I was in awe of the lilac breasted roller at first sight, and they have remained my very favourite bird to spot on safari ever since. It would be a challenge to think of a time on a game drive when I saw one and didn’t mention it; not necessarily as a request to stop, but it is just such a striking bird that I can’t help but comment on it. Seeing them with a beautiful clear blue sky in the background is a bonus, but they are beautiful even in flat light.
Here are a couple of images of lilac breasted rollers from my most recent trip.
A lilac breasted roller coming in to land at an ant hill. The rollers were very active in this area, which was not far from the banks of the Chobe River. They gave me lots of opportunity to try to catch them in flight. Chobe National Park, Botswana. April, 2024.This roller posed for a decent amount of time, in perfect early morning light, allowing not only for some good photographs, but a good opportunity to study the bird. Notice the tiny hook at the end of the beak, and that the eyebrow feathers are perhaps the plainest ones anywhere on its body. Makgadikgadi Pans National Park, Botswana. April, 2024.Another roller in perfect light, showing off a view of the underside and wings as it takes off from its dead tree perch. Makgadikgadi Pans National Park, Botswana. April, 2024.
Today, my eyes were drawn to dramatic, saturated colours, so I selected a few landscape images to edit. While today was a lovely day, with sunshine and blue skies to accentuate the fresh snow on the trees, I often find this time of year lacks in colour, and that, along with the lack of daylight, leaves me feeling rather blah. It’s nice to have these images to look over to perk me up as needed.
I snapped this image while waiting for our guide to pick us up for our morning drive. If I would have had more time, I would have set my tripod up for this, but even though I had to crank up the ISO to accommodate the shutter speed, I’m happy enough with the results, because at least I can remember the dramatic pink and purple skies. So many of the images I have can transport me right back to where I was when I snapped the shutter. I look at this and hear the chatter of early morning birds, smell the freshness of the bush at dawn and feel the slightly cool breeze. Timbavati Private Game Reserve, South Africa. April, 2024.
Sunrise on the Chobe River, during a morning boat cruise. It was such a peaceful morning out on the water. Chobe National Park, Botswana. April, 2024.Our guide was upset that we spent so long with a bull elephant eating reeds in a channel, that we missed the sunset. But based on this image, I don’t think we missed anything at all. The colours at sunrise and sunset in the Okavango Delta were something I looked forward to prior to my trip, and they did not disappoint. Moremi Game Reserve, Botswana. April, 2024.A sunset drinks stop, complete with hippos. Moremi Game Reserve, Botswana. April, 2024.I was so happy I was able to capture this sunrise, as I was having issues with one of my cameras while it was happening. I was getting an F0 message on the camera body that had a 150mm-400mm lens, but the error resolved when I switched to a smaller lens. A quick search on the internet yielded the likely cause of the issue, and thankfully one of the people in my group had a small screwdriver allowing an easy fix, but it definitely had me perplexed for a bit. It turns out, the weight of the 150mm-400mm lens over the years had loosened some screws in the body of the camera. This was taken my last morning in Moremi Game Reserve. Botswana, April, 2024.
Last week I focused on land predators, and this week, it is a few predators of the air.
A Pel’s Fishing Owl. As the name suggests, this owl primarily feeds on fish. I’ve highlighted this owl in a previous post, with more images of this owl and her chick, which can be found here. Moremi Game Reserve, Botswana. April, 2024.It would have been nice if this dark chanting goshawk had turned its head slightly, but at least it stayed still so I could get a shot. I saw lots of dark chanting goshawks on this trip, and had previously only seen the pale chanting goshawk, so it was nice to add a new bird to my list (which I really should start keeping somewhere, other than in my head). These birds have a varied diet of small mammals, birds and reptiles. Klaserie Sands Private Game Reserve, South Africa. April, 2024.This is the tawny eagle mentioned in my post from last week, that lead our group to a hyena sighting. I believe our guide thought that the tawny eagle was feeding on the liver of the impala that the hyena caught, but wasn’t 100% certain. It was definitely a very fresh piece of meat. Klaserie Sands Private Game Reserve, South Africa. April, 2024.I’ve been fortunate to see many African fish eagles during my travels, as they are widespread and common, but this was the first time that I saw one having a drink at the river. Chobe National Park, Botswana. April, 2024.Another eagle I have been fortunate to see on several different trips; this is a brown snake eagle. As the name suggests, its primary diet is snakes. This sighting was one of the times where there actually was a bird on the tree, rather than just a piece of broken branch fooling us. Chobe National Park, Botswana. April, 2024.I was so excited to finally see an adult bateleur eagle during this trip, as previously I’d seen many juveniles, who don’t have near the impressive colours as this adult. We were very fortunate that this individual chose to stay on this branch for a long time, allowing all of our group the chance for good views and photographs. Savute Game Reserve, Botswana. April, 2024.
