African Dream
As a young tadpole I read Hemingway's Green Hills of Africa and Robert Ruark's Horn of the Hunter and acquired a lifelong fascination with Africa. As I grew up and started working and raising a family the dream of actually visiting Africa myself faded into the background replaced by more immediate concerns.
Last year I decided that it was time to see if the childhood dream could become a reality. I told Linda that we should do it now before we entered the Rascal and adult diaper stage and amazingly she agreed. I started a thread in the Wildlife Forum asking for any info anyone could share on Africa. That night I got an e-mail from Andy saying that he and Marc had just decided to do a workshop in Africa in 2011. Serendipity
After 13 months or so of preparation the time finally came so I loaded up Linda
Flew to NYC, then London and finally Nairobi dealing with every indignity and foul-up the various airlines threw at us.
In Nairobi we boarded Air Muench for our flight to Lewa Downs
After about an hour or so I got my first glance of Lewa Downs from the air.
from the airstrip we were driven to Wilderness Trails
at Wilderness Trails we experienced some of the safari hardships that Hemingway and Ruark wrote about.
it was hell.
Andy discovers the horses I paid to leave a deposit by his doorway
After unpacking we headed out for a first drive into the bush. Andy told us to wear neutral colors so as not to scare off the wildlife. Unfortunately the local Maasai didn't get Andy's message
back to the bush
sometimes dreams become real.
to be continued ......
Last year I decided that it was time to see if the childhood dream could become a reality. I told Linda that we should do it now before we entered the Rascal and adult diaper stage and amazingly she agreed. I started a thread in the Wildlife Forum asking for any info anyone could share on Africa. That night I got an e-mail from Andy saying that he and Marc had just decided to do a workshop in Africa in 2011. Serendipity
After 13 months or so of preparation the time finally came so I loaded up Linda
Flew to NYC, then London and finally Nairobi dealing with every indignity and foul-up the various airlines threw at us.
In Nairobi we boarded Air Muench for our flight to Lewa Downs
After about an hour or so I got my first glance of Lewa Downs from the air.
from the airstrip we were driven to Wilderness Trails
at Wilderness Trails we experienced some of the safari hardships that Hemingway and Ruark wrote about.
it was hell.
Andy discovers the horses I paid to leave a deposit by his doorway
After unpacking we headed out for a first drive into the bush. Andy told us to wear neutral colors so as not to scare off the wildlife. Unfortunately the local Maasai didn't get Andy's message
back to the bush
sometimes dreams become real.
to be continued ......
Harry
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How many photographers does it take to change a light bulb? 50. One to change the bulb, and forty-nine to say, "I could have done that better!"
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How many photographers does it take to change a light bulb? 50. One to change the bulb, and forty-nine to say, "I could have done that better!"
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I sure hope so. Fantastic so far, Harry. And congrats on fulfilling your dream!
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PS: don't forget, Linda has all the food pics and oh so much more
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Nikon D200, D80, SB600, nikon 50mm 1.8, nikon 18-135 3.5-4.6, nikon 70-200
Driving down the road
setting up for sunrise
Marc did a session on painting with light
A session on flash was tried but it got to be too dark on the cliff but the bar had been set up so.....
We managed to get in a few wildlife captures
a big thrill was finding a cheetah and her two cubs
dispute resolution water buffalo style
the ability to get close to the wildlife afforded us some wonderful photo ops
more later
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How many photographers does it take to change a light bulb? 50. One to change the bulb, and forty-nine to say, "I could have done that better!"
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The C206
Now this all seems fairly simple and it should have been. However one of our party decided to go up for the optional ride in Wilderness Trail's biplane.
That person, of course, was Andy. Before I got on the Cessna Andy told me to be sure to get some good shots of him in the biplane. Now I want to get captures of the landscape, the wildlfe, etc. I really don't want to get a bunch of pictures of some bloody biplane. The problem was Andy. If Andy doesn't get what he wants he sulks. Andy sulking is just not pretty.
So we took off and I found out that Andy wasn't taking any chances. It seemed that every time I looked out the door there was that bloody biplane
I looked down
I found some wildlife
I did manage to sneak in a few non-biplane captures (not easy).
but usually i saw ....... (where is Baron von Richtoven when you really need him?)
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How many photographers does it take to change a light bulb? 50. One to change the bulb, and forty-nine to say, "I could have done that better!"
Here are you and Marc shooting me, not easy from the biplane, shooting blind, camera over my head
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You have some gorgeous shots here - I'm looking forward to viewing more!
Love the shot of the zebras running. It gives both a sense of scale and of speed.
--- Denise
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Seriously great images!
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From what I remember that was the way you always shot with or without the biplane.
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How many photographers does it take to change a light bulb? 50. One to change the bulb, and forty-nine to say, "I could have done that better!"
I do notice that you're sitting back and letting the real pro do the work there in that shot
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Something similar could be my 40th birthday pressie to me!
Our "hut" was marvelous
when we returned at the end of the day a fire was going
My only complaint was with the prior occupants
There was family of hyraxes hanging out on our porch. They seemed to resent our presence. They always scampered away when I came on the porch but one always stayed close and glared at me.
I looked them up and was relieved to find out that they weren't related to squirrels. :whew
Fortunately there were ample other wildlife photo ops
Vervet Monkey
impala
red-billed hornbill
a grey-crowned crane
secretary bird
cheetah
I can't say enough about how the Maasai staff at Wilderness Trails and the Ker & Downey folks took care of us.
Simon, one of our drivers/guide/spotter
Simon took care of everything, even extricating our land rover from this little mishap
At the end of the three days we were wished a fond farewell
as we boarded Air Muench
and left Lewa Downs
next stop the Maasai Mara
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How many photographers does it take to change a light bulb? 50. One to change the bulb, and forty-nine to say, "I could have done that better!"
Now you're getting to the pertinent critters. Really nice.
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Allen, it was a birder's paradise. I'm not joking, we saw and photographed up close at least 30+ different species of birds. So awesome.
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