Africa

Here are some of my favourite pictures from our various trips to Africa (click on links on left to go to see the pictures).
   
Kenya 1990 Our first ever safari.  September 1990.  Watched a cheetah run down and catch a hare.  Look how big the tusks were on elephants then and compare them to now - the elephants have evolved smaller tusks to counter the poaching.
Tanzania 1992 A trip round Northern Tanzania before it got really busy with tourists.  Serengeti, Ngorogoro Crater, Lake Manyara and Amboseli in Kenya.  This trip was in June 1992 and we saw the wilderbeast migration in the Serengeti.  Tree climbing lions in Lake Manyara.  Also black rhinos in Ngorogoro
Botswana 2003 A return to Africa after a 10 year break.  End of the dry season in October 2003.  This was a mobile safari and we camped inside the parks: Chobe, Moremi and Okavango.  Camping inside the parks meant we were on a drive before sunrise and after sunset.  Huge pride of lions camped at the water hole at Savute (Chobe) - food came to them.  Heard an elephant squealing in the night, the pride of lions attacked it but didn't manage to killl it.  And yes they do kill elephants, a 3 month old carcass was there as proof.  The game density in Chobe was incredible.  This was also my first safari with a digital SLR rather than film.
Zambia 2005 South Luangua National Park in March 2005.  This was the end of the rainy season so every where was green and the river was high enough to boat on.  Stayed at Kapani and Tafika.    The "green season" is a great time to go: no dust, clear air, dramatic clouds in the skies, everywhere's green and the animals are in superb condition as they're living in one enormous salad bowl.  Travel can be difficult but the Mfuwe end of South Luangwa has all weather (gravel) roads.  Its also quiet at this time of year.
Zambia 2006 A July (dry season) trip to South Luangwa and Kafue (Busanga Plains) National Parks.  Its quite cold at this time of year, getting down to single figures in Busanga Plains, but pleasantly warm during the day.  Lots of rowan antelope in Busanga and the only place in Zambia to see cheetah.  July was a little early for getting in to Busanga plains, the rains were late that year and we had to be ferried across ~400m of swamp on a truck.
Zambia 2007 A March trip to South Luangwa and Kasanka, again, in the wet season.  There had been a lot of rain this year and the Luangwa had flooded for the first time in about 25-30 years, washing away some camps.  We were hoping to go up to Shoebill camp in the Bangeulu swamps to see shoebill storks but couldn't get there as the airstrip and half of the camp was under water (only other option was 12 hours in a canoe).  Rearranging accommodation at that time of year isn't a problem though.  At Kasanka, the pilot told us "you've paid for the flying time so you might as well use it".  He took the doors off the plane and I hung out of the side taking pictures of shoebills from the air - never before I have I used a light plane for bird watching. Kasanka is a top place for bird watching at that time of year, lots of sun birds and also a Ross's turaco.  In S Luangua, we watched a herd of elephants swim the river, then watched as two adults reached down with their trunks to pull out a baby.
Tanzania 2008 Trip to Ruaha, Katavi and Selous national parks in October.  If you want to do a game drive without seeing another human being, Katavi's the place to go.  Saw a huge herd of ~200 elephants.  First snake in Africa as well, a black mamba - the guide wasn't  keen on getting too close!  Amazing pictures of malachite king fishers in Selous.  Stunning picture of a big herd of buffalo in a dust cloud and back-lit with sunset in Ruaha.
Tanzania 2010 A two week trip to Selous (Lake Manzie and Selous Safari) in October.  It was carnage out there.  It was the end of the dry season and the impalas had all fawned.  Nothing green for miles around and everything had to come down to the river/lakes to drink.  Civilised starts as unusually there's nothing about first thing in the morning, the animals start appearing anout 9-10 am.  Great time for watching predators as food comes to them.  Lion kills every day. Saw lions take a buffalo, hyena take impala, wild dogs take impala, and baboons take impala (twice).  Incredibly, we saw wild dogs within 5 minutes of getting off the plane.
Zambia 2011 South Luangwa and Lower Zambezi national parks in June.   Went with Shenton Safaris in S Luangwa for a change (previously always used Norman Carr).  Their hippo hide is incredible.  For once S Luagwa lived up to its reputation as being good for leopards.  First night out under moonlight we watched a leopard stalk and kill a puku.  We saw leopards every night and two 1st class sightings in daylight as well.  Rare sightings of Pell's fishing owl and a bat hawk.  Stunning pictures of bee eaters in flight on the Chongwe River in Lower Zambezi and also saw carmine bee eaters which aren't supposed to be there at that time of year.
   

Cameras
For the first two safaris I used an Olympus OM10 and OM2 film SLRs with motor winds.  36 shots per film, 2.5 frames per second, ISO 400 was fast and no auto-focus.  Film (Kodachrome 64 in 1 camera, Kodachrome 400 in the other) rationed to two rolls per game drive. Imagine!

In 2003 I splashed out on a Canon EOS10D digital SLR which I used with a 100-300 f4 lens and 1.4x converter.  A 0.5GB card with a capacity of about 600 shots cost over £100.  The camera could do 9 shots at 3 fps and it was like heaven compared with film.

I was thinking of getting an EOS5D but people said its too slow for wildlife/action.  Why? I thought, its just as fast as the 10D and that's fine.  But anyway, in order to attempt birds in flight without having to manual focus and "ambush" them with the 10D, in 2011 I bought an EOS7D.  Wow, this camera rocks.  8 fps with unlimited burst and the autofocus can track birds in flight.  The 7D will comfortably outperform the photographer.  Now I know why they all said the 5D was too slow, I just hadn't realised what I'd been missing.  I would absolutely recommend the 7D for wildlife photography, but not if its your first SLR - get something a bit simpler to start with as all the options on the 7D will be overwhelming if you're new to SLRs.

So, I now use the 7D with a 100-300mm f4 lens and 1.4x converter running at ISO1600.  I still use the 10D  fitted with either a 24-70mm f2.8 or 12-24 f5.6 for wider angle shots .  I always use a monopod for the 100-300 lens.  This works superbly well, however, I've never tried an image stabilised lens so I can't compare image stabilisation with a monopod.

Night photography.  In Zambia you can do game drives at night with a spot light.  If a stalk is happening then sorry but no lights are allowed as it will either give the predator away or make it certain death for the prey.  The recipe I use is:  ISO6400, white balance of 2500K, centre weighted average metering, aperture priority exposure mode at f4, and under-expose by 1.5 stops.  The 100-300mm f4 lens works fine on a monopod or bean bag.  Most camps have now switched to red filtered spot lights.  The above recipe still works for exposure but now amount of playing in Photoshop will render colours correctly (you can't put back what isn't there).  The solution is however simple, convert the images to black and white.