on in between incredible wildlife moments: coffee

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.