The Missus’ Contest Winning Photo

Sometime last year, the Missus submitted one of her 'Africa Blog' photos to a local photography competition.

Woo hoo! She managed to get an ‘Honourable Mention’ from the judges. Not only that, her photograph was then included in an exhibition held at Singapore’s Botanical Gardens.

Here’s the exhibition photographs.

Can you guess which one is hers?

It’s the Cheetah Cub! Isn’t it booti-ful?

The Missus was so proud to have her photograph exhibited. She couldn’t wait to have us all ‘in the picture’.

'Curious Cub'

OK Missus, that’s enough of your show-boating on my blog!

Sending all my love to everyone! Woof!

Homer

The Lions

I could not believe how fortunate we had been to catch sightings of wild dogs chasing after a leopard and a hyena on our first day in the Okavango Delta . As I replayed the scenes in my head, I thought to myself, “What a mind-blowing experience we had!”

So, the following day, I headed out for my second game drive in anticipation. I was not sure what to expect, as the wilderness can be so unpredictable. The more ‘glamorous’ animals often do not show up when you want them to. In fact, there are times when you can be driving around the savannah for hours, searching for interesting sights, only to be rewarded with a mere glimpse of a scrub hare.

Personally, I am not overly concerned as my priorities are a bit different. I just love the feeling of being out in the bush, experiencing a sense of freedom in the vast openness of the African plains. These simple desires are enough to captivate me and to take my breath away.

We boarded our small boat and headed back to the jetty where our vehicle was waiting. As we cruised along the peaceful channel, I dipped my fingers into the water and thought to myself, “The Okavango Delta. Such a magical place!”

A few minutes later, we arrived at the jetty. With the help of Bill and Sevara, my camera equipment was carefully loaded into the vehicle. Once we had settled down comfortably, Severa started the engine and soon we were off for another new adventure.

The ride was bumpy as we drove across the rough African terrain. Our poor backs and buttocks were sore, but none of this mattered.

I began to survey every inch of the plains meticulously, hoping to spot a cheetah weaving its way through the tall grass. It was not an easy task as my eyes are not trained to spot camouflaged wildlife.

I was just about to give up when Severa, with his experienced ‘bush-eyes’, managed to spot a coalition of male lions in the far distance. Excited and happy with our new discovery, we quickly and discreetly made our way towards the big cats.

We counted four massive male lions lolling around by the bushes. They basked under the sun without a care in the world, unperturbed by our presence as we approached them.

One of them was sprawled on the ground, unashamedly baring his underside. Another let out a huge yawn, exposing his fearsome canines. Their broad muzzles were covered with old battle scars, possibly inflicted by their enemies during fights over a kill, a territory or a mate.

As we looked on, the largest of the lions, got up and exposed his muscular, tawny body. He shook his huge dark mane and looked around his ‘kingdom’. Without any warning, he let out a huge deafening roar, as if to say, “Whose land is this? Whose land is this? It is mine! It is mine! It is MINE!”

It was an intimidating moment, knowing that a swipe from one of those mighty paws could easily kill me. Being next to the ‘king of the beasts’ made me feel so small and insignificant.

As I regained my composure, I picked up my camera, pointed it at the dark-maned lion and began to click away furiously. Sensing that his picture was being taken, he looked into my camera and began to strike some poses. To have such a strong and beautiful subject as a model would be any photographer’s dream come true. Here he was, right in front of me. He was simply perfect!

As we sat there for the next couple of hours, I began to feel a sense of sadness that these majestic cats are being driven to the brink of extinction. Over the past two decades, the lion population has been decreasing drastically. One of the reasons for such a huge decline is that they are often hunted as trophies. I find this ‘sport’ extremely distasteful. I just cannot understand how anyone could feel the urge to shoot such a magnificent animal?

The thought of there being no lions roaming the African plains is enough to break my heart. I put my camera away, sat back and simply enjoyed the company of these beautiful creatures.

An Introduction to the Wilderness

“If you are a regular reader of my blog, you should know by now that I don’t usually write about stuff that is unrelated to Yours Truly. Occasionally, though, I make an exception. So, for the next few postings, I will hand my blog over to the Missus who will tell you all about her experiences in Africa.”

Homer

***

Having spent most of my life growing up in the city, I never dreamt that one day I would go to Africa; let alone fall in love with the place. The thought of travelling to remote and undeveloped places simply had not appealed to me.

So, when my husband proposed to go to Tanzania on a safari trip in 2009, many nightmarish thoughts went flashing through my mind: ferocious predators, disease-carrying insects, venomous snakes and a whole host of other creatures whose domain was totally alien to me. Hmmm… Curious? Maybe. Convinced? No.

