Back from 3 weeks on safari
 

I just got back from 23 days out on safari, and boy am I whooped. I had 2 safaris back-to-back, and we saw some amazing wildlife. The reason for my post is to tell everybody that is headed to northern Tanzania what to expect in the coming days and weeks.

Tanzania has had some very good rains in the north in early May, which has made some of the parks green with grass. I mean nice green. But with the good comes the challenging: the grass is tall. In some areas it is difficult to see the game, like at Tarangire or Ngorongoro.

The bulk of the migration has headed north of Seronera, towards the Musabi plains to the west and north towards Robanda (outside of the park). If you are staying in the central Serengeti, you might not see the migration in large numbers, as they have spread out in many directions, as well as they have headed to areas with little or no roads.

There is a *ton* of resident wildlife right now in the central areas, especially near Seronera. We saw a combined 10 leopards between my 2 safaris along the Seronera River system. 8 days in total in the Serengeti. That is a stunning statistic. We even saw an adult female jump out of her tree, walk around between 5 more trees, jump up into a dead acacia (no leaves to interfere with photography!), jump back down, roll around on the ground, run towards our vehicles, run back and then up her original tree. All without other safari outfitters near us. It was my best leopard experience to date. Simply amazing.

If you are headed over there, have a wonderful time. The lighting was stunning in Ngorongoro at first light, and the elephants at Lake Manayara are very playful.

Time for rest.

-Andy

Thanks Andy - this is great news - we leave this Tuesday!!!

Carol

Andy,

Thanks for the update. Rest well and show us some pics, when you get a chance........

Hari

Welcome back, Andy. We too have just returned from Northern Tanzania, I wonder if we crossed paths somewhere! I wasn't as lucky as you with the leopards, we did see one along the river in the Serengeti, but he/she was far back in the trees and we had to use the 30x binoculars just to see him/her!
I did however see a van with a serious set of photographers, and I believe it was the Serengeti, I wonder if it was you? What days were you there?
We did see the migration - in masses in the Serengeti. It was incredible - there were thousands of them!
Waiting to hear more later when you rest up!

Andy,

Can't wait to see some of your stunning pictures.

I had an unbelievable time especially at Lebala and Mala Mala last month.

Greetings,

Johan

Andy,
Karibu nyumbani and thanks for the update.

Welcome back Andy, can't wait to read all about your trip and see some of those photos, especially that Leopard!

Imelda

Thanks, everyone. Just sifting through 57GB of images right now. Been up since 3:00am, and am only 20% through all of them. Takes a ton of time, that's for sure. i have a teaser image on my home page right now.

http://www.andybiggs.com/

Lynda, you might have seen one of my white Land Rover vehicles when you were there. I was out on safari from May 27 until June 14. We were all over the place, but I like to drive to areas that are less visited than other places. Just look for huge lenses sticking out of the sides of my vehicles, and you know it is me!

:-)

Johan-

I have been away. Do you have a link to your photos from your recent safari? I would love to see!

Welcome home and hope to see more details when you have time.

23 days! Wow!

Andy,

Here is the thread I posted two weeks ago.

Author: johan_belgium
Date: 06/07/2006, 03:07 pm

I just downloaded 90% of the pictures of my last safari I wanted to share. Some of them are a bit too sharp but perfection is not of this world.

These photos can be seen by using the following link: http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=...&y=-32h9g2

Greetings,

Johan

Andy,

Looked in your website......lovely photos!!!

Hari

Wonderful photographs, Johan. Glad you are back safe!

Thanks Andy - if you are going in the near or distant future to Botswana, Lebala is a place not to be missed.

Greetings,

Johan

Thanks, Johan. Planning a 2008 trip as we speak.....

Andy,

I am just curious which camps you are considering at which time of year .

Greetings,

Johan

I can't even begin to say how much I am salivating over that leopard picture!
10 Leopards?!? Not fair ;) Smilign with envy.

Now to see your gallery...

Hi Andy - Lucky, smart you to turn photo safaris into a career! It sounds like you had a great trip with many good sightings. I can't wait to see more of your images from this trip. Love the pan blur leopard.

Oh and I checked out your web site.

I was so caught up in the colors of the outfits that the Msai wore that I didn't even think about shooting them in black and white. Great profiles!

how come your blurry leopard looks so nice, but my blurry pictures look, well blurry?