I chose to highlight some of the predators that I saw on my last safari. Of course, there is more to predators than just animals; there are reptiles and birds that also fall under this category, but today I am sticking with the four-legged variety.
Predators are what a lot of people aim to see while on safari, but a game drive is so much more than seeing a glimpse of a lion or leopard. It always bears repeating, that the best game drives are the ones that you go on without a strong agenda, and allow the beauty of Mother Nature to unfold before you, and experience all that is on offer.
A mother leopard and her cub grooming each other. Timbavati Private Game Reserve, South Africa. April, 2024.A lion cub very relaxed in the shade on a very hot afternoon in Savute. Savute Game Reserve, Botswana. April, 2024.
A rare sighting of an African wild cat, which is slightly larger than an average house cat. Savute Game Reserve, Botswana. April, 2024.
A hyena that approached our vehicle with a pack of wild dogs nearby. At the time we saw this individual, we only had two of the dogs in our sight, but they soon took us to where the rest of the pack was. The hyena didn’t follow. Timbavati Private Game Reserve, South Africa. April, 2024.
A wild dog relaxing in the shade. Timbavati Private Game Reserve, Botswana. April, 2024.Some lion cubs playing in the cool of an early morning with one of the mothers watching from the sidelines. This was a small part of the pride that was in the area, and all the youngsters were having fun before it got too hot to do anything but lie under a bush. Savute Game Reserve, Botswana. April, 2024.You can’t ask for much better than a leopard posing on a termite mound. Timbavati Private Game Reserve, South Africa. April, 2024.A young lion in the tall grass, being kissed by the late afternoon light. Klaserie Sands Private Game Reserve, South Africa. April, 2024.A pair of hyena with an impala ram submerged in a small pond. We were incredibly fortunate to come across this sighting. We were lead to it by seeing a tawny eagle with a piece of very fresh meat, and our guide knew there had to be a very fresh kill nearby. Klaserie Sands Private Game Reserve, South Africa. April, 2024.
You never know what you might cross paths with when out on a safari game drive. Between the guides, trackers and all the guests, there are eyes scanning in every possible direction, off into the far distance. But sometimes, the wildlife makes it easy by hanging out on the road or crossing right in front of the vehicle, making them very easy to spot and view.
All of these images are animals spotted on the roadways; these are the types of traffic jams that I never mind being a part of.
A leopard tortoise crossing a road through Moremi Game Reserve in Botswana. We came across the tortoise when it was already most of the way across the track, or we would have been stopped for quite some time, as there wasn’t a great option to go around it. Botswana, April 2024.A pair of hyena taking a fork in the road straight towards us. Timbavati Private Game Reserve, South Africa. April, 2024.An African hoopoe searching for breakfast along the roadside. Savute Game Reserve, Botswana. April, 2024.This young zebra was napping on the road until we drove up, disturbing its rest. Savute Game Reserve, Botswana. April, 2024.A roadblock I will never be unhappy about! A wild dog pausing in the middle of the road. Timbavati Private Game Reserve, South Africa. April, 2024.Both zebra and giraffe putting a pause on our early morning game drive. Klaserie Sands Private Game Reserve, South Africa. April, 2024.The soft sands of the roads through Chobe National Park are very helpful for seeing tracks. Even more helpful is coming across the animal leaving the tracks. Here we have a male lion crossing the road, following a female that had crossed moments before (her set of tracks are between the male lion and our vehicle). Our amazing guide Miss B was always in the right place at exactly the right time. Chobe National Park, Botswana. April, 2024.
