I and Marc Muench had the good fortune to be asked by Andy Biggs to help him lead a photo safari in South Africa's Singita Sabi Sand Game Reserve.

Male leopard, Canon 5D3 and 70-200 f/2.8L IS II, ISO 6400 @ f/2.8


I shot this Safari with two cameras and two lenses: A Nikon D800 with 200-400 f/4 VR II and a Canon 5D Mark III with 70-200 f/2.8L IS II. Fly to Johannesburg and then next day a bush plane out to Singita Airstrip, we're met by the wonderful staff and guides from Singita's Castleton Camp, and after a quick bite to eat we were on our first game drive of the trip. Our first game drive featured some mating leopards Too bad we didn't come upon them until about 20 minutes past sunset, but it was thrilling nonetheless! We rode in open Land Rovers, one photographer per row of seats - we shoot from monopods mounted to the roll bar in front of you, and then a gimbal head on top of the monopod - a setup that was new to me but worked out great! I'll post some pics of that stuff a bit later.

Harry Behret, Linda Behret and Gary were with me on the first drive


Soooo, I mentioned the mating leopards By the time we found them it was dark, literally 20+ minutes after sunset. No problem, jack the ISO on the 5D3 up to 6400 and have a ball. Not ideal, but it's pretty cool to be able to shoot at 6400 ISO. We watched this scene for quite a long time - they performed the mating ritual 8 times in an hour. Here, the female leopard is presenting herself to the male leopard. "Why don't we do it in the road?"


The male then does his thing. The sounds he makes are the deepest, throatiest, scariest animal sounds you can ever imagine. Exciting!


After the act, the male continues to show dominance by biting the female on the neck and head:


At this point, the female decides to show the male who is boss:


An exciting first day! I will post more photos here in this thread, Journeys-style. Keep coming back for updates, I have several thousand images to sort through and process, so it'll take me some time

Love the last one, lol

Great shots Andy. I empathize with the male leopard.

Excellent pictures Andy, especially #2.

It was a great trip and real pleasure to shoot with Mark, Andy and yourself. We had a great group of folks on the trip and it was a thrill to be back in Africa.

Awesome set Andy. Can't wait for more...

Fantastic.

Originally Posted by Harryb Excellent pictures Andy, especially #2.

It was great to be with you also, Harry, and to be shooting NIKON!

Originally Posted by Andy It was great to be with you also, Harry, and to be shooting NIKON!

I was glad to see you finally shooting with some pro level gear.

Hey it's Jefy, remember me? I was just out there myself June 6-14 and had an amazing time at Londolozi & Sabi Sabi - wonder if we were there at the same time. I won't hijack your thread but will post some images separately when I get a chance as well. Funny thing is I think I may have seen you guys- saw a Singita land rover with several photographers alongside ours during a cheetah spotting....maybe it was you! The trip has gotten me to add/switch from canon to Nikon as well....really love that 200-400 lens. sorry I've been absent for so long, still occasionally lurk. I think I've come a long way and I really owe it to this board and the advice, input and inspiration I've received. Welcome back and I hope you had as great a time as I did.....Masai Mara migration calling to me next.

Hey Jefy! Long time no see :) Yeah, that was probably us! Hah, small world :) I can't wait to go back again to Kenya next February.

Excellent shots of the leopards! Congrats. Back in Decenber of 2009 my wife and I were next door to Sabi Sands at Lion Sands. Although we got to see many critters, most seemed to be lazily laying about daydreaming. Anyway, the driver we had, Kurt Bertels, was a photog himself and writes a blog that you all might enjoy. So here is the address:

http://kurtjaybertels.wordpress.com/

And again congrats on your journey, what an amazing place.

OK after a Sundowner, we headed back to our lodge an settled in for an amazing dinner cooked by our chef - it was just 12 of us as the very private Singita Castleton Camp. Food? Amazing. More on that later! Next day, up at 0545, quick cup of coffee at 6am then back out to track the animals and get the sweet early morning light.



Here's Rennick, one of our amazing trackers, on the hunt for predators


First up on the menu today was a beautiful male lion and his 4 lionesses. Here's the big fellow drinking and relaxing




It's not all about the Big 5 or predators. We saw and photographed over a hundred different species during the eight days in Sabi Sand. Here's a dwarf mongoose, posing in an unused termite mound that he now uses and calls home:



Rennick was successful in later finding a beautiful male cheetah for us, which we spent the rest of the day with.

Waking up:


Checking his nails:


Getting ready to move:


On the move, he finds a tree to climb, so as to get a better vantage point:




We met up with this Cheetah several times during our trip, much more about him to follow in my next updates!

At Singita, anything goes:


And we saw this fella, a 12-15-foot Python, join us for lunch at our camp. He was curious, but not threatening.



Speaking of food they did feed us well Here's Marc with a typical breakfast:


And then on to another of the 16 game drives we had. We met up with our friend Cheetah again, this time on top of a termite mound - they'll climb these, and trees, to get a better looksee as to potential meals:



And he marks his spot, to let others know that this place is "his"!


A bit later we happened on a Momma and baby Rhino, with passengers:


A little fun with the Wildebeest and the day was nearly done:




I blogged before the trip that I'd be taking two camera systems, Nikon D800 with the 200-400 VR and the Canon 5DIII with 70-200 f/2.8 L IS II - searching my LR library, it seems I shot 75% of my photos with the Nikon

More to come!

Great pictures Andy. I was surprised to find that I shot most of my captures with a Nikon too.

Seriously though, I was surprised that I ended up using the D800E for most of my captures when I had intended for the D4 to be my main body.

WOW, incredible photos Andy!! I am really enjoying them!

Ron

Originally Posted by ront WOW, incredible photos Andy!! I am really enjoying them! Ron

Thanks Ron! Here are some more, and don't forget, we do have a couple spots left in our February 2013 trip to Kenya.

It was a great trip Andy and I can't until our next trip to Africa in February. Three outstanding pics.

That first leopard looks too serious, you need to get your subjects to smile more ;)
but seriously great pics the bw really works nicely.