Category: Wildlife

Posted on

2019-11-25: Monochrome Monday

We saw this leopard and her cub on an afternoon game drive from Chitwa Chitwa.  As is sometimes the case while out and about, a sighting is occupied, and vehicles need to take turns to give people an opportunity for viewing.  Our turn was late in the afternoon, nearing dark, and it was a very challenging area to get into, surrounded by fallen trees and a gulley.

When we arrive, it was just the mother leopard, relaxing on the ground, paws over the edge of the bank.  Our guide knew her cub would be nearby, even though none of the other vehicles had seen it.  Sure enough, we waited quietly, watching this beautiful, lounging leopard, and out popped the cub from a deep within the bushes.  It spent only a few minutes with Mom, when the sound of an approaching vehicle spooked it, and it headed back to its hiding place.

So if you are out on safari and are stuck in a bit of a queue for a sighting, don’t despair, it could turn out much better than you expected 🙂

Have a great week!

XT3X3850 copyXT3X3868

Posted on

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.

DSCF0032DSCF0036DSCF0031DSCF0016 copy-Edit

Posted on

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!

DSCF1515 copy-Edit copy

XT3X3794 copy-Edit

DSCF2618 copy-Edit

Posted on

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.

DSCF2443 copy copy
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.
XT3X4538 copy
I can’t see a photo of a male kudu anymore without hearing the voice of my guide Harley saying “So majestic!”
XT3X4586 copy
This waterbuck was the boss of the dam, and was busy keeping all the females and youngsters in check while I was watching him.
XT3X4604 copy-Edit copy
An impala ram in his prime, taking a break from guarding his harem to take a quick drink at the dam.

 

 

 

 

Posted on

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.

DSCF1471
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.
DSCF3824
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.
DSCF3872
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.
DSCF4285 copy-Edit
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!
XT3X4269 copy-Edit
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!
Proudly powered by WordPress
error: Content is protected !!