I was drawn to elephants when I sat down to work through some photos today, but when I came online to create my post, I realized I did the same thing only a month ago (which you can find here). As I rebuild my habits for photo editing and posting, checking what I have done recently is probably a smart thing to add early in the process.
Throughout the years of this blog I’ve said time and again how much I love spending time with elephants; and if I could only pick one animal to see one safari, it would be elephants, as they are almost always active and on the move doing something: feeding, drinking or interacting with one another, which makes them very interesting to spend time with.
A group of male elephants greeting each other with some trunk touching. Timbavati Private Game Reserve, South Africa. April 2024.This elephant had only a partial trunk, likely from a snare injury. Despite this disability, he was able to drink and feed himself. He was traveling with a larger herd that had already moved on down the riverbed to feed. Timbavati Private Game Reserve, South Africa. April, 2024.A perfect reflection of an elephant in this small watering hole. He was very accommodating and we spent a good deal of time just relaxing a watching him go about his morning. Tombavati Private Game Reserve, South Africa. April, 2024.An elephant leaving the watering hole to return to grazing. Savute national Park, Botswana. April, 2024.A trio of youngsters drinking from a watering hole in Savuti. Their mothers were all very close by and watching over them, but seeing these three together like this was quite a treat. Baby elephants are just too cute for words. Savute National Park, Botswana. April, 2024.A group of elephants drinking from the Chobe River in the afternoon, watched by a nearby hippo. Choose National Park, Botswana. April, 2024.Another perfect reflection, this time from the hide at Leroo La Tau camp in Botswana. Makgadikgadi Pans National Park, 2024.
I was drawn to work on landscape photos this week, so I picked a selection from the different places I visited between South Africa and Botswana this past April.
This was a dry riverbed in the Timbavati Private Game Reserve, with a waterbuck grazing and a rock fig growing out of the side of the large rocks. South Africa, April, 2024.Sunrise in Klaserie Sands Game Reserve in South Africa. This trip was my first time in this reserve, and it was surprising how different the landscape was, compared to the Timbavati that it shares a border with. The area was fenced for a very long time, so the bush was very thick since there were no elephants passing through until quite recently. Klaserie Sands Game Reserve, South Africa. April, 2024. A lone waterbuck on the floodplain alongside the Chobe River. Despite the fact that I was there at the very start of the dry season, the river was extremely low. It was very different to being in the area in April of 2013 or more recently in November 2022. Chobe Game Reserve, Botswana. April, 2024.Sunrise on the Chobe River, during a beautiful early morning boat cruise (complete with coffee and snacks, of course!). Chobe Game Reserve, Botswana. April, 2024.A rocky outcrop in Savute Game Reserve. It wasn’t the type of game drive where I felt comfortable asking to stop for a lot of landscape shots, so I just put my camera on the fastest shutter speed I could, and then snapped away while driving. Some of them worked, but many did not. Savute Game Reserve, Botswana. April, 2024.Moonset at sunrise in Savute Game Reserve, Botswana. April, 2024.A pair of baobab trees seen in Savute. Botswana, April, 2024.This area is called Dead Tree Island in Moremi Game Reserve. While you might initially think an area of dead trees wouldn’t be the most photogenic area to be in, I found it strikingly beautiful. I have quite a few images from this area that I flagged to work on in the future. Moremi Game Reserve, Botswana. April, 2024.Okavango Delta sundowner drinks stop at a hippo pond. This was a preplanned stop with the camp staff having set up a bar and snacks stop for all the vehicles to visit. It was a lovely evening. Moremi Game Reserve, Botswana. April, 2024.A lone bull elephant climbing the hill from the dry Boteti riverbed outside of Leroo La Tau Camp. I am hoping to soon pull some images from my first time in this area in 2015 and contrasts them with the more recent ones as the difference in the landscape is quite striking. Makgadikgadi Pans National Park, Botswana. April, 2024.
