i was at both malamala and mashatu in early december. great game viewing as always!

i drove the entire trip in a 4X4 i rented in Johannesburg. this added to the experience.

craig

Hi Kaye! You posted your photos while I was in the Falklands so I missed them initially. I'm happy to see they have been brought to the top again. I'm trying to get caught up at work right now so I have to wait until I get home this evening to look at them. Can't wait!

Cindy

Well, you've done it again! You have some wonderful pictures and saw so many great sightings. All of the cute little elephants playing. And the beautiful leopards. The cubs are growing so fast and are still adorable. And the baby kudu and the massive eland. And dogs - at both camps! I'm sorry you had the rain but you had such great sightings. The series of the leopard family and the kill at the end are amazing. Congratulations on such a great trip and photos!

Thanks Craig,

Back issues made the 9 hr trip from MM to Mashatu painful. It also didn't help that our driver thought the border crossing closed 6.30 or 7pm and we were told it closed at 4pm and we got there at 3.45pm which made the last few hours a bit stressful as I didn't want to miss any more gamedrives. I was definitely in a better frame of mind once we jumped upon the game vehicle.

Hi Cindy

How was the Fauklands? I have been thinking of you as at home most days have been very hot and here are you probably freezing. Cannot wait to see your photos, so let me know when they are up.

Even with the rain, we were incredibly lucky with all our sightings, especially the magnificent Wild Dog. I have just finished fine tuning the photos from 4681 to around 550 which is really hard. Most of the ones on Kodak Gallery found their way into the delete bin as on closer inspection some left a bit to be desired. I cannot wait to return though I have to wait until December and I need to find a better choice of air charter. Hope all is well with your family.

Kind regards

Kaye

Kaye

You might want to consider biting the bullet and driving, but break the journey up with a night at Pafuri, there would be little chance of missing game drives that way and you'd have two shorter drives, rather than one long one.

Matt

Hi Kaye, the Falkland Islands were great. Although it was summer while we were there it was pretty cold and windy. Real windy. I should have taken one more layer. We also were told to expect rain and we were very lucky and were sprinkled on twice and the one time we were out when it rained there was a place to go for shelter so we didn't get soaked. I got home where it's winter and it's been in the 80's (27c). It was 91 (33c) one day last week.

I have a few Falkland pictures up and will post more. If you want to look now, http://www.pbase.com/cjw/feb_2009_falkland_islands

If you want to see the best subject of all, here are some pics of Bryce (Ashley's baby) I took the first five pictures yesterday. http://www.pbase.com/cjw/baby_bryce (Ash took the other pictures in the album.)

Kaye,

When I originally commented on your trip report and photos, I didn't realize you were a Mala Mala expert! I was wondering if you had any advice for someone who was going to visit Mala Mala (and Mashatu) for the first time?

I was planning October 2010, but is December a better time to go? It seems that most of your trips are around that time. Also, is there a ranger/tracker team that you would recommend (and will they let you request certain individuals when you book?)?

And are you still using your Panasonic FZ30? I was not very happy with the photos from my last trip, but I think it was mainly because it was a new camera/lens that I didn't use enough before I went (either that or I'm a worse photographer than I thought - which is possible . I love all your photos - they always seem to come out fabulous! I'm considering buying one of the Panasonic FZs (they have a new one out - the 28, but I can't find the 30 or even the 50 at very many stores).

Any advice or insights on the two locations would be appreciated. I'll be staying at Mala Mala main camp and Mashatu tented camp when I go.

Thanks!

Carrie

Carrie - While I am no expert compared to Kaye - I would highly recommend Fish as a guide at Mashatu and Benz at Mala Mala. They are both fantastic and yes you can request them before you go. It isn't guaranteed, but you can request and they will try. Also, I have and FZ30 and my mom and sister both have the FZ28. I LOVE the FZ30. I really think it takes outstanding pictures. My mom and sister both like the FZ28, but i think my FZ30 takes better pictures (and they agree) My pics are always just a tad sharper than theirs and I am just a novice photographer.

I'm also no Kaye when it comes to Mala Mala. I enjoyed Graham very much as my guide there, but he's only there occasionally.

I have the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ20, FZ30 and the new FZ28. I loved them all. You cannot buy the FZ30 anymore as it was replaced by the FZ50. I didn’t think that upgrade was worth it. Since I got the FZ28, I just love it and it’s what I’m taking on my next safari. It’s smaller, weighs a lot less than the FZ30 and does everything my FZ30 did and much more. I haven’t noticed that the pictures are less sharp, to the contrary!!! It even takes HD video!!! Here’s the site to all of them: http://www.panasonic.net/avc/lumix/compact/index.html

Hi Carrie

Firstly thanks for bringing this back up as I have been trying to find where Sundowner gave me her Faukland Photos - I could not remember where it was and a search of Sundowner was useless, so thanks for that.

I go in December/January because that is when my nieces have 3 to 4 weeks off, being Australian that is our summer holiday. I think I would love going anytime of the year, all times have their good points. I also usually go in June/July but unfortunately not this year. December/January is quite green, sometimes too green and leafy but it also has all the baby impala lambs and it can be exceptionally warm. June/July can be really really cold in an open vehicle, but you can stay out for longer gamedrives and the grass is a lot shorter. October can be good as everything is probably quite dry and the main water is only available at the Sand River, which means the predators would concentrate their efforts there as most prey need to drink daily. Anytime I go, I love it and really I go at certain times because it suits my nieces and work.

