Cheetah on the Serengeti Plains

Cheetah on the Serengeti Plains

Canon 5D Mark II, 600mm f/4, 1/800 @ f/4, ISO 50

Serengeti National Park, Tanzania. March 2010

As many readers of this blog may already know, 1) I don't shoot with Canon gear any longer, and 2) didn't even take a digital camera with me to Tanzania last month. So let me explain the image above. We were out on a morning game drive, and we came across this cheetah mother on the open plains. One of my generous travelers, Ben, quickly loaned me his 600mm lens on a 5D Mark II camera body, as he had a great opportunity to photograph the above female as she was moving her week-old cubs by her mouth. The 600mm was waaaaaaay too much lens for this, as she was passing only a few meters in front of our vehicle. The 'real' shot of this type of behavior was with his 100-400mm lens, and I just took his 600mm lens in the hope that she would get up on a termite mound at some point. Well, she certainly did it for me, and I ripped off a couple of quick shots. I haven't written about this before, but none of my 6x24cm panorama film worked out. It is a long and heartbreaking story for me, but the short story is that there must have been some damage to the helical focusing mechanism during transport to Africa. So at the end of my 3 weeks of safari in Tanzania I only ended up with 1 photograph that I will be able to show. I kind of have to laugh about it, because I know that I am out on safari so often that it doesn't really matter. It would massively upset me if I only go on safari once in a lifetime.

So here you have it: a cheetah on a termite mound, taken with somebody else's camera. I do have a ton of video from the safari, though. Maybe I should learn how to use Final Cut Pro.

Tanzania safari report - Day 15

We woke up on the late side at 6:30, ate breakfast and said goodbye to the camp staff at 8am. This morning was a 'move between camps' morning. On the way to Naabi hill, we saw a line of wildebeest that must have been at least three or four hundred strong. Just one line in the middle of nowhere. After Naabi we again intercepted the bulk of the migration, and at 30mph it took us at least 45 minutes to drive through the huge herds. Some areas must have been filled only with male wildebeest, as I didn't see any young ones. Other parts was filled with babies, so liked to refer to those areas as nurseries.

Wildebeest give birth to their calves in the southern part of the Serengeti plains in December through March, likely with the bulk being in January and February. I love this time of the year, as we can see the big herds, as well as non migratory wildlife. I also love our summer months and early fall.

The drive from Oldupai (not Olduvai, which non Tanzanians messed up on the name) was filled with golden hills, fresh with wildflowers. What a beautiful landscape it was. We haven't seen rain in over a week, and the flowers are obviously a result of those rains. Giraffes were aplenty on our ascent to the crater, and I counted no fewer than 40 individuals amongst the vivid green and yellow hills.

We arrived at Ngorongoro Crater (really a caldera, but I won't nitpick) after lunch and entered on the opposite side of the crater than our evening camp. At the bottom of th descent road was a large herd of wildebeest, and we sat and watched many new mothers graze with their newborns. Many new calves with short umbilical cords, so these calves are very very new. The calving season in Ngorongoro is different than the Serengeti, as the rains, nutrients and available food is quite different between the two.

Lake Magadi (or Makaat in the Maa language) was full with flamingos, however as of a few years ago we haven't been able to drive next to the water's edge. What a shame, but I do understand that the crater needs better protection from too many guesus. Too many roads is not a good thing for the environment and its wildlife. More roads equals more maintenance equals more money, staff, vehicles and fuel.

It was a fairly relaxed afternoon, and we spent our time with 7 huge bull elephants, picking out interesting compositions. Today was a tiring day with the travel from our last camp, and I was eager to get back to camp to unwind a little bit. Sitting in a Land Rover for 9 hours can suck the life right out of you, especially in the hot sun.

Tomorrow will be our earliest day yet, as we will leave camp at 5:59. The gate opens up at 6am, and our camp is only feet away from the gate. My feelings about the lodges here at Ngorongoro have already been written about in one of my earlier safari entries.

Tanzania safari report - Day 14

We headed to Gol kopjes this morning, checked in at Naabi gate around 7:30 and immediately after coming down from the hill we saw a nice male cheetah in the short grass. He was cleaning his paws, and was quite relaxed. Awesome morning light, good subject and serene background.

We moved around in the short grass, on our way to the Gol kopjes. We had nice herds of zebra, wildebeest, kongoni, topi, thompson and grant's gazelle. Some amazing running wildebeest on every horizon. Which way to go?