I find owls fascinating and love having the opportunity to see them (or hear them) at home or while away. I was fortunate to see several different species of owl during my trip to South Africa and Botswana, including one very, very rare owl that was likely my once in a lifetime viewing opportunity.
While I saw many Verreaux’s eagle owls on this trip, the sightings were either at night or early evening leaving me with less than inspiring images to share. But including them, we had 5 different owl species on the trip, which I think is fantastic.
An African barred owlet seen on a game drive in Botswana from Leroo La Tau camp. Botswana, April, 2024.I found it very interesting that the spots on the back of the barred owlet’s head look like eyes. Botswana April, 2024.This is a pearl spotted owlet, unfortunately seen in the early evening and deep in a tree, making it difficult to point out the subtle differences between this and the barred owlet. The marking on the head is spots rather than stripes, but beyond that they are very similar in size and appearance. The pearl spotted owlet apparently lacks the false eyes on the back of the head, but I didn’t get a look at that personally. Botswana, April, 2024.A barred owlet that was discovered in a tree right off the path between cabins at Leroo La Tau camp. This little owl was very patient and allowed our entire group the chance to have a good look and some close up photos. Botswana April 2024.Barn owls look the same the world over. This pair of chicks were roosting in the rafters above one of the entry points into Moremi Game Reserve. Botswana, April, 2024.The very rare to see Pel’s fishing owl was a first for everyone in our group, and if memory serves, our guide, with over 25 years experience, had only one previous sighting. We were very fortunate to be staying next door to a camp that had a resident pair with a chick, nesting right above the deck, and they were gracious enough to allow our group to come over and see these rare and beautiful birds.
This is the mother owl; she was perched in a high tree perhaps 50 feet or so away from where the chick was. Botswana, April, 2024.
The Pel’s fishing owl chick perched in the fork of a tree. Going from memory the chick was around 12″ in height. Botswana, April, 2024.
On the plus side, I managed to get an editing session completed this weekend. On the minus side, it’s nearly bedtime when I finished. I’m sure as the decent weather fades, it will be easier to schedule in computer time.
Elephants are always an easy choice for me for editing and posts, because I’m fascinated by them and enjoy watching them so much; I always come back with loads of photos to choose from. This selection is all bull elephants, seen throughout my last trip in South Africa and Botswana.
An elephant mid dust bath. Timbavati, South Africa. April, 2024.An elephant passing next to one of the road markers in Savute, Botswana. April, 2024.An elephant feeding in the Okavango Delta wetlands at sunset. Botswana, April, 2024.
We all knew who had right of way on this road, and it sure wasn’t our convoy of vehicles. Botswana, April, 2024.
A lone bull quenching his thirst at the waterhole outside of Leroo La Tau Lodge in Botswana. April, 2024.
I read the weekly newsletter of a photographer that I follow this morning, and one of the topics mentioned was about being overwhelmed with the process of editing photos. One of the comments he made really has me thinking, and may change the way I approach my catalogue in the future. The author mentioned that he doesn’t bother with a rating system anymore; it’s either yes or no. Do I want to work with the image, share it, etc, or not. Having only just finished my 2-star rating pass of my image catalogue from my trip, and finding it on the one hand enjoyable viewing images and reliving some of the moments, but on the other, incredibly time consuming, employing a new strategy might be necessary.
I’m hesitant because I worry I’ll miss something if I am ruthlessly flagging things yes or no. But flagging an image doesn’t mean I can’t look through them again later and see if my feelings have changed or not. It’s not like anything is getting deleted (well, except all the accidental shutter clicks of my pant leg, there’s no need for those).
In the spirit of looking for images I absolutely wanted to work with and share, here are a few giraffe images from my past trip. The instantly recognizable shape of the giraffe lends itself beautifully to a silhouette, and how nice of all these animals for cooperating.
Giraffes at sundown. Savute Game Reserve, Botswana. April, 2024.
A giraffe at sunrise. Timbavati Game Reserve, South Africa. April, 2024
Moving the vehicle allowed us to capture some of the friends of the lone giraffe above. Timbavati Game Reserve, South Africa. April, 2024
