A Few From Botswana

EdH · December 28, 2009

My wife and I recently returned from a trip to Africa. I have many more to be posted later but this was just a quick unedited sample so I'd have something to quickly show people.

More images from the trip are here: http://www.hetheringtonphoto.com/Other/AnimalPortraits

_________________________________________________
Ed Hetherington Photography
www.edhetherington.com

Harryb · December 29, 2009

Looks like you had a fantastic and productive trip. I can't wait to see some larger processed images from your trip.

Mark Edell · December 29, 2009

Fantastic! I would love to do that myself. You have some very nice shots here!

dlplumer · December 29, 2009

More

kdog · December 29, 2009

Harryb wrote:

Looks like you had a fantastic and productive trip.

Yeah, I'll say. :wow Fantastic shots.

Ed, it looks like you were incredibly close to the action in many cases, judging from the close crops and relatively short focal lengths you were using. (I perused your gallery as well.) Can you comment on this? Were these all in the wild, or were some at a nature preserve that allowed you to get close without becoming lunch?

Thanks and regards,
-joel

Nihilation · December 29, 2009

Niiiice!

EdH · December 30, 2009

kdog wrote:

Yeah, I'll say. :wow Fantastic shots.

Ed, it looks like you were incredibly close to the action in many cases, judging from the close crops and relatively short focal lengths you were using. (I perused your gallery as well.) Can you comment on this? Were these all in the wild, or were some at a nature preserve that allowed you to get close without becoming lunch?

Thanks and regards,
-joel

Hey Joel. You are right in that we were incredibly close to the action. Better than I could have ever imagined when we booked the trip! <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
All of the images I posted were taken in <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Botswana</st1:place></st1:country-region> mostly in the areas surrounding the Okavango Delta. If you have ever watched the BBC/Discovery Planet Earth series much of the <st1:place w:st="on">Africa</st1:place> footage was filmed very near to where we were. <o:p></o:p>
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It was all completely wild. We flew to each camp on small bush planes landing at dirt airfields. Botswana has devoted 40% of their country to conservation so from the time we left Maun did not see a single road, village, dwelling, etc. from the airplane. Video of one of the landings here:<o:p></o:p>
http://www.hetheringtonphoto.com/Other/Initial-Videos-from-Africa/10798383_pNbrt#752858330_egRDP<o:p></o:p>
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At times we were probably hundreds of miles from the nearest village or settlement other than the camps. The animals we saw have the ability to roam all over much of <st1:country-region w:st="on">Botswana</st1:country-region>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">Namibia</st1:country-region> to the west, and <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Zambia</st1:place></st1:country-region> to the north.<o:p></o:p>
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Our camps were completely open and many nights we had everything from hyenas, to hippos, to lions pass right outside our screen door! <o:p></o:p>
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I think a number of factors helped us get so close to the animals. Most importantly was that our guides were incredible. They were amazingly knowledgeable about everything from the smallest insect to the largest mammal and were experts at tracking the various animals. What helped the most is that they were in many cases able to predict the direction a distant animal would move. <o:p></o:p>
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This allowed us to already be in a spot as an animal approached. One of the best moments of the trip was spotting a large heard of elephants including quite a few babies on the horizon about the cross the border from <st1:country-region w:st="on">Namibia</st1:country-region> to <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Botswana</st1:place></st1:country-region>. This also involved crossing a channel of water. Our guide predicted where they would cross and positioned our Land Rover while the elephants were still very far away. They ended up crossing the water and passing less than 10 yards in front of us. We sat there quietly and although a few elephants turned and flared their ears at the vehicle they passed without incident. Our guide explained that they came close because they had already seen us from far away when they decided to cross the water and decided that we were not a threat. Had we approached them rather than them approaching us it would have been a different story. <o:p></o:p>
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Many of the animals were completely indifferent to the vehicles. The lions and the wild dogs in the pictures literally did not even acknowledge the vehicles. Our guides said that they see the vehicles basically the same way that they would see a rock. They said that as soon as a human broke the "plane" of the vehicle that everything would change. Basically as soon as somewhere were to step outside they made it clear that we likely would be immediately attacked (mainly because many animals had cubs/babies).<o:p></o:p>
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Elephants and hippos did react to the vehicles however so we had to be more careful around them (hippos kill more people in <st1:place w:st="on">Africa</st1:place> than any other animal). The head on shot of the hippo in the images above is actually charging our vehicle as the image was made. <o:p></o:p>
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Overall most of the animals seemed relatively used to the presence of vehicles. <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Botswana</st1:place></st1:country-region> has been very good about keeping the density of tourism extremely low. Our camps usually had about 12 tents at the max. While in some areas of <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Kenya</st1:place></st1:country-region> you'll see 20 vehicles at an animal sighting, in most areas that we ventured they would never allow more than 3 vehicles anywhere near the same animal. Most days we would not see more than 1 other vehicle the entire day. <o:p></o:p>
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<st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Botswana</st1:place></st1:country-region> has also taken a very strict stance against poaching. They have a "shoot to kill" policy which basically means if you are poaching then you are shot first before they try to arrest you. This became necessary because poachers would very often shoot/kill anyone trying to arrest them. This harsh stance means poaching has been virtually eradicated in most areas so the animals don't have a built in fear of people due to being hunted. <o:p></o:p>

