Botswana/Zimbabwe pictures
 

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Here's my pictures - hope you enjoy!

Beautiful pictures! Love the people shots, the meerkat, the dogs, everything, and seeing pics of Somalisa brought back many happy memories!
Thanks for posting!

Wonderful! =D>

Goodness, I'm so envious of that pangolin I couldn't concentrate on the rest, all good tho!

Dennis - I've got lots more pictures of Somilisa if you need a fix. LOL
Sophia delivered some goodies for me to the kids recently and is supposed to send more photos.

Patty - thank you

Kavey - Glad you like the pangolin - I'm still getting over it being our first sighting. He was healthy and calm.. meant to be.
As for the photos, I thought of you every time I came across a blurred photo - tried some new tricks that didn't work.

Great pictures, Sherry, the one of the leopard in front of the leaves was incredible! That one needs to be on my wall beside Kavey's Tomboy!

Great photos! Thanks for sharing.

Thank you.

Lynda,
The picture's yours if your serious. I'd be honored to be in your hallway gallery next to anything that Kavey's done.
E- me and we'll figure something out.

If it's the picture I'm thinking of, it may also be one that I may want to try to do a painting of.

Great photos-love the people shots as much as the wildlife!

Of course you would start off with the pangolin shots! Followed by an almost equally impressive sunset. You had lots of those and lots of superb leopard shots dispersed throughtout the slideshow. Great shots of children. There was one lion shot that could be intimidating so I take back some of my criticism of the lion scaredy cat at Vumbura. PB did deliver on the meerkat.

For the 2 male kudu, were you in a canoe. It seems you are looking up.

Wonderful collection and it seems just recently the trip was in the planning stages of its many revisions.

Love the (soulful?) pangolin eyes, the dog duo, the mongeese on the branch, my bed airlifted to your tent at Somalisa, snake bird, lions with Cape buffalo, Krazy-Eyed Killa (lion) and the adorable kids. And the other kids too.

Thanks for posting these.

I see Newman was your guide. He is a fantastic guide and a wonderful man. I'll bet you enjoyed him.
Chuck

I really liked the Leopard shots, especially the one where the animal is practically walking into the camera, and the shot looking up at the Leopard in the leaves...

Wonderful photos, thankyou for sharing!! Really makes me want to be there now! I miss the tub at Selinda in the cold weather!
Suzi

Fantastic variety Sherry, diverse like the trip. For me nothing beats the daytime pangolin with good catch light in the eye to boot, people who spend their whole life in the bush may not even have such a sighting ever.

Enjoyed the armchair trip - lots of great sightings and interesting places. The pangolin and meerkats are particularly cool. The accommodation photos were an eye-opener - not sure whether Planet Baobab or Little Vumbara was the strangest (I live a sheltered life).

I was serious, Sherry, yes, I would LOVE to have that picture on my wall in the gallery! I'll email you...

Thank you for your kind comments.

Lynn,
EG (english guy) nearly knocked his wife out of the vehicle when Krazy Killa (new name, care of Leely) got close to the vehicle and looked up.

Killa, actually circled the vehicle a couple times which made EG run from side to side.
My thought was if Kay's relaxed, I will be, as well. Kay didn't flinch.

I'll never forget the wonderful electricity felt by staring into Killa's eyes.
On the other hand, I don't think he was particularly electrified by us - he most likely thought we were annoying twits with nothing better to do than watch him eat and poop.

Leely,
There's a very comfortable bed with your name on it at Selinda - no need to bring your own. The camp was almost frightening with the staggering amount of amenities it has after our fairly modest digs in Zimbabwe.

suzic,
Despite previously saying that I didn't care about bathtubs and such, the tub was greatly appreciated. The filtered hippo pond water was still brownish with small bits floating around but delightfully hot.
It did the trick of helping me sweat out my bronchitis.

chuck,
Yes, the wonderful Newman - love him.

kimburu,
Not following why you think L.Vumbura looks strange. Far from it IMHO. It's truly a magnificent place with beautiful accommodations, excellent guiding (Kay) and wildlife.

