Photos from Safari 2005
 

Hi All,
I've put on line (I hope) a Kodak Gallery of 28 photos of my safari. This is my first try at this gallery thing so I hope it works well. I notice that first thing is that Kodak tries to sell prints. A bit crass for an artist of my refined sensibilities :-). I welcome any suggestion on how to set up this gallery stuff better. It is:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/tdgraham/safari_2005
The photos were not post processed, a few were cropped as noted.

But now to the safari. Myself (Tom), Carolyn, and Tami went to Zambia, Botswana, and South Africa the first of September 2005. Zambia, four nights at Robin Pope Nsefu, one night Victoria Falls, then Botswana four nights Khwai River Lodge, one night at Jo'burg in transit, then four nights Mala Mala. Back home, Jo'burg, London, LA. I wish I could write a great trip report like many of you do. But I find it hard, the words do not just flow out onto the paper, it is a struggle.

About the photos, all three of us had the new Canon S2 IS. We loved it. A couple of minor irritations with it but you learn to deal with it. My biggest gripe is the viewfinder. The LCD screen is cute but useless in daylight and besides it is more natural to hold the camera up to your eye. This means you have to use the EVF and the person who thought that was the answer should be shot, several times, in the head Why can't we have a mirror thing, SLR like ? I don't care about changing the lenses, the 12X zoom is just fine. Fixed lens, just simple mirror that flips up, nothing else. Rant over. Carolyn (my fiance) and Tami (her cousin) used the camera in "auto" mode. They got great pictures. Of course I being the expert photographer would not be caught dead in "auto" so I used the "P" mode. Mainly so that I could decrease the exposure by 1/3 F stop. Also, I like to use the flash for any people or close animal photos. The flash fills in that extreme shadow in sun light and you can actually see the face(s). Also that leopard in the tree in extreme shade, with the sky behind, benefits greatly with flash. Try it you will like it. On the S2 to force it to flash you can not be in "auto" mode, go to "P" and toggle in or out of flash. We each had around 3 gig of SD cards. This was enough for me, but the other two filled theirs and had to re-use. Every day we downloaded the cards into an Archos portable drive (we had two Archos). I think 3 gig of cards, each person, should be enough for 2 weeks, unless, of course, you have to take 100 photos of each and every lion and elephant you see!!! We found taking short movie clips to be very entertaining. Next what do you do with 6,000 digital photos? For past trips we have made selected prints into a photo album. Except that for a long trip last year we never got around to doing it. All those pictures are in the computer, no one else has seen them. (And maybe they don't want to!!!) So, I'm thinking - digital photo, computer, TV, DVD. Let's make a DVD that shows the trip on a TV. No printing (except for a few specials), anybody that says "I want to see pictures of your trip" you hand them a DVD. But not a DVD with 6,000 pictures, a DVD that shows like a photo album. I am using (new user) a program called "ProShow Gold" to put together a DVD of still photos and movie clips. It is working really nice, very intuitive, just drag-drop slides/movies. You have total control over viewing times and transitions between slides. You can add sound/music and control volume, length and fades. You can even do simple color adjustments of individual slides/movies. I really like it. I'm about finished with the show, do it now right after the trip or never. It will be around 20 minutes long.

Anyway, that's all for now. I'll answer any questions, but don't hold your breath for a trip report. I'm too busy planning my next safari :-)
regards - tom

Tom,

Thanks for sharing those beautiful photos. I especially liked the leopard and the lion cub.

Now how did you set up your photo gallery. I have my own photo gallery of 500+ photos on Kodak Gallery but they are inferior in size and quality. I would like to put up some of my favorites in the same way that you put yours up. The current gallery does not do justice to a few of my better photos! ;)

Thanks.

STUNNING lion and leopard shots, really. Was the leopard in Zam or Bots? Love the cub looking up adoringly at mama. Also loved the children shot! Thanks for sharing.

Awesome shots! Our favorite (besides the obvious lion cub) is the leopard with the reflection in the water.

Absolutely fantastic pictures. The animal shots are wonderful but I have to say my favorite is the one with the children--the look on their faces having seen their picture in the camera is infectiously happy.

Tom:

Marvelous pictures! I particularly loved the shots of the cub close up and the leopard in the tree.

Thanks so much for sharing your pictures. They are fantastic. Can't wait to see more.

Jan

Hi,
Thanks all for your kind comments.
Roccco - Beats me !! I gave them $24.95, they replied with something like "do you want to do a gallery?" I said yea and that is what I got!! I was expecting a page of thumbnails. As you, I like this better.
Cooncat2 - I've added some locations to pic titles. The first leopard on branch was Moremi Botswana. All other leopards were Mala Mala. We saw seven (yes 7) different. At least that is what the ranger said, I couldn't tell one from another :-) The cub, about 2 months old, was in Zambia. All of those lions were also in Zambia. Saw plenty at Mala Mala too, but no tiny cubs. In Zambia saw a night kill, 5 lioness brought down 2 puku. Unforgetable them tearing the pukus apart. And then the male strutting up and taking his big chunk away. We also like the kids looking at camera.
Ericka - Our favorite pic is also the leopard setting by the water. I didn't it would be at the time, would think it would be a close up of a leopard.
regards - tom

Cary

Who was your ranger at Mala Mala? Which Leopards did you see? They are all identified by their territory and some feel like old friends to me, having spent so much time watching them.

Hi napamatt, This is Tom. Our ranger was John Gold. He was great. Knew everything and told you what you were interested in before you knew you were!! He took that Land Rover everywhere you could possibly imagine. Just great. BTW, that reminds me, the Land Rovers have diesel engines that are NOISY. I mentioned this to John and of course the animals don't mind, but I DO. Leopards - we saw (at least) Ngoboswan female, Newington male, Chellahanga male, Matashapiri female, White cloth female, Manyeleti male, one female cub of the Campbell Koppies female. Guess that's about seven. How do I know which ones? Easy, I went to the Mala Mala web site and looked up their cyber diary for the period (4 nights) we were there in Sept. Great to read about what we saw, really brought back images to mind. We never got tired of watching the leopards, they are very active during the day (which was news to me). I also printed the diary to put in our travel folder about the trip.
regards - tom

Tom

The Ngobswan female is one of my favorites as in the Newington male. I first saw White Cloth when she was six months old. When we were there in July, one of the CK cubs caught a young Klipspringer, which was an amazing sight. If you're like me, you will constantly check the sightings diary to see what "your Leopards" are up to.

Tom

Great pictures!

Did you by any chance catch a glimpse of the new Ratrays Camp?

Napamatt:

Glad to see there is another Mala Mala junkie out there!

I think one can refer to the Ngoboswan Female as a true legend by now.She has successfully raised 4 litters to independance now,a remarkable feat for a leopard!

Predator of the decade at Mala Mala... Well,this is a tough one!

1)The West Street Males
2)Tjololo..Maybe?
3)Ngoboswan Female