Amahoro Gorilla Pictures Posted
Jan 17th, 2007, 03:12 PM
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Amahoro Gorilla Pictures Posted
Everyone,
I am in the process of going through all the photos from our recent trip, and I have managed to get a few pictures of the Amahoro Group posted. I will put up galleries for the Hirwa, Nkuringo and Habinyanja Groups as I finish them. After all that, and after I get through the pictures from Ethiopia and Ngamba Island, I will settle in to write a trip report.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy the pictures.
Chris
Pictures at: www.pbase.com/cwillis
I am in the process of going through all the photos from our recent trip, and I have managed to get a few pictures of the Amahoro Group posted. I will put up galleries for the Hirwa, Nkuringo and Habinyanja Groups as I finish them. After all that, and after I get through the pictures from Ethiopia and Ngamba Island, I will settle in to write a trip report.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy the pictures.
Chris
Pictures at: www.pbase.com/cwillis
Jan 17th, 2007, 05:44 PM
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Thanks for the comments. I just put up the Hirwa Group gallery, so take a look at the same address if you like. With this group, we got very close to a very cute baby gorilla, so close in fact that we had to switch to a shorter lens!
I also heard the report about two gorillas being killed in Virunga NP in Congo. One of the killings happened while we were just across the border! It is unbelieveable that the wildlife in the Congo is suffering so much because of all the rebel fighting there.
Chris
I also heard the report about two gorillas being killed in Virunga NP in Congo. One of the killings happened while we were just across the border! It is unbelieveable that the wildlife in the Congo is suffering so much because of all the rebel fighting there.
Chris
Jan 18th, 2007, 07:04 AM
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Great photos Chris. Making it even more exciting for our upcoming trip in Feb! A couple of questions if you don't mind.
Which camera body do you use? Which lenses did you shoot with. The 100-400 was mentioned then you said you had to switch to a shorter lens for the baby?
Thanks again. Can't wait to show these to my hubby tonight.
J
Which camera body do you use? Which lenses did you shoot with. The 100-400 was mentioned then you said you had to switch to a shorter lens for the baby?
Thanks again. Can't wait to show these to my hubby tonight.
J
Jan 18th, 2007, 07:27 AM
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Our body is the Canon Digital Rebel XTi/400D. Almost all of our gorilla pictures were taken with the Canon EF100-400L lens, except for a few shots of the Hirwa Group with our wide angle lens (EF-S 17-85) because the gorillas were SOOOO close that 100mm was too much. But all of the Amahoro, Nkuringo and Habinyanja pictures were with the 100-400.
During the Hirwa trek I was really wishing we had the Canon 70-200/2.8L, as the light was very poor and the gorillas were very close to us. But on the other treks we had better light and the gorillas were further away, so the extra reach of the 100-400 paid off.
I hope that answers your questions. Good luck on your upcoming trip -- I know you will love the gorilla treks.
Chris
During the Hirwa trek I was really wishing we had the Canon 70-200/2.8L, as the light was very poor and the gorillas were very close to us. But on the other treks we had better light and the gorillas were further away, so the extra reach of the 100-400 paid off.
I hope that answers your questions. Good luck on your upcoming trip -- I know you will love the gorilla treks.
Chris
Jan 18th, 2007, 10:11 AM
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Great photos. How close did you approach.
I'm looking forward to your Ethiopia photos -- I had thought there was a chance I'd get there in December, but I just booked trip to New Zealand (with side visits and stopovers for diving in a few South Pacific islands).
I'm looking forward to your Ethiopia photos -- I had thought there was a chance I'd get there in December, but I just booked trip to New Zealand (with side visits and stopovers for diving in a few South Pacific islands).
Jan 18th, 2007, 10:34 AM
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Michael, the Ethiopia pictures are coming -- I am doing the gorilla ones first because there were fewer of them and, being in RAW format, it took less time to process them and get them ready to show. We took over 8000 pictures in Ethiopia, so it is a big job to cull through them and then process the JPEGs to get them ready.
The viewing distances for the gorillas varied between treks and even within treks. For example, the Amahoro Group in Rwanda and the Habinyanja Group in Uganda were in relatively open surroundings, and generally we were 20-30 feet away, and sometimes even further. The Hirwa Group was in a very dense bamboo forest, and the group was moving throughout our encounter with them, so our viewing distances were often much closer, as one or two gorillas would be in a small clearing in the forest, or the gorillas would actually approach us and get in the middle of our group, sometimes walking within 1-2 feet of people in the group. You can get an idea of the distances by looking at the focal lengths for the various pictures -- most of them have not been cropped.
Your New Zealand/diving trip sounds excellent -- by any chance are you going to Tonga? The diving in Vava'u was superb when we went there about 18 months ago.