kdog · December 30, 2009

Thanks for the great stories and comments, Ed! Your comments are especially interesting and useful to me as we're planning a trip to Botswana in 2012. Yeah, that's still a couple of years away, but not too early to start dreaming about it. We'll be going with our neighbors who are South Africans and are organizing the trip with help from their folks who still live in Africa and have done this kind of thing many times. So they know all the guides and outfitters there.

I showed our neighbors your gallery which they liked and confirmed that there's no nature park there, and everything is wild. (And I felt silly in retrospect.) Evidently we'll be sleeping in tents that are on top of the vehicles. Did you see any rigs like that there?

Did you ever wish you had a longer lens? I'll need to decide whether to bring my 500 F4. Although from your pictures it looks like the 100-400 was a pretty good call. If I did bring the 500, I'd still bring the 100-400 as everything I've read says it's the safari lens of choice. It's kind of hard to frame an elephant 20' away with a 500mm lens. :giggle

That's great to hear about the strict, if not militant conservation efforts there.

Thanks again for the great stories and pictures.

-joel

Mark Edell · December 30, 2009

Now I am really jealous! Was this a package deal? Who did you go through to set it up? I would like to see if this is even in the realm of possibility cost wise.

CWSkopec · December 30, 2009

Ed, incredible shots!

Joel, I'm packing myself in your luggage when you go!

BigAl · December 30, 2009

kdog wrote:

Evidently we'll be sleeping in tents that are on top of the vehicles. Did you see any rigs like that there?

I'm busy building a gallery of one of our historical tours, but this is what you're looking for.

kdog wrote:

Did you ever wish you had a longer lens? I'll need to decide whether to bring my 500 F4. Although from your pictures it looks like the 100-400 was a pretty good call. If I did bring the 500, I'd still bring the 100-400 as everything I've read says it's the safari lens of choice. It's kind of hard to frame an elephant 20' away with a 500mm lens. :giggle

100-400 is a good choice. If, as you say, you'll be travelling in your "own" vehicles, take the 500 as well, especially if you're wanting to do birds.

kdog · December 30, 2009

BigAl wrote:

I'm busy building a gallery of one of our historical tours, but this is what you're looking for.

100-400 is a good choice. If, as you say, you'll be travelling in your "own" vehicles, take the 500 as well, especially if you're wanting to do birds.

Thanks, Al. Yup, that's the kind of rig we're going to use I believe. Your comment on the 500 mirrors what our neighbor thought as well. Useful for birds, not necessary for larger animals.

Good to hear from you and thanks for checking in.
-joel

dlplumer · December 30, 2009

kdog wrote:

Thanks for the great stories and comments, Ed! Your comments are especially interesting and useful to me as we're planning a trip to Botswana in 2012. Yeah, that's still a couple of years away, but not too early to start dreaming about it. We'll be going with our neighbors who are South Africans and are organizing the trip with help from their folks who still live in Africa and have done this kind of thing many times. So they know all the guides and outfitters there.

I showed our neighbors your gallery which they liked and confirmed that there's no nature park there, and everything is wild. (And I felt silly in retrospect.) Evidently we'll be sleeping in tents that are on top of the vehicles. Did you see any rigs like that there?

Did you ever wish you had a longer lens? I'll need to decide whether to bring my 500 F4. Although from your pictures it looks like the 100-400 was a pretty good call. If I did bring the 500, I'd still bring the 100-400 as everything I've read says it's the safari lens of choice. It's kind of hard to frame an elephant 20' away with a 500mm lens. :giggle

That's great to hear about the strict, if not militant conservation efforts there.

Thanks again for the great stories and pictures.
-joel

My wife wont' go with me Joel, so I'm looking for someone to help me check this off my bucket list.