That was an easy decision, as Khumbi had located another cheetah who had only moments before taken down a year old wildebeest. By the time we arrived there we had at least 20 vultures waiting for their breakfast. The large male cheetah gorged himself and left when he was done. The vultures ran in and fought for the remaining meat. Nothing like watching rippers, gulpers and scrappers in the same pile. Vultures can be grouped this way: rippers open up carcasses that may have died naturally, gulpers eat much of the meat, and scrappers wait in the wings for their last pieces. Some examples:

Nubian vulture = ripperWhite backed vulture = gulperRuppell's Griffin vulture = gulperHooded vulture = scrapperEgyptian vulture = scrapper

We followed the cheetah a little while until he sat up in the grass and then I attempted to shoot with my 6x24 camera. Hopefully the shots came out, however I have low expectations to have predator shots with the camera. 300mm is a far focal length for the camera, however I had to stop down to f/32 to make sure it had enough depth of field. This yielded 1/60 for my shutter speed, which may not be enough for the winds we had today.

The winds were quite strong rom the east today, which was a challenge to deal with for those with really long lenses.

As we came over a hill on the eastern side of the Gol kopjes, we found a huge piece of the migratory wildebeest and zebra herds. There smiles and giggles all around, as they were extraordinarily clumped up and in one spot. This made the easiest photographs, however after a few minutes they scattered and started running. Not a problem, because this was a good opportunity for blurred panning shots! Whew! I was tired by 10am, because there were so many things to photograph this morning. If I had not taken notes, I would have forgotten something.

There were tons and tons of wildebeest on the eastern side of the park, towards Piyaya and the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. The folks down at Ndutu must be bummed right now, as we must have most of the migration all around us. It is nice to have this all to ourselves before Leopard Tours, Ranger Safaris or some of the companies with lazy guides show up. They listen to our radios and have been known to follow us around. What lazy a**holes they are, and they are not doing well for their customers. There are some exceptions, however I have found too many. There are some great companies in Tanzania and some not so good, just like any industry in the world.

We came across yet another cheetah, although this time we saw one laying down on the top of a nice kopje with absolutely no bushes or trees in sight. The light direction was challenging, and we waited to see if he would sit up or stand up for a good composition. It wasn't to be, however it was yet another cheetah sighting!

We drove into the middle of the wildebeest migration, and from 50 feet to infinity in all directions was a sea of wildebeest. And it drowned out a herd of hundreds of eland that I saw in the distance. I could have finished the safari today and people would have been happy from just the last 2 days of game drives. Good fortunes can change quickly, so we need to always be aware of this and set our expectations accordingly.

We headed back to camp a little early, as it had been a long day by 4pm. We took advantage of the extra time at camp by working on Lightroom on my digital projector. For those that had not used Lightroom before they were sold on the tool.

Tanzania safari report - Day 13

Almost all of my travelers had left camp 30 minutes earlier for their hot air balloon flight this morning, with the exception for three of us. We took the morning driving around on our own game drive while the rest of the group flew above the Serengeti in their balloon.

We spent the afternoon at the Moru kopjes, and had excellent success. We watched the beautiful scenery, climbed up a huge kopje and took in the expansive views. Within 1km of Gong Rock, we came upon a gorgeous lionees at the top of a rock. No complicated background to get in the way, as she was at the top and was modeling for us. The only thing that would have been better would have been a huge male with wind in his face and his mane flapping in the wind. But I digress....

After a few minutes with the lioness, we said hello to the ranger that drove by, and he pointed us to three black rhinos that were walking out in the open area on the edge of the kopjes. There is green grass right now, as well as a plethora of yellow flowers all around the Moru area. Wow. Double wow. Triple wow. I have seen a rhino at Moru in a couple of years, and it certainly was a treat. A tad far away for a good photograph, however I was excited to see such a rare treat.

A nice drive back to camp yielded some young hyaenas, as well as birds. Too many birds species to count, but I probably noticed at least 15 to 20 species in a 15 minute drive. I will miss Moru. One of the Serengeti's most private game drive areas that the bottom feeder outfitters don't bother with. All the better for me and my guests, because I don't like sharing it! It sounds selfish, but I do kind of feel that way. I do prefer to be away from other vehicles, and I balance my safaris to try and maximize photography as well as rich experiences.