Chris
The viewing distances for the gorillas varied between treks and even within treks. For example, the Amahoro Group in Rwanda and the Habinyanja Group in Uganda were in relatively open surroundings, and generally we were 20-30 feet away, and sometimes even further. The Hirwa Group was in a very dense bamboo forest, and the group was moving throughout our encounter with them, so our viewing distances were often much closer, as one or two gorillas would be in a small clearing in the forest, or the gorillas would actually approach us and get in the middle of our group, sometimes walking within 1-2 feet of people in the group. You can get an idea of the distances by looking at the focal lengths for the various pictures -- most of them have not been cropped.
Your New Zealand/diving trip sounds excellent -- by any chance are you going to Tonga? The diving in Vava'u was superb when we went there about 18 months ago.
Chris
Jan 18th, 2007, 11:24 AM
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Yes, I'm going to Tonga.
We will visit Fiji, Western Samoa, American Samoa, Tonga and Cook Islands, with the longest stay in the Cook Islands, but will dive/snorkel in most of those places. My friends is a diver, and she'll scuba, while I'll snorkel (unless I get certified before that trip, and since I have three trips planned to the Caribbean this year, I should take advantage and get certified).
We will visit Fiji, Western Samoa, American Samoa, Tonga and Cook Islands, with the longest stay in the Cook Islands, but will dive/snorkel in most of those places. My friends is a diver, and she'll scuba, while I'll snorkel (unless I get certified before that trip, and since I have three trips planned to the Caribbean this year, I should take advantage and get certified).
Jan 18th, 2007, 11:40 AM
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Michael,
There are several good snorkel spots in Vava'u, including a nice reef between Mounu and Ovalu Islands, and several others I can't recall the names of. But I am quite sure that you won't regret getting certified to dive before this trip. South Pacific diving is very different from the Caribbean, and opens up a lot more for you to see than you can while just snorkeling.
If you are still undecided on a dive/snorkel boat operator in Vava'u, I would suggest Beluga Diving.
Chris
There are several good snorkel spots in Vava'u, including a nice reef between Mounu and Ovalu Islands, and several others I can't recall the names of. But I am quite sure that you won't regret getting certified to dive before this trip. South Pacific diving is very different from the Caribbean, and opens up a lot more for you to see than you can while just snorkeling.
If you are still undecided on a dive/snorkel boat operator in Vava'u, I would suggest Beluga Diving.
Chris
Jan 18th, 2007, 06:58 PM
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As an update, I have now posted the pictures from the Nkuringo Group in Uganda. That leaves just one gorilla gallery left to do -- Habinyanja. I'll try to get those posted this weekend.
Chris
Chris
Jan 19th, 2007, 05:50 AM
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Chris my apologies for asking for the lens details etc when you have it written on the bottom of the photos! I was too busy looking at the photos the first time!
Thanks though for your polite reply!
J
Thanks though for your polite reply!
J
Jan 19th, 2007, 11:36 AM
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Jules, no problem, your question gave me the opportunity to editorialize about the 70-200/2.8 option, which I think a lot of people use for taking gorilla pictures.
The display of the camera, lens and exposure information is one of the things I really like about PBase -- if you go onto pbase's search engine and search for "rwanda gorillas" or "mountain gorillas" you will see several excellent galleries by other photographers (Mike Johnson has a gallery, and Grover and Susie Wrenn also have one), and you can look to see what kind of equipment they used and what exposure settings their pictures were taken at. That can give you a good idea of what type of conditions to anticipate for your upcoming trip.
If you have any further questions about gorilla photography, I will be glad to try and answer based on my recent experience. I intend to include a section on photography in my trip report (when I get around to writing it), but that will probably be after you leave for Rwanda.
Chris
The display of the camera, lens and exposure information is one of the things I really like about PBase -- if you go onto pbase's search engine and search for "rwanda gorillas" or "mountain gorillas" you will see several excellent galleries by other photographers (Mike Johnson has a gallery, and Grover and Susie Wrenn also have one), and you can look to see what kind of equipment they used and what exposure settings their pictures were taken at. That can give you a good idea of what type of conditions to anticipate for your upcoming trip.
If you have any further questions about gorilla photography, I will be glad to try and answer based on my recent experience. I intend to include a section on photography in my trip report (when I get around to writing it), but that will probably be after you leave for Rwanda.
Chris
Jan 19th, 2007, 06:22 PM
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OK, I've now put up the final group of gorilla pictures, from the Habinyanja Group in Uganda.
Personally, these are my favorites, and feature lots of pictures of what must be the most cooperative baby gorilla in the world. This 3-month-old was fascinated with our group of visitors, and posed for picture after picture. Our entire group was dumbfounded just watching this baby for what seemed like hours. Hope you enjoy!
Chris
Personally, these are my favorites, and feature lots of pictures of what must be the most cooperative baby gorilla in the world. This 3-month-old was fascinated with our group of visitors, and posed for picture after picture. Our entire group was dumbfounded just watching this baby for what seemed like hours. Hope you enjoy!
Chris