EdH · December 31, 2009

kdog wrote:

Thanks for the great stories and comments, Ed! Your comments are especially interesting and useful to me as we're planning a trip to Botswana in 2012. Yeah, that's still a couple of years away, but not too early to start dreaming about it. We'll be going with our neighbors who are South Africans and are organizing the trip with help from their folks who still live in Africa and have done this kind of thing many times. So they know all the guides and outfitters there.

I showed our neighbors your gallery which they liked and confirmed that there's no nature park there, and everything is wild. (And I felt silly in retrospect.) Evidently we'll be sleeping in tents that are on top of the vehicles. Did you see any rigs like that there?

Did you ever wish you had a longer lens? I'll need to decide whether to bring my 500 F4. Although from your pictures it looks like the 100-400 was a pretty good call. If I did bring the 500, I'd still bring the 100-400 as everything I've read says it's the safari lens of choice. It's kind of hard to frame an elephant 20' away with a 500mm lens. :giggle

That's great to hear about the strict, if not militant conservation efforts there.

Thanks again for the great stories and pictures.
-joel

Hey Joel. Didn't see any rigs like that there but I've seen those before and that looks a lot of fun!

The 100-400 was pretty much the perfect lens for the majority of the time, especially for the larger animals. For some bird shots a longer lens would have been useful but even with the birds we were often close enough that I didn't feel it to be necessary. If your main focus is birds, however, I could think of a few situations that we were in where a longer lens would have helped the shot.

If anything, the biggest disadvantage of the 100-400 is it's maximum aperture of f/5.6. In the early morning and late evening when we had many of our sightings that become a factor. Even during the middle of the day animals were often in the shade and I was surprised at the ISO necessary to hit the required shutter speeds.

I had three cameras with me while out on the vehicle each day. A 7D with the 100-400 (received the 7D the day before we left so it was my first time using it. Focus system is an awesome improvement over previous Canon systems!), a 5D Mk II with the 70-200 f/2.8 IS and a 5D with either the 16-35 f/2.8L or the 24-70 f/2.8L. They were a perfect compliment to each other. I'd say 75-80% of the time I reached for the 7D /100-400L combo.

I think one of the best benefits of Botswana is that you don't have to stay on the "roads" (really just dirt jeep trails). At some other places you can't leave the trail so a long lens is more necessary since if something is happening you can't approach it unless it's on the road. At times we were literally crawling the Land Rover through bushes, trees, water, etc.

EdH · December 31, 2009

Mark Edell wrote:

Now I am really jealous! Was this a package deal? Who did you go through to set it up? I would like to see if this is even in the realm of possibility cost wise.

Hey Mark. Our itinerary was custom based on what/where we wanted to go and see but we paid for it as a "package" if that makes sense. The company we used to set up our trip was Ultimate Africa Safaris http://www.ultimateafrica.com

They were awesome and really know their stuff. We ran across them while researching our trip and their website was one of the most informative and honest that we had seen. After calling them the first time we knew they were the right choice.

We had always wanted to go to Africa and decided almost on a whim in September that we wanted to take the trip in November! When we called the owner Ian was great and he worked super hard to accomodate our "last minute" planning. It wasn't easy putting the entire itinerary together with such a short period of lead time but he put together exactly what we were looking for.

The majority of the camps we stayed in were run by a company called Wilderness Safaris. http://www.wilderness-safaris.com/

They have camps all over Africa and we could not have been happier with them. They are definitely not the cheapest option (although they have a few different levels of camps) but our feeling was that it was completely worth it. Everything was run extremely well and the calibre of the guides and other employees was second to none. Most of the guides and employees were locals and their perspective on the animals, the topography, and the history of the areas we traveled to was priceless. The warmness and openness of our guides and the other staff were some of the best highlights of our trip.

kdog · December 31, 2009

Awesome information, Ed. Thanks so much for sharing your knowledge as well as your excellent pictures.

-joel

ront · December 31, 2009

Absolutely outstanding work here!! I really enjoyed these!

Ron

EdH · January 3, 2010

Thanks everyone! These were just a quick sample so when I post the full galleries from the trip I'll be sure to post them here as well.

________________________________
Ed Hetherington Photography
www.edhetherington.com

Gale · January 4, 2010

wow
I am overwelmed with the images and the great information.

You are so lucky.

I will never be able to do this , so I really appreciate the info of the animals and habitat.
Images are priceless

Maestro · January 5, 2010

Incredible! That would be a dream vacation for me. Your images are stunning showing the brutal beauty of Nature in some and simply the magnificent beauty in others.

A Few From Botswana

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