Tanzania safari report - Day 12

We 'slept in' today and heard our camp staff wake us up with "Jambo Jambo" with jugs of hot water. We quickly ate breakfast, said goodbye to our camp staff and headed east towards mawe ya Maasai and vilima saba. Our goal was to get out onto the open plains and see something slightly different than the past 2 days. My heart, from a photographic sense, is soft for the open savannah. I find it much easier to compose with than the acacia woodland for the types of wildlife that I like to shoot.

We encountered great wildlife, and spent time with multiple elephant herds, topi, hartebeest, zebra, grant's gazelle and finished up with a mating pair of lions. The wind out on the plains was at least a 15mph, and that makes shooting with a long lens quite difficult. The lens hood on a 500mm or 600mm lens acts like a sail in the wind, as wind gets trapped and oves the lens. A good technique to offset the wind is to shoot from a lower position in the vehicle and block the wind. One thing you cannot eliminate is the wind's effect on the vehicle itself.

After our 'coitus interruptus' with the lions, we spotted a mother cheetah and her 3 year-old cubs. Gosh, what a beautiful and magnificent animal. We watched her from a comfortable 75 feet, even though we could have approached closer. Cheetahs are the only cat that actively hunts in the middle of the day, and we didn't want to interfere with her hunting.

We did notice her looking in one particular direction, and we quickly determined that there were more cheetahs around. We saw another mother with a very very young cub within binocular distance. This was definitely the highlight of my morning! We moved to watch mother #2, and within a few minutes she picked up her week old cub in her mouth and moved her out of sight. We didn't follow, but we did notice that she had another cub that she had not moved yet. Or was is 2? Well, we waited to find out. This may be the wildlife highlight of my year. The original cheetah mother could still be seen in the distance, and how the heck did we miss that she had *four*, not three cubs! So now we had visual confirmation of 8 cheetahs, perhaps 9 or 10. So we waited for mother #2 to come back to find out just how many more cubs were left. She looked nervous when she came back, so we left her alone to complete her moving of her cubs. We don't know how many she had in total, but our cheetah count for the day was 8 with at least one more unseen.

After lunch we headed back to the visitor center to get checked in for tomorrow's hot air balloon ride. For some reason they don't just accept that you have already paid and that you are going to show up. I guess that they would rather force you to show up the day before, and if you don't show up they can resell you spots and make double the money. It kind of frustrates me, but it is what it is and you have to learn the right attitude when working in Africa. Just smile, make friends and your blood pressure will benefit. Beer also helps. :-)

We drove the road towards mawe meupe (white rocks) and....ding! Another leopard. Not the best view, but that was leopard #2 for the safari. We didn't stick around for long and drove another 300 yards and ding! Another leopard in a tree. These guys must be mating, as both are full grown. We sat for a while until the sun started to set and then it was tim to head back to camp. No good views of either, however we had a great time watching both of them lounge around.

Whew. What a day. Time for a shower, dinner and bed. I still have tons of energy, however I have another 8 days to go so I have to conserve my energy.

Tanzania safari report - Day 11

So where is the rain? We haven't seen it in around 3 days, so I anticipate some dust if we don't see rain in the next few days. That is completely ok with me, as I enjoy photographing running animals in dust clouds. It adds another element to a scene and helps illustrate a story. The more eye candy you can put into a scene, better the photograph.

We left camp around 6:30am, in pursuit of a lion that we heard throughout the night. His roars echoed through our tents as we drifted off to sleep last night, and during breakfast you could see the smiles on faces in anticipation finding him this morning. We didn't find him, but we did find a magnificent martial eagle who was feasting on a bustard in a tree. Talk about predation! It made some people excited and others a tad grossed out. Life on the plains is all about sex and violence, I must say. It is part of a natural cycle out here.

Since we had such a fantastic hippo-fest a few days ago, I thought it would be a good idea to return to Retima. This is a good opportunity to show exposure techniques as well as configure people's cameras to use the autofocusbutton on the rear of their cameras. Most cameras made in the past few years have this button enabled, however it has little benefit until you disable the autofocus functionality on the shutter button. This is a good reminder for me to post a specific blog entry on the subject at a later date.

On our slow drive back to camp, we saw an all out war between bachelor impalas and an alpha male. All females there part of the harem stood and watched, as they were obviously waiting to see who the victor was.

