Category: Animals

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2019-11-24: Buck

Sunday posts this month were supposed to be all about elephants, but this lovely visitor changed my plans for the week.  I can’t even explain how nice it felt to have the opportunity to get out and take a few photos, and having both weather and wildlife corporate in the process was a bonus 🙂

I’ve seen a couple of different bucks in the neighbourhood on occasion, but have lately been seeing lots of evidence of them around the yard; they’ve been rubbing their antlers on many of the willow trees around, scoring the bark off and knocking down smaller branches and limbs.

This guy was really unconcerned about me being outside with him, but I kept my distance to not put any pressure on him and cause him to leave the cozy spot he found in the sun to relax.

He’s still in the yard as I type this, and has actually been joined by another, much smaller deer.  The little ones are sometimes much easier spooked, so I am going to leave this with just the images I have so far, and let all the deer graze without interruption.

Wishing everyone a wonderful week ahead.

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2019-11-17: Artistic Elephants

Before I get to the images I created for this post, my public service announcement for the day: Always make sure you have a backup of your computer!  I made the decision to upgrade my Mac to a new operating system (not the newest one just released, the one before that, as I thought all the bugs would be worked out). Partway through the install, there was a failure and I ended up with a totally dead computer.  Thankfully, I have a pretty good backup strategy, so all I lost was the edit on a single image… And I wasn’t really that happy with the edit, so it isn’t really much of a loss.  I didn’t get to spend my afternoon editing as my computer was busy doing its own thing with the restore function.  But if I hadn’t had that, I would have spent the day seriously freaking out.

Anyways, on to the topic at hand.  I was playing around with elephant images this week, creating some of what I call my photo art or artistic impressions images.  I love elephants as the subject for these types of creations, as their large size allows the subject to still be recognizable, no matter how crazy I go with different filters, textures and techniques.

I had a lot of fun working on these, I hope you enjoy them too.

Have a great week ahead!

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2019-11-11: Monochrome Monday

The waterbuck image caught my eye today while I was editing, and I thought a selection of antelope would be a good feature for the day.

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This nyala was grazing peacefully behind my room, so quietly that I didn’t notice him until he was quite close to the edge of the deck.  I was sitting out enjoying the early afternoon with a book and a cup of tea.
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I can’t see a photo of a male kudu anymore without hearing the voice of my guide Harley saying “So majestic!”
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This waterbuck was the boss of the dam, and was busy keeping all the females and youngsters in check while I was watching him.
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An impala ram in his prime, taking a break from guarding his harem to take a quick drink at the dam.

 

 

 

 

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2019-11-10: Amongst the herd

Sometimes on safari, the vehicle is stopped to watch a small group of elephants, and quite suddenly, you find yourself in the middle of a rather large herd, with elephants to all sides of the vehicle as they make their way through the bush.  I feel incredibly blessed as this has happened to me numerous times while out on game drives.  For some people, the situation can feel a bit intimidating, but I always trust that my guide is reading the situation correctly, and has an exit strategy prepared in case things get dicey.

Thankfully, we’ve never had to use one of those, and instead can enjoy elephants as far as the eye can see.

I hope you enjoy my selections for today, and wishing you a wonderful week ahead.

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Part of a breeding herd of elephants that were moving back into the bushes after being down at the river for a drink.  All of the dust in the air had been kicked up by others elephants passing by.  We had thick bush to both sides, so we just sat and waited until this group moved off the road before carrying on our way.  Tinga Lodge, May 2019.
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This is the closest I have ever seen to the cute drawings of baby elephants hanging on to Mom’s tail.  This was just a fortunate flick of Mom’s tail and the baby moving its trunk at the right time.  These two were part of a massive herd that we spent time with at Kings Camp in the Timbavati.
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A few more elephants from the large herd at Kings Camp.  We saw this group a couple times during our stay, but because the ground is fairly flat with short, bushy trees, there was no way to really capture the scope of the herd.  Groups of a half dozen or so was all I could accomplish.  There were so many little babies in this group, it was heartwarming to see such a baby boom.
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The fading late afternoon light wasn’t great for photography, but sitting with this herd while on a game drive from Chitwa Chitwa was a lot of fun.  We had a couple of safari newbies on our vehicle, and their reaction to how close the elephants came to us while grazing was great.  Lots of gasps and excited whispers from the back of the vehicle!
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Another situation where there were elephants in all directions, but only opportunities to capture a few individuals at a time.  But this adorable baby!  Just look at that face!
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2019-11-04: Monochrome Monday

While staying at Lion Sands River Lodge, we set out on our afternoon game drive and came across a small bachelor group of elephants.  These four broke off into pairs, play fighting as the day grew dim, while a couple of other bulls grazed nearby.  It’s so cool watching the interaction of these animals.

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Happy Monday everyone!

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2019-11-03: Baby Elephants

My focus for the month is on elephant images, and I decided to start off with some of the adorable babies that I saw on my last safari.

I’ve had the great fortune to spend time amongst the shy ones, the boisterous ones, the playful ones and the ones too focused on food to even give the vehicle a passing glance.  I adore them all.  I hope that the individual character of each animal shines through these images below.

Wishing everyone a fantastic week ahead!

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This little elephant was having a blast playing with this branch.  Waving his trunk while holding it, smacking itself on the sides with the branch, and at one point, tossing it in the air and having it land on its head, wearing it like a leafy crown.
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When you’re hungry, you’re hungry.  Even if that means creating a bit of a traffic jam for the herd behind you.
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This little elephant seems to be very proud of the stick that it is holding.
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Another elephant calf with a stick.  Fetch anyone???
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This was the first group of elephants I saw on my trip.  Being around these beautiful animals makes me incredibly happy.  The elephant baby boom we witnessed at all the properties we stayed at was just amazing.  There were babies everywhere, and so many of them, in large herds.

 

 

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