Trip Report Part 2: Luxury Great Migration in the Masai Mara

Sunset Over The Masai Mara

Phase One DF+, IQ250, 240mm lens

After the conclusion of our Great Apes Photo Safari, some of the travelers joined me and my co-leader Grant Atkinson in Kenya’s Masai Mara for my Luxury Wildebeest Migration Photo Safari, which I run each year. There are very few locations in Africa that rise to the level of quality wildlife sightings that the Masai Mara offers, and its rolling and wide open plains is filled with such a quantity and quality of wildlife that it is beyond imagination. I run this migration trip every year, usually in the month of August or September, to coincide with the arrival of the wildebeest and related species in Kenya’s Masai Mara.

Background on the Wildebeest Migration

There are roughly 2 million wildebeest (the white bearded wildebeest, specifically) in the greater Serengeti / Masai Mara ecosystem, and these mammals are always in search of fertile grasses to feed on. This ecosystem is split between Tanzania’s Serengeti National Park and Kenya’s Masai Mara (it should be spelled Maasai Mara, but that is a topic for another time). This migration occurs twelve months out of the year, and they typically move in a clockwise direction between these two parks. There are other animals who migrate with the wildebeest: zebras, grant’s gazelle, topi and dung beetles.

There is no start or finish to this migration, but rather it can be described as ongoing and never ending. This migration typically arrives in Kenya’s Masai Mara in late late July and they depart sometime in October.

At Attention

Phase One DF+, IQ250, 240mm lens

When I run these migration trips in Kenya I prefer to stay in areas where I have fewer vehicles, an ability to drive offroad and accommodations that exceed all expectations. Life is too short to watch wildlife with hordes of vehicles, and the Masai Mara is a challenging place to avoid vehicles when out on game drives. My solution is to base myself on conservancy land, just outside of the Masai Mara Game Reserve boundary, where the lion density is higher and sightings are much less crowded. Yes, my migration safaris are more expensive than my competition, however my guests get better returns in so many ways: better wildlife sightings, more private wildlife sightings, offroad driving for specific photography angles, a better sense of being in the outdoors, the best guides in the industry, the best accommodations in the industry, open vehicles that have been setup for photography and a no-compromise approach to the entire experience. I have been running photographic safaris in Africa since 2002 and I have learned to always take the ‘no compromise’ approach whenever possible. I have no desire to subject myself and my customers to the lack of guiding professionalism that exists in many areas of the Masai Mara Game Reserve, and the conservancy land delivers everything I wish for and more.

Lioness and Cubs from the Eseketa pride

Our group of 13 assembled at The Emakoko, which is a small and intimate safari lodge, located on the edge of Nairobi National Park. My guests arrived on their international flights , were taken to The Emakoko and began their safari in style. Since the camp is located on the edge of the park, we could take safari game drives in the park if we didn’t want to spend time unwinding at camp. This is an excellent option for those who arrived a day or two early, as it put them in the safari mood as soon as they arrived.

We flew to the greater Masai Mara area on privately chartered aircraft, which allowed us more weight allowance per person as well as a flexible schedule. Upon arrival on Olare Motorogi conservancy land, we met our guides, camp staff and camp managers and we loaded our camera gear, luggage and ourselves into our game drive vehicles and set out to find some great wildlife sightings.

Over the next week we had so many great sightings, and what stood out were all of the lion cubs. Tons of lion cubs. We also had superb sightings of other big cats, grazers, browsers and birds of prey, however the lion cubs certainly stood out in my mind. Since I was driving for much of the time, I didn’t raise my camera too often due to being on the opposite side of the vehicle as the photographers who were in my vehicle, however the sightings were just as rich in my mind as those who were captured them on their cameras.

When it comes to camera gear, I used the following:

• Phase One DF+ camera
• Phase One IQ250 50mp digital back
• Phase One 75-150mm
• Phase One 240mm
• Canon 5DMk3 (rented from borrowlenses.com)
• Canon 70D (rented from borrowlenses.com)
• Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS II (rented from borrowlenses.com)
• Canon 1.4x III  (rented from borrowlenses.com)

When it comes to the gear that our guests used, by far the most popular lens was the new Canon 200-400mm f/4 L IS. Out of 13 people I think we had 6 or 7 of them on the trip. That’s a huge percentage. In past years we have had a steady balance between Canon and Nikon users, however on this trip we had only 2 Nikon users and the rest were with Canon. I haven’t seen those kinds of numbers since before Nikon had the D3 / D700 bodies, which would be around 2005 or 2006. I wonder if the tide is turning towards Canon for wildlife shooters? I just don’t know.