After lunch we headed out in the later afternoon, and found a lioness on a dead tree in great light. It was the same tree as a few das ago, however this time the lioness was not collared. This was a very good thing. 3 other lions were close by, however they were in the low branches of a very green sausage tree.

Kileo and I stopped by the airstrip to intercept my 'lost' duffle bag, so I now have clean clothes and my digital projector! Woohoo. We stopped at a nice landscape shot for a big umbrella acacia tree with beautiful clouds over the Rongai hills in the background.

Back to camp and time for a nice shower.....

Tanzania safari report - Day 10

Well, I had to say goodbye to my first safari group this morning, and I just want to say thank you to all of my travelers for such a wonderful time. I truly believe that I have the best job on the planet, as I am able to call my participants both customers as we'll as friends. With sadness also comes joy, as the plane that picked up my safari group also dropped off my next safari group.

On this next safari we will do the same itinerary as my past safari, however we will work the itinerary backwards. We will be here in the Serengeti fo 5 nights and then Ngorongoro and ending with Tarangire National Park.

We packed up the Land Rovers at the Seronera airstrip and drove the road behind the Seronera Wildlife Lodge. There we spent time photographing a family of 7 giraffes, and I am glad that my new vehicle mates took the time to really work a scene. It paid off, because the walked near the vehicle and then gave us a great side view.

Without getting into too many details which are difficult to write on a Blackberry phone, we saw excellent game every 5 minutes for the rest of the afternoon. I know my travelers are extremely happy to have such an amazing first day in Africa!

We are camping near Makoma hill, just on the western side. The sunset from here is one of the best locations in the park, as many of the central Serengeti camp sites face towards the east, and our site faces west.

There was a messup today and my main duffle bag has made its way back to Arusha with one of the guides from my first safari. Uh oh. I do have a permanent duffle bag which I leave here in Tanzania, which luckily has some basic toiletries and a few shirts. Whew. I suspect I won't see my main bag for a few days, as it takes a few days to drive back to Arusha, and then the bag will have to be put on a bush plane back to me. I can frustrated about it, but it is a lifelong goal to not let the small things bother me. Why die young with stress? I will have a nice shower, sit by the fire and enjoy a gin and tonic, and wake up to the most amazing place on this planet.

With all of this high brow opinions coming from my keyboard, now I will try to put this all to practice. Until tomorrow.......

Tanzania safari report - Day 9

Today is the last full day for my first safari group, and we decided that we needed to fill up on photographs that weren't as plentiful earlier on. We were up at 5:30, had breakfast and headed out before first light. We went to my favorite location for hippos, and spent at least an hour and a half photographing yawning, sparring and sleeping hippos. This was a great opportunity to illustrate manual exposure techniques, as well as light direction, quality of light, depth of field and animal behavior.

As the sun started to get high in the sky, we headed back out for general game viewing. We stopped multiple times to grab some impala behavior, as the area was richwith them. In my opinion, sparring male impalas are excellent subjects to photograph near the end of a safari, as one typically doesn't appreciate them early in a safari. A typical safari traveler prefers big cats on their first few days, then loves on to smaller game.

For some reason we saw a black and white colobus monkey in the central Serengeti, which was quite a sight. Normally we will see them in the Ngorongoro highlands or the western corridor of the Serengeti, so this guy was very far from home. The central Serengeti does have permanent water, however the area isn't part of the home range for the colobus. Weird. Maybe scientists will blame it on climate change. :-)

After lunch we spent time in and around the Maasai kopjes, and came across a few gorgeous lions up at the top of an outcropping. The light wasn't the best, however we did sit and watch them move around a few times. I envisioned a kind of Thomas Mangelson type shot with a magestic male on top with his mane flailing in the wind. It wasn't to be.

After leaving the kopjes to intercept a nice her of elephants, we finally ran out of luck with the mud. We got stuck. Big time. Kileo and Abraham worked hard to get us out, and we all watched the lions on the kopje in the meantime. I wonder why the lions readjusted their bodies in our direction? Hmmmmm.

On the way back to camp, we saw yet another pride of lions. This time we had 3 cubs and 3 adult females. They were casually hunting an adult male warthog, but not with much gusto. Back at camp around sunset, and I am totally pooped. I am saying goodbye to my travelers tomorrow, and will be welcoming new guests to my "office". :-)