A 'Good Earth' guide recommendation for photographers (and/or bird lovers)!
 

Hello, all. I just returned from Tanzania the other day, and what a fantastic journey it was. Good Earth came through in a big way for my friend and I on our private 10-day safari. Our guide was Prosper. If you are interested in photography for your safari, Prosper is your man. He was wonderful about taking us to some really great spots for sunset (staying out later than we were really supposed to, but we got some lovely shots). I had an extra camera with me, and when we were stopped at a place to observe/take photos, Prosper would take my smaller camera and some of the shots he captured himself were really nice! He has a great eye, especially for landscapes.

A highlight of our trip was spotting five different leopards, and two were on the ground, one walked right under my vehicle window in broad daylight. Prosper said he's been guiding safaris for 17 years, and has never seen that many leopards in one trip. He takes out a group of professional photographers from California every year (which I think has sparked his own interest in photography), and he said they are going to be so jealous when he tells them about our luck with the leopards. lol

Another couple of highlights was seeing three rhinos in the crater, including a mother and its baby/juvenile, and also witnessing a pair of ostriches mating. Fred and Ginger couldn't hold a candle to the dance they put on for us. (No offense intended to any Fred and Ginger fans!) lol!

I'm not great at giving the detailed trip reports, so if anybody has specific questions for me, please feel free to ask. I really just wanted to let the photographers know about Prosper at Good Earth. I couldn't imagine a better guide for someone with a specific interest in picture taking. He also has a great appreciation for birds.

Cheers, and have a good day, everybody.
Sandi

Are you going to put photos up on the net?

regards - tom

Welcome home! It sounds like a great trip. Thanks for the highlights and the recommendation of Prosper. Five different leopards!

You stated two interesting facts. The record # of leopards for your guide and the # of years he has been guiding.

I wonder if I had the same Prosper as a guide. Did he mention he worked for Rangers? Furthermore did he mention a particulary silly group of 4 American women, 3 of which were serious birders, in July of 2001? I'm kidding about our silly group, but wonder if he ever mentioned Rangers.

"My" Prosper was a great guy (we saw just 1 leopard) and it sounds like yours was too. Glad you had such a good trip!

Even if you don't want to post the photos you hope to sell, even a blurry shot of mating ostriches would be interesting. I watched the mating dance of some Somali Ostriches once and found it to be quite enchanting and picturesque.

Hi. I'll be glad to post some photos. I only started downloading them yesterday. Here are a few from my first couple days in Arusha N.P. and Tarangire.

I don't consider these great shots, just some that I liked and that I got to look at so far. If I was more proficient at photoshop, a couple probably need lightening up. But I haven't had time to do much, either, since I just got home late Sunday night. Anyway, I will be happy to share the mating ostriches when I find them! There really weren't that many that I thought might be sellable, just a few among the 3,000 or so shots that I took.

Arusha N.P.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28914290@N05/4114680606/" title="IMG_2781 by idnas71, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2494/4114680606_9ef99b1349_o.jpg" width="721" height="486" alt="IMG_2781" /></a>

Momella Lake
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28914290@N05/4113858133/" title="IMG_2851 by idnas71, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2504/4113858133_6799432a5f_b.jpg" width="1024" height="683" alt="IMG_2851" /></a>

Tarangire
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28914290@N05/4113864339/" title="IMG_3096 by idnas71, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2760/4113864339_6decc21baa_b.jpg" width="1024" height="683" alt="IMG_3096" /></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28914290@N05/4114651090/" title="IMG_3364a by idnas71, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2680/4114651090_8bed6884f3_b.jpg" width="1024" height="668" alt="IMG_3364a" /></a>


Atravelyn, Propser told me he had worked for two other companies before Good Earth, so it's a good bet we had the same guy! He was a kinda quiet man, loved his music, which I'm glad I convinced him to play some while we were driving between parks because I loved it, too. It was actually a church choir called "Siyabonga", translated as "Holy Cross Choir". I want to try and find some of their music to download and make a CD. That might be impossible, but I haven't had time to look it up yet.

Prosper had a good sense of humor, too. I swear this is the truth, and we all got miles of laughter out of it during our ten days together. Early on, when we were watching some ostriches at Tarangire (not the mating pair... they were in the Crater), he said if we waited long enough, the male was going to climb the little tree that was nearby. I fell for it lock, stock and barrel. It was a very fun trip. lol

I have Prosper's e-mail, if you want to say hello! I'm sure he would love that. Just let me know! [email protected] is my e-mail.

Cheers!
Sandi

I'll be checking the photos. So far it seems like the same guy. I'll email you.

Only the links ending in ".jpg" work

regards - tom

Yes, as Tom says the jpg's work. I really liked your photos, especially the flamingoes at Momelia Lake. Those elephants in Tarangire looked awfully thin although maybe the baby should be thin.

The mating ostriches photo set. I uploaded these to a public album on Facebook as it was working better for me today. I am having some computer issues right now, to say the least. http://www.facebook.com/album.php?ai...4&l=3576238614