I tended to use the Phase One setup most often, however there were some situations when I needed more focal length or faster autofocus and I used the Canon gear. I was pleasantly surprised with just how usable the Phase One gear was, as the new IQ250 works so well with ISO values up to 1600, 3200 or even 6400 in a pinch. I have been using an IQ280 80mp digital back, which I have limited to a maximum ISO of 400, but prefer to keep it to 100 or 200 if at all possible. The new IQ250 is 50mp and is based on a CMOS chip design, which is new for Phase One, and the product is much better for the style of wildlife photography that I create. I was pleasantly surprised and may be making the switch over to the IQ250 for all trips going forward.

We have already planned out our 2015 wildebeest migration safari and I will be publishing the trip very soon. If you are interested please contact me as soon as possible, as 50% of the spaces have already been pre-booked. The itinerary is exactly the same as this year.

Phase One DF+ camera, IQ250 digital back, Schneider 240mm lens and 2x teleconverter on a Gura Gear bean bag

Our vehicle setup, with shooting platforms

Yours truly

Sub adult lions

Phase One DF+, IQ250, 240mm lens. ISO 6400!!

Photo of the Day - Lion On The Plains

Lion On The Plains

Masai Mara Game Reserve, Kenya. January 2014

There is something so regal, so majestic, so beautiful about a male lion in his prime when his mane is waving in the wind. I have found that the angle at which one photographs big cats as the lie in the grass is extremely important. If the subject is showing too much belly you have to move the vehicle around to eliminate that view, and other angles may show an awkwardness to the way the animal is sitting or lying down. I didn’t have much of a choice with this subject, primarily because the background in this view was the best with the above angle of view. A well-positioned background is that extra step that a photographer needs to think about, as you do not want to have your background (or foreground) compete with the overall purposes of what the photograph is all about.

I did attempt to get a head-on shot of this male, however the sitted position and the background just didn’t work for me.

This is just my $.02 and how I tend to like to frame my photographs. What do you think?

Big Cats of the Masai Mara - 2 New Safaris for 2013

Today I am announcing a pair of safaris for 2013 that will excite those who wish to photograph all three of the 3 big cat species: cheetah, leopard and of course lion. I planned these safaris for the photographer who wants more opportunities to capture the Masai Mara’s big cats in their majestic environment. The safari will be entirely based at the best camp in the Mara ecosystem, Mara Plains Camp. Mara Plains in in the Olare Orok Conservancy, which has very few camps and also has offroading driving. We won’t have to worry about crowds or having to stay on roads to get our best photographs. I have to say that in my past travels to this area of the Masai Mara I have had my best opportunities to witness and photograph cheetah chases. On my last safari in March 2012 to the area we had numerous cheetah chases, leopards with cubs on multiple sightings, majestic male lions on top of hills with wind in their faces, and to top it all off we had the big cat trifecta of having all 3 species within view of our vehicle at the same time. This is just a taste of the things that we can see on this safari. Please join me.

Safari Highlights

• Game drives in the private Olare Orok Conservancy (where our camp is located), bordering the Masai Mara, to the north. Unlike the Mara itself, this reserve is private to the very few camps located here, so we will not experience the larger crowds present inside the Mara proper. With this said, we will have the option of driving into the Mara each day if we decide to, although the game viewing is as good or better in the Orok. We will also have the option of returning to camp after dark since we are not subject to the rules of the National Park. 
• We have private vehicles for the safari game drives, with only 1 person per row of seating (the vehicles have either 2 or 3 rows behind the driver, plus a seat next to the driver if you want to be lower down to the ground.) The vehicles are open 4x4 vehicles, allowing for unhindered movement for photography. 
• Private and exclusive use of the safari camp.
• Safari is limited to 14 participants, plus Andy and Chas as trip leaders.
• Private air charters between Nairobi and our private camp in the Masai Mara region.
• Extra luggage allowances to accommodate the special needs of our photographic equipment. The Nairobi-Mara charter flights will allow for an average of 30-35kg (66 to 77lbs) per person.
• This itinerary focuses on up-close and real wildlife experiences from the surroundings of premier accommodations.