If interested there's more info. about it on my trip report.

Baobab on the other hand is different but in a cool way. As for their service/location etc. - another story, entirely.

becks - e-me

Hi Sherry,

You probably posted these while I was away - missed them until now.

I recognize the 2 male cheetah - the one guy with the scarish tear mark I recognize very well ..... he is quite shy and not photogenic. The other male cheetah is okay, but, everytime this guy moves away from the vehicles the other one follows along.

Hopefully, in a couple months time they will learn to relax. Btw, these are two of the biggest male cheetahs I have seen!

Hi Hari,
Do have pics. of them?
These two bros. (if I recall, are around 3 yo). they had just sent the cheetah dad packing and now have the territory.
They were definitely good sized cheetah. Not long and thin like most - very muscular and quite beautiful.

One, as you said stayed semi hidden the other did move around more and seemed more relaxed. It took us, btw, a couple hours to track them.
I'll have to go back and take a look at their faces.

Hi Sherry,

That's right - they removed the old coalition that had dominated the area for a very very very long time. They were the absolute best.

I do have some pics - It takes a while for them to relax. One guy is okay, I think ...... the guy with the scar face is not relaxed at all .......... it took us only a half hour to find them as one of the cars had located them the previous night. So, we just went to the area and picked up the spoor. Luckily, they didn't go too far.

For B - enjoy
e-me

Can you please put a link to your trip report? I found the pictures in the lounge.

I'll see if I can top it - I still can't figure out how to re post fodor links.

I really enjoyed your pictures. I will be in Botswana in May, and have been thinking about which lenses to leave at home, and which to take/buy. What camera did you use and how short or long were the lenses you used? Any details greatly appreciated!

One nice thing that I noticed in Botswana is that the off roading can often get you somewhat close to the wildlife.
I used a Panasonic Fz30. It has a 100 - 400 lens, fully manual, automatic or in between.
It has a nice macro setting but I didn't need it much. I can also take short videos.

I could have but not often used a 500 for birds but again we lucked out with good guiding and were usually able to get pretty close to what we wanted.

A few people in our vehicle had the canon 2X & 4X expanders which they raved about.
I've heard others, however, say that it takes some clarity away.
No expert here.

My other camera was a Lumix point and shoot which did come in handy as a backup camera and for windy conditions in the desert. We also used it in the canoe for wide shots.

Thanks-that is good info and I appreciate it!! I am taking a Lumix for the water also, but otherwise will use a Canon SLR. Thanks again!

ttt
for foggy

Missed these first time. Some great pictures, and how lucky were you with sightings!
LV looks awesome, luxury without being over the top.
You inspired me to a new game, birdwatching through shared albums, your total was 19, with only 1 bird I was unsure of.

Thanks Matt.

Funny I took a quick look at my pics. just now and fell in love with LV again. It's an absolute favorite - excellant guiding, diverse wildlife and a beautiful camp. being on the water makes it that more special.

I went into LV as a neutral bird person and came out as a bird lover.
Due to good guiding and co operative birds we were able to get incredibly close to many of them. It helped that our guide Kay was well versed in all aspects of wildlife.

Which bird was it that you couldn't ID?

I think it's a Tawny Eagle, but I was identifying from memory without access to my field guide.

ttt
for Paul

cybor's trip report is here:
http://www.fodors.com/community/afri...d-zimbabwe.cfm

Africa is not my thing but many of your photos are spectacular.

So fantastic to see your photos and read your report (which I'm anticipating-- haven't clicked on it yet!) We'll be traveling through Botswana, Namibia and Zim come October. It's been 5 years since our first trip (Botswana) and I'm so happy to be going back!

Many thanks for taking the time to have a peek.
Glad you liked.