However, after a lot of cajoling, he finally convinced me to take the plunge. After all, I love adventures and I am always up for a challenge. So, without further ado, I traded my ‘Manolos’ for a pair of hiking boots; bought a pair of binoculars; invested in a basic DSLR camera and headed down to the Serengeti for the annual wildebeest migration. And I’ve never looked back.

Following that initial trip, three years ago, I have had two further expeditions to Africa: journeying to Botswana in late 2011 and returning to Tanzania at the beginning of this year. For the next few posts, I shall be blogging about my wildlife experiences during these latest two visits.

During the course of my holidays, I took literally hundreds of photos and it would be impossible to show every one of them. To keep it simple, therefore, I will only select some of my favourites. For those who have been waiting to see them, sorry it took so long. (I did not realise that photo processing and writing could be so time consuming!)

Anyway, I hope you will enjoy these blogs as much as I enjoyed my time in the African bush.

The Missus

***

Linyanti, Botswana - September 2011

The first few days of my safari in Botswana were spent at the Kwando concession in Linyanti. This concession is located on the northern edge of Botswana, close to the Namibian border. Due to its location and climatic extremes, it does not attract as many tourists as some of its sister concessions in the Okavango Delta. This is a great pity – those who overlook this gem are missing out on a mind-blowing wildlife experience.

Map of Kwando Concession

View Larger Map

It was 6am when we set-off on our first game drive. The morning air was cool and crisp with a distinctive smell of African wild sage. The hyenas were whooping in the distance; zebras were communicating with each other in their high-pitched barks and hippos could be heard snorting and grunting away from their riverbed. A herd of doe-eyed impalas were grazing on the plain, oblivious to our presence. The entire scenario seemed so surreal. I looked at the wilderness in awe and it felt good to be back in the African bush.

We drove for a while. A low rumbling noise came from nowhere. We scanned the woodlands and spotted a herd of elephants in the distance. They were busy stripping off the tree bark with their majestic tusks.

Sensing our presence, they began to congregate and shielded their little calves from us. The matriarch took a few steps forward, flapped her huge ears and shook her head as if she was doing a little dance. “Dancing elephant” I chuckled to myself.

We drove past them quickly. I turned back for one last look and managed to get a glimpse of a baby elephant emerging from the adults. What a wonderful way to start the morning!

The African Elephant, Loxodonta Africana, belongs to Africa’s ‘Big Five’ animals; the other four being the African Cape Buffalo, the Lion, the Leopard and the Rhinoceros.

My interest in bird-watching began when I saw my first Batelur in Kwando. It was a ponderous looking bird with striking orange facial features. It stood next to the riverbank, preening its feathers and admiring its own reflection. I managed to sneak a couple of shots of this pretty looking eagle before it flew off.

A ‘narcissistic’ Bateleur.

We continued our drive and later made a quick stop for a coffee break. We chose a spot right next to a leafless Baobab tree. It looked like it had roots sticking up in the air. Baobabs are massive trees, with trunks measuring up to eleven meters in diameter. Some of them are reputed to be thousands of years old!

Enjoying our coffee break next to a Baobab tree.

It was time to move on once more. We still had a couple of hours left before we had to head back to our camp. We drove aimlessly for a while and suddenly our tracker signalled to our guide to stop the vehicle. He reached out for his binoculars and scanned the trees. He had spotted something moving amongst the thick foliage.

“Look. It’s a leopard!” he whispered.

We focused intently in the general direction of his gaze but, with our untrained eyes, we saw nothing. Grabbing the binoculars, I trained my vision on an innocuous looking tree in the distance. Lo and behold, there she was, staring right back at us!

A Leopard, Panthera Pardus, enjoying her siesta. According to our guide this was an adult female.

What a magnificent creature!

She must have been at least three storeys from the ground.

Suddenly, she took a few leaps and bounds and landed gracefully on the ground, just like a ballerina.

She moved swiftly into the tall, yellow grass, camouflaging herself in the plains. I was worried that we might lose her but our experienced tracker did not let her out of his sight.

She looked across the dry plains. Her loud rasping calls pierced the air. Was she looking for something?

She certainly was. By the time we caught up with her, she was already reunited with her beautiful cub. They stayed together, enjoying each other’s company for a few precious moments, before they finally moved on.

The sun was setting. As the colours of the sky became intense and vibrant, I couldn’t resist but to take a couple of snapshots of the African sunset.

Can you spot the leopard?