For a complete detailed itinerary, dates and costs I have two links:

Big Cats of the Masai Mara, May 22-31, 2013

Big Cats of the Masai Mara, May 30-June 8, 2013

Cheetah on a Termite Mound, March 2012

 

Mara Plains Camp at Night

Hot Air Ballooning over the Masai Mara

Photo of the Day - Sunrise and the Lion

Sunrise and the Lion

Masai Mara Game Reserve, Kenya. March 2012

Pentax 645D + 300mm f/4, 1/125 sec @ f/8, ISO 200

Back from Kenya and Tanzania

Cheetah on a Termite Mound

Olare Orok Conservancy, Kenya. March 2012

Pentax 645D, 300mm f/4, 1/1000 @ f/5, ISO 200

After a 3-week absence, I am back home with my family here in Houston. I had two amazing safaris, as I split my time between Tanzania and Kenya for each. The first safari in Tanzania was a published departure with 12 travelers, and the second safari in Kenya was a private safari that was not published online. I am sorting through my limited set of raw files, and I think I have some real keepers that I will be proud of. I mostly shot video on these safaris, and so I only came home with about 1,000 files from a borrowed Pentax 645D medium format camera.

There is a story in here that I need to tell about medium format digital for wildlife photography, and the short story is that the technology works perfectly for my needs. In the past year I have been seeking out a way to be able to produce bigger prints with more detail, better color and overall image quality. I have borrowed a Leica S2 system for my Antarctica trip, a Pentax 645D for these past safaris, and I will be using Phase One gear for one or more of my trips to Botswana and Namibia last on this year. I suspect I know what I will end up with in the end, but it has been a fascinating process so far.

I have the luxury of not having to shoot for anybody else but me, which means I can take a new camera system that might only yield 1 usable photograph per few days of work. That’s ok with me, because I would like to have only a handful of portfolio additions each year. Any more and it would exceed my expectations, but my expectations are quite low as it is. I would rather have a few amazing images that I can reproduce at any size that is requested than to say that a particular image can only be printed up to 16x24.

Time to get cracking on some raw files, a trip report, video footage and some sleep time in my own bed.

Photo of the Day - Cape Buffalo

Cape Buffalo and Oxpecker

Nikon D7000, 200-400mm f/4 VR, 1/320 @ f/5.6, ISO 800

Back home from Africa

I just got home from my east African adventure, and I have tons to write about. I wasn’t able to update my blog from the field, primarily due to lack of time and lack of a decent internet connection. I spent time in Rwanda for mountain gorillas, and then split my time in Kenya’s Masai Mara between 3 different camps. I think I came home with some great photographs, however I won’t know for sure until I get some time to sort through them. Heck, I still have to sort through my images from Botswana from July!

A huge thank you goes out to those of you who traveled with me on these 2 safaris. I really do think that I have the best job on earth. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Africa Photo Safari Availability for 2011

I do have a few more spots available for the rest of my 2011 safaris, as well as a few new safari announcements. If you are planning your 2011 schedule, and have been thinking about photographing some of the most amazing and abundant wildlife on the planet, here is a quick rundown of what I have available for the rest of the year.

Botswana: The Premier Wildlife Safari. July 4-13, 2011. Only 1 spot available.

Predators of the Sabi Sands, South Africa. July 25 - August 3, 2011. A few spots available, and limited to a max of 7 travelers.

Ultimate Mountain Gorillas and the Masai Mara. September 3-15, 2011. Only 2 spots available.

Kenya’s Masai Mara and Wildebeest River Crossings. September 14-23, 2011. New Announcement, limited to 7 travelers. Only a few spots available after only a couple of hours.

As you can see, my safaris do book up well in advance as there are only a few spots left on some of these safaris. The safaris that are already sold out are not contained in this blog post, and you can see my entire safari and workshop schedule on my main web site:

Andy Biggs Photo Safaris - Safaris and Workshop Schedule

I am starting to work on my 2012 safari and workshop schedule, and I will being to post the schedule as I start to get pricing and schedules all nailed down. It takes a ton of time to plan these safaris. I do know that I will be running two safaris in Botswana in September 2012, and Greg du Toit will be running the popular Predators of the Sabi Sands safari as well (July or August).