Tanzania safari report - Day 8

Today we explored the absolutely stunning Moru kopjes, situated just south of our camp site. The Moru kopjes are the oldest of all the rock outcroppings in the Serengeti, and I always look forward to my game drives there. I rarely see other vehicles when visiting Moru, and it feelsike my own private Serengeti.

We passed by Lake Magadi and made what I call a serious water crossing, which means we had water above the hood our Land Rover. After crossing we came across a very muddy road around the kopjes. Moru always is a muddy place when compared to other roads in the park, as the area is primarily made up of black cotton soil. If I get stuck somewhere, you can count that it will be in the Moru area.

It was a fairly quiet morning, except for a group of 18 giraffe. We spent around 45 minutes composing our shots in different ways, and I cannot wait to see if some of my pano shots turned out the way I enviosned. I am having a difficult time figuring out the framing of my shots, because the Fotoman rangefinder does not have clearly defined edges. This makes composing quite difficult, especially with a longer lens like my 300mm.

I haven't used the Fuji 6x17 camera before, however I do knw that the viewfinder does have clear lines around the edges. I may try that format if this doesn't work out for me.

We had a relaxing lunch back at camp, and said goodbye to the camp staff around 2:30. We fueled up at Seronera, and took in a few sightings of lion and leopard (with an impala up in a tree). Then we were off for our camp near Robanda.

It didn't rain today, however the roads are still quite wet. We will have to spend some time near Mawe ya Maasai (Masai kopjes) to try and finish off this safari with some more lions on a rock.

I finshed my last Cuban cigar tonight, and have another 12 days before retuning home. Uh oh.

Tanzania safari report - Day 7

Today we split into two groups: hot air ballooners and non ballooners. The ballooners were up at 4:45 for their second flight attempt. The day before we had to cancel our flight due to rains, so today was attempt #2. Sometimes the balloon company allows to to join without a fee, however on this occasion there were no available slots.

We headed down towards the Gol kopjes in search of cheetah and lion activity, as well as migratory herds of zebra and wildbeest. We certainly found all of the above.

The Gol kopjes are rock outcroppings out the southeastern plains of the Serengeti. The area has very short grass, which wildebeest love to eat. This grass is nutritionally high, so it will yield good milk for their newborn early in the year. There are also resident thompson gazelle, which means cheetah will not be far away.

We checked in at Naabi hill with the rangers there, then we were on our way. We spent the morning driving in and around the kopjes, and came across a lion sleeping on a nice rock and then a female cheetah in an open field. After some persistence, we arrived at a large kopje which appeared to have 3 female and 1 male lions. The male was splitting his time 'servicing' two of the females, and every 10 minutes was a Barry White moment with cameras clicking away. We sat for 2 hours watching the interaction between the lions, and as we were leaving to go have a picnic a second male lion came out of hiding to join into the action. It was a virtual orgy of lions, acting out in front of our vehicles. I took something like 18 exposures with my pano camera, which wasn't the easiest. With only 3 exposures per roll, I was chaning rolls quite often.

The afternnon brought more rains, and on ourt liesurely game drive we came in and out of the rain quite often. I am glad that it didn't rain at camp, because I was waiting for the camp staff to wash and dry my laundry.

The plains are so green right now, many roads are challenging and the wildlife spread out. We are having great photo ops nonetheless, and some stunning images are coming out of this group of travelers.

Tanzania safari report - Day 6

What a very very wet day. Some of us were up early for a drive to the hot air balloon launch site, and the minute we jumped in the Land Rover we had a wall of rain. We did drive to the site anyway, however after waiting for 45 minutes the pilot came over and told us the flight was called off due to the rain.

We headed back to camp and nearly got stuck every 5 minutes. A 30 minute drive quickly turned into 90. Ugh.

After lunch our luck turned around, and we had multiple leopard and lion sightings. Four lions in a tree here, two lions in the grass over there, a leopard in a tree there, etc etc. Excellent afternoon by any standard.

The rains are challenging from a driving standpoint, because there is mud everywhere. I am sure the local farmers are quite happy right now.

I am doing a Lightroom processing lecture tonight, and I will process raw files from some of the guests. One of the challenges from these safaris is processing through thousands and thousands of raw files. Which to select? Why? I like to help out as much as I can, as I have processed a few photos before. :-) I am shooting film and video on this safari, so I cannot show my own images from each day.

Tanzania safari report - day 5

Wow. What a day. Where do I begin? We left camp this morning, drove around the edge of Ngorongoro Crater and gradually lost elevation on our way to the Serengeti plains. We had some amazing giraffe sightings at the Malanja depression, as a family of 15 walked along side us for quite some time. Giraffe are my favorite animal to photograph, and this was one of those better sightings.

The acacias slowly turned into lush, green grasses as we passed Oldupai Gorge. There are tons of thompson gazelle and wildebeest as far as the eyes can see. We stopped for a herd of wildebeest to cross the road, and it took 30 minutes for them to cross the road one-by-one. Excellent video opportunity.

After Naabi Hill, we detoured off the main road towards vilima saba (7 hills). It is usually excellent territory for cheetahs, however today it was quite void of game. After getting close to Seronera, the central part of Serengeti NP, we came across a gorgeous female leopard crossing the road. She didn't stick around for long, but I am glad that my guests have already seen a leopard up close. Now I want one in a tree only a few feet away from my vehicle. :-)

We ended the day with 5 bat-eared foxes just outside of camp. Talk about playful and fearless. Typically they are very skiddish, however today was just the opposite. We have 4 giraffes here at camp, and we are taking photos from our tent porches. How lame, I know, but it has been a very long day. Tomorrow we are hot air ballooning, so we are up at 4:30. Time for bed. Until tomorrow.....

Photo of the Day

Lioness in a Tree

Serengeti National Park, Tanzania. June 2006

Canon 5D, 500mm f/4 + 1.4x, 1/100 sec @ f/10, ISO 250