Photos
Africa
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If ever dreams come true, this was it!! I recently had the privilege to go to Africa and shoot wildlife with 2 top wildlife photographers, George Lepp from Colorado and
Dana Allen from Zimbabwe.
George is one of North America's best-known contemporary outdoor and nature photographers. Dana is the founder of PhotoSafari and a noted photographer of wildlife, landscapes and tourism activities in southern Africa. Over the years, I have created a few video stories of George as a PrintMaster and EOL for Canon. When the opportunity came up to go to Africa with George and shoot him for a couple of photography gear manufacturers, I leapt at the chance.
This 2-1/2 week photographic expedition was arranged by Journeys Unforgettable
Africa & Beyond and headed by Brennan Rimer who did a remarkable job considering the logistics involved in moving 16 people around the continent several times. Kudos to a job very well done!
We traveled first to Johannesburg to meet up with the 14 photographers on our safari. Then we flew small bush planes to 3 Wilderness Safari camps in the Okavango Delta in Botswana (Mombo, Vumbura & Chitabe).
We spent around eight hours a day traveling in Range Rovers, off-roading on game drives in the bush, for the opportunity to experience this most magnificent area of the world.
We were fortunate to observe prides of lions as they hunted the great African buffalo.
We tracked a lone leopard for hours before we were finally rewarded with a sighting.
We watched herds of the African elephants as they made their journey across the water,
or stood casually devouring hundreds of pounds of trees. We tracked and caught sight of the wild dog with a pack of hyenas. Other sightings included the beautiful sable, the endangered red lechwe, thousands of impala, many pods of hippopotamus (the river horse), the odd-looking warthogs, better known to us as Pumba, and many herds of wildebeest. We saw the Big Five (Africa Elephant, Black Rhinoceros, Cape Buffalo, Lion and Leopard), and the Ugly Five (Hyena, Vulture, Wildebeest, Wart Hog and Maribu Stork).
Our trips through the marshes in the makoros (wood canoes) gave us great, up-close, viewing of the reed frogs (that made such an amazing symphony at night), innocent dragonflies and not-so-innocent crocodiles! At one point there was a lone elephant sloshing through unmarked channels just a few feet in front of our makoros to find his way to an island of food. The serenity of a gentle ride through these waterways also provided opportunity to shoot millions of beautiful water lilies and lily pads.
We then flew to Zambia and spent a few days viewing more wildlife and water life in the Toka Leya camp. We were escorted by rangers to see the critically endangered Black Rhinoceros and her baby, who are guarded 24/7 due to poaching, which continues
to this day.
Then it was one of the 7 natural wonders of the world, Victoria Falls. One trip was by helicopter, with George, without doors!!! It was quite spectacular to fly over and view the ever-present rainbows, but those first few seconds, I have to admit, I checked my harness quite a few times. George even said to me, “You were looking a little concerned in the beginning!” Back safely on land, we walked along the slippery ridge and got what the locals call the “baptism”, as we were drenched by sheets of water misting from the waterfall.
While we were exploring the bush, I was filming George using several items from Hoodman and Manfrotto, products that enabled him to capture some great footage in tough shooting situations.
Back at the camp, I was using a great new innovative product, the Bamboo Touch & Pen tablet, courtesy of Wacom. It’s a very small, portable tablet that enabled me to really work with my images in Photoshop and Painter, and not be confined to a laptop track pad, which I find disables more than it enables.
This shot of the expansive sky reminds me of those wonderful memories of childhood, laying under the stars and trying to count them. Bryn Forbes, one of our fellow safari photographers, taught us all how to capture these magnificent starscapes.
This only gives a quick glimpse of what I consider one of the most spectacular photographical adventures one could take. I will write more stories as time permits, and my recollections come forth. The gallery on Africa will continue to grow to include more photos and video clips as time goes on. Feel free to visit anytime!
Also check out the Outdoor Photographer as George will soon be submitting a new article on this great journey.
Outdoorphotographer.com