20+ cat pics from Tanzania (Jan 07)
 

As menioned in anohter thread we saw quite a few cats this trip, 170 lion sightings and 20 cheetahs.

Here are two links, the first one has pics of leopards, servals, lions and cheetahs but is very slow to download unless you have a fast connection (I just hacked these together with a laptop while on safari so I could send a CD to a friend in Rotterdam on our layover at AMS so they are too big and not optimized for color etc).

The second link has just the leopard pics so will download much faster if you are on dial-up, then there are three additional links at the bottom of the page to the serval cat (a must-see ... never thought I'd get one quite like this), cheetahs and lions.

Enjoy!

http://members.aol.com/bhilton665/ta.../best-cats.htm (all four species)

http://members.aol.com/bhilton665/ta...07/leopard.htm (same pics but spread across four web pages)

Bill

Bill,

brilliant pics....fantastic!!! all of them.....

was that a 3 male cheetah co-alition in one of the pics?

Hari

HOLY COW those are excellent.

Chris

Wow. Amazing pictures. Well done!!!

Bill,

Some great pictures here - thanks for sharing.

Greetz,

Johan

Very nice, thanks for sharing with us what good photos look like. A learning opportunity, take a look everyone, these are what yours could look like, do they? If not, why not?
regards - tom

By far some of the best cat photos I've seen. Wow, you really captured the beauty and agility of the serval. Please tell Carolyn that her cheetah in motion is too cool for words.
Look forward to hearing the stories behind the photos.
Thanks for posting!
Sherry

Bill,
Incredible! What do I have to do to get a print of your 1st lion photo...the one with the cub and mom? I GOTTA have that!
Thanks!
Lily

Amazing photos! Well done!!

Ahhh, my photolust is satisfied! I come here now just for the photos and these are gorgeous. I didn't realize how weird looking servals are--their heads are so tiny!

Beautiful photos, thanks for sharing--I love the cheetahs playing.

Bill, I can't pick a favourite because they are all wonderful....a feast for the eyes. Your use of lighting is truly inspiring. Thank you for sharing!

Wow, these are excellent pictures. Are you a professional photographer?

Yes, wonderful pictures, Bill. What site do you use to load them to? And equipment, lenses, please. Also, was there any post processing? Esp. curious about the great blurred shot with the peculiar circular pattern on the rear haunch.

Thanks,

Jim

Ditto to all the above!

You truly captured the spirits of the cats!

Now I cannot wait for my return to Ndutu in early March!

Wow, what absolutely stunning, stunning, stunning images! Thank you so much for sharing them with us!

I love all of them but my favourite is the panned cheetah shot with that one spot of detail on his hind leg - W O W !

Amazing Bill, I am speechless! I figured you should be back around now so I just came over to the Africa forum to see if you'd posted anything, and I'm blown away!

I presume you had an amazing trip all around. I am sooooo jealous. We need to talk....

Best,
Janet

Thanks for all the kind words guys. I'll answer Q's a couple at a time ...

Hari - <b>was that a 3 male cheetah co-alition in one of the pics?</b>

I was going to explain this in the formal write-up with more pics but since you're a cheetah-holic here's the deal on this interesting situtation --

We had problems finding cheetahs this AM because the grass was a bit high but finally I saw a hyena harassing something at a distance so we drove over and found the young cheetah in pic # 3 (and 4). We figured he was 15-18 months old (due to the neck ruff) and probably just separated from his mom.

The young cheetah stood up to harassment by four hyenas and they moved off, then the cheetah kept staring in one direction and chirping so we assumed he was not happy being separated (he looks really sad in pic 4) and calling to his siblings or mother.

So we zig-zagged in the direction he kept staring and found the two cheetahs in pic 5 standing beside a bush maybe a mile away. After a bit we noticed a 3rd cheetah inside the bush (pic 6) when she stood up and then a 4th cheetah on the other side so we assumed mom had gone into heat as junior neared the age of independence and these three coalition males were keeping her under wraps until she was willing to mate.

Bill

Johan <b>Some great pictures here - thanks for sharing</b>

Johan, thanks for the compliment ... I think you take the best photos (especially action shots) of anyone I've yet seen on this forum so it means a lot to hear you say this.

Sherry - <b>Please tell Carolyn that her cheetah in motion is too cool for words.</b>

Will pass this along to her :)

Lily <b>What do I have to do to get a print of your 1st lion photo...the one with the cub and mom? I GOTTA have that!
</b>

Thanks Lily ... since this is a non-commercial site (something I agree with 100%) how about if I just send you one for a few bucks to cover shipping and the cost of home-printing and call it the Fodor's Special? You can get my email contact off one of my earlier sites or wait until I post a fuller trip report link.

Bill

As a photographer I can appreciate good pictures when i see them, and these are magnificent...these go far beyond just pictures of animals...you capture the feel of the place and the experience of the moment..thanks for sharing them

They are all terrific, and I can't even pick a favorite, although the serval getting the mouse is really great.

But then I look at them and appreciate the others.

I read your update about current conditions--wow, what luck.

Thanks for sharing these!