An African Adventure

We are still trying to come back down to earth after another amazing adventure! This time our search for wildlife took us to Africa where we travelled through Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia.

Much credit must go to our Wonderful guides who found us the right places at the right times to get many of the following pictures. So thanks to Lucky, Owen, Dollar, Joshua, B-Man and the rest - you made the trip a fantastic experience. Many of the shots are just like those you can see on TV or in magazines, but for me, knowing I was behind the camera makes them very special! Hope you enjoy the pictures!

There is a space for comments at the bottom, please leave a comment, it is much appreciated!!

I have tried to keep the dialogue short as there are quite a few pictures - please do stay with me as some of the best shots are further down the list! Look out for the leopard and the Painted (Hunting) dogs - 2 real highlights of the trip for us.

We started the trip on our own in Victoria Falls. One of the modern wonders of the world, they are an amazing sight - and we saw them in the 'Dry' season!

 

The picture above shows just a small section of the falls. In the morning we walked the length of the falls through the national park. In the afternoon, we took a helicopter flight to see them in all their glory from above.

 

This picture is one of those taken from the helicopter. A little hazy as it was in the full heat of the afternoon. A beautiful sight nonetheless!

 

However, my blog is mostly about wildlife. I have a website in development entitled 'Ants to Elephants' and this pretty much sums up our experiences in Africa. We saw everything from the Matabele Ant..

 

 

..to the African elephant - HUNDREDS of them! We had no idea there were so many elephants in Africa with one park having an estimated 100,000 and another had an estimated 80,000. We had many close encounters both in the vehicles and on foot!

 

 

To include all of my 2,500 odd photos and to comment on all of them would take a lifetime, so here are some of the highlights, in the order we saw them with a few comments interspersed. Enjoy!

 

The following few shots were taken at our first lodge. None of the lodges we stayed at were fenced and so animal were free to wander in at any time. Consequently we were regularly woken up by elephants, hippos and even a leopard wandering between the tents - amazing! 

 

Our first bug in Africa!

This amazing owl was perched just outside of our tent!

While were were taking shots of the scenery - our first close encounter with elephants! This herd, about 20 individuals wandered in just a few yards away. We were instructed to remain very still and very quiet!

 

 

And they were still there when were eating our evening meal in the open air! Courtesy of the pretty amazing low light feature on my new camera!

 The next sequence were all taken at a waterhole. Our first experience of a mass of wildlife, and it was amazing!!! At one point were surrounded by around 150 elephants - it was quite an experience.

A little moment of drama!

Something spooked them!

Lilac Breasted Roller - unbelievable colours!!



Is the elephant saying 'Don't start something you cannot finish'?

Yellow Billed Hornbill - we saw lots of these.

Below are three pictures of the African Fish Eagle. We saw quite a few of these impressive hunters throughout the trip!

 

 

 

At this point, elephants started to appear from all directions! It is amazing how quiet they are when they walk.



Finally a giraffe - now we move on from the waterhole.

On the same day as the waterhole but at a different location, we came across more groups of zebra and various antelopes as well as a pride of lions. The lions posed beautifully for us as you can see.

 

 

Very alert - and just as well (Next pics)

She means business!

Awww - they cannot be dangerous surely?

An affectionate moment.

 Ok, a slight change in tactics! I am finding the subjects are jumping around a bit. So, instead of going in time sequence, I am now going to group the pictures by animal type. Hope that is OK?

Giraffes

 

Giraffes are so beautiful and elegant. We were lucky enough to see a large number. Some individuals and some groups of up to 10 individuals. At one point we saw a pair fighting - behaviour that was only seen and filmed for the first time very recently (by Daviod Attenborough - who else?).



 

A little grooming needed!

 

Birds

And now, a small selection of the many weird and wonderful birds we saw on our travels.

Not as fierce as it looks - the Ground Hornbill.

 Ostriches, must be the most bizarre birds on the planet!

Another Yellow Billed Hornbill

Two more pictures of the stunning Lilac Breasted Roller/

African Starling - the name does not do it justice!

Open Billed |Stork

Bee-Eater - can be seen in the UK - a really beautiful bird.

Maribou Storks - as ugly as sin, but perform a useful role! They work with the vultures to clear up what the other predators leave behind.

Pelicans (below) are Gerry's favourite bird. These were on the edge of a drying salt pan. Earlier in the year we might have seen thousands of Flamingos. Too late this year though.



Guinea Fowl - very common but hard to catch a  good shot!

The vultures below were helping the storks to finish off an Impala caught by the Painted Dogs (See pictures of the dogs coming up next!).



Vultures helping the storks

We were really lucky to get pictures of the rare Painted Dogs, previously called 'Hunting Dogs'. They are endangered but beautiful and have the highest chase/kill ratio of any predator. Apologies for the rather gruesome second picture, but that is nature.

 


And while on a 'Dog' theme, two lovely Black Backed jackals having a little quality time together.

 

 

And a few more shots of large mammals. I am sure no labels are needed for most of these. I guess we had right of way here, but were certainly not going to start an argument!

 

What have they spotted!

 

Sable Antelope - another endangered species.

The Jewel in the Crown!

For me, this was the highlight of the whole trip. The Leopard is my favourite big cat. Such a secretive animal and so hard to spot. It is an incredibly powerful hunter and can easily drag a medium sized antelope up into a tree to keep it away from scavengers. We were SO lucky to get this sighting of one feeding on a small Wildebeest.

 

Of course, no blog of mine would be complete without a selection of bugs and reptiles - my favourite subjects both at home and on my travels. This trip was (for a change) mostly about the big creatures - but here is a selection of bugs and reptiles.

4 foot Water Monitor just 10 yards from our room!

The Butterfly below, the most impressive one we saw in Africa was the last creature I photographed in Africa. Caught while we were waiting for our transport to the airport for the long trip home! This specimen was, although not as large as some we have seen in our travels, was by far the biggest we saw on this trip!

That's it for now folks. Hope you enjoyed the pictures. looking at them cannot compare with actually being there. We had some wonderful moments - some breath-taking and some adrenaline pumping but all wonderful. Now we have to start planning the next trip!