I am sure you can request a certain ranger. Sometimes I do when I am there, but I do not usually request prior to arriving. I usually have a few different rangers, and that is fine, because they are all good. I have only been to Mashatu once, and I did have Fish for my ranger. He was very experienced and good company and I love seeing the ranger and tracker work as a team and certainly that can be said for Fish and our tracker, Aaron. So I would certainly be happy to have them on my next trip this December, but if they were unavailable, I am sure I would be happy with another ranger/tracker team. We were at Main Camp at Mashatu, so I really do not know if rangers/trackers move from Main Camp to Tented Camp or not.

I have also had Bens as a ranger and he is just fabulous. His tracking skills are amazing and he is also great company with great stories to tell. You spend a lot of time with rangers at MalaMala and for sure, I think I get on with them all as they are all good company. There are a few over the years, that I felt I had a stronger connection with, due to personality and of course, my passion or obsession, I am happy with either word, for wildlife and for photography.

Thank-you for your generous words regarding my photos. I did have a Nikon 40X for the last two trips - June/July 2008 and December2008/January 2009. Up until then I had been very happy with my Panasonic FZ's - I have had 20, 30 and 18, the last one being my backup camera. I am in no shape or form a camera person, my camera shop will back that up, but I do love taking photos. I take them when at home of birds, flowers, local animal parks, family etc, so I practise a lot and my motto is always take a lot and a few will be good. That also goes for my gameviewing - I take a lot of photos, nearly 5000 last trip and I have deleted about 4400.

My advice for me for visiting any gameviewing lodge is: 1)I go on every gamedrive because I know if I miss one, that is the one that amazing things will be seen, 2) I want to see everything - not always the big 5 but lots of variety that way a gamedrive is never disappointing as there is always something to see - I have embraced the bird life, something I never did on my early trips, 3)always see something new and that always happens and that is what keeps me going back everytime and 4) I always want to improve on photos from previous trips - I know that I can improve on most of my photos. I really enjoy working on photos after a trip - it makes me realise how incredibly lucky I am to have seen what I have seen on every trip.

Enough of my ranting, you will have a great time. I certainly love going to MalaMala and now I am adding Mashatu. Both places bring a smile to my face just thinking about them!

You will have a great gameviewing experience. Hope I have helped - any specific thing that I didn't answer, please let me know and I shall try again. With the camera, use it as much as you can before you go and when over there, take lots and lots of photos, and you shall have some great ones.

Hi aowens, Please, I am no expert, but each trip I take, gives me a much better understanding of what I want out of a trip. These trips cost a huge amount of money and if I go home with all of these fantastic memories and photos, then I am happy to spend that money. These holidays are very indulgent I know, but it is where I am happy to spend it, as opposed to house stuff which is just plain boring!

Kind regards

Kaye

Hi Cindy

Your Faukland Island photos are fantastic and amazing. You saw a lot more wildlife than I would have thought. It is hard to pick favourites as they are all great - it obviously pays off to carry all that camera equipment around the place. The trip certainly seems to have been a huge success. I found the Sea Lions (I think) feet really odd looking, but I suppose I have not put a lot of thought into what their feet looked like. You were incredibly lucky with the weather, even given the strong winds non-stop.

Where is the next place of interest?

Kind regards

Kaye

Thank you so much, Kaye. It was amazing to see everything in the Falklands. Better than I imagined. Hiking miles over hills and rocks was a challenge with 20-30 pounds of gear but worth it. The sea lion heads definitely reminded me of lions. They have the big mane and hairy coat that goes down their back but the "feet" put them in a different league.

Next place of interest? I'm leaving Wednesday morning for 1.5 weeks in Homer, Alaska. For eagles. I'm not overly interested in bird photography (penguins are different!) but this is too good to pass up. 30 years ago a lady, Jean, worked at a fish canning plant. There were a couple of eagles in/near her backyard and she asked permission to take fish scraps home from work to feed these eagles. Fast forward 10 years and she was feeding more than 200 eagles. Fast forward another 10-20 years and she was feeding 2-300 eagles, 500 pounds of fish, every day from late December until mid April.

Other people started feeding the eagles but the city didn't like that so they passed an ordinance that said no one else could feed the eagles. And that once Jean could no longer feed them then they won't be fed. Jean passed away in January of this year. The city decided rather than cutting off the feeding mid-winter they will allow the feeding to continue until April. The city says this year will be the last year of eagle feeding in Homer. Who knows if the city will change their mind next year but I decided I wanted to go now while it's still possible to see 200-300 eagles feeding in one spot. I've heard it's pretty amazing to see. It's 82 degrees here this morning and I am not looking forward to the cold weather in Alaska but I'll suffer through it. They told me it was 30 below zero last year. Brrr. I'm not prepared for that.

Thank you all very much for your suggestions - on the trip and the camera. I appreciate the tips and the guide suggestions. I know I'm going on the trip unless I get my hours reduced at work....the camera I'm still thinking about. B&H has the Z28 for $299 and free shipping which I thought was a good deal. I really just want it for a back up to my Nikon 300 in the event anything should happen and I'd also like it to take some video.

I'd love to take my nieces on a safari (maybe as they each turn 18), but I'm afraid it's a little out of my price range to pay for two people. My parents and I took my oldest niece to China a couple years ago and she loved it...so I can only imagine how much more she'd love a safari! Maybe some day...

Thanks again!

Carrie

check www.abesofmaine.com they are advertising the z28 for $129.95 tonight. have ordered several cameras from them and NEVER had the price beat.

here is the link: http://www.abesofmaine.com/item=PSDMCFZ8K~item.htm

FWIW, at this time says "sold out". Was a heck of a deal while it lasted. Less than half usual selling price. I could have been tempted, but I need another camera like I need another left big toe.

regards - tom

Too bad I missed it. They did send me an e-mail yesterday advertising the sale, but when I clicked on the ad it just took me to the one that was $314. Oh well...