The Kafue National Park, known locally as KNP, is one of Africa’s best kept secrets. A giant untramelled wilderness with an outstanding variety of wildlife; it embraces a rich blend of woodlands, grasslands and aquatic environments in a complexity of shapes, colours, adaptations and interrelationships. Larger than the well-known Kruger National Park in South Africa, Kafue covers 22,480 km2 (8,650[…]
Read moreCategory: Wildlife
My favourite kind of email
A couple of days ago I was very happy to receive this email from Will Hore-Lacy and his wife Jackie saying what a great time they had on safari in Zimbabwe. If you’re interested in reading more about their safari here are the links: Chundu Island The Hide – Hwange NP Bomani Tented Lodge – Hwange NP
Read moreMali Elephant Project – Photo Gallery
I’ve include a few images here from a gallery of photos of the Mali Elephant project posted by Susan Canney Click here to see the full gallery
Read moreInterview with Dr Susan Canney, Director of the Mali Elephant Project
NOTE: 01 Feb 2016 I’ve re-posted this interview because the threat to Mali’s elephants is becoming even more worrying. Poachers have exploited the on-going civil conflict in Mali to poach more elephants than ever before and unless action is taken very soon there is a real danger of Africa’s northernmost herd of elephants being wiped out. The Mali Elephant Project has[…]
Read moreMali elephants under siege again
Africa’s northernmost herd of elephants have long been a fascination of mine and I have followed the Mali Elephant Project with both with interest and anxiety as tribal conflicts and civil war have threatened their survival. Earlier this year, as background to a trip I have been planning to visit Mali’s elephants, I carried out an interview with the Director[…]
Read moreImvelo Safari Lodges – Promoting community support for conservation
One of my favourite safari camps is Bomani Tented Lodge at Ngamo on the south eastern corner of Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe. For me, Bomani manages to combine all the necessary comforts of a first class camp without succumbing to gratuitous luxury. The accommodation is superb, with each tent looking out onto the surrounding plains, and the staff are[…]
Read moreThe Primitive Trail – A Bird’s Eye View
Daylight on Day 3 showed us a river that looked very different from the night before. The rhino photo above was taken early evening on Day 2 This was the same stretch of river early morning on day 3 I had a few minutes to spare while the others got ready to leave and so I took the chance to[…]
Read moreThe Primitive Trail – Close encounters of the feline kind
The night seemed to be an endless succession of tossing and turning. No matter how comfortable my sleeping position seemed, that comfort would only last a short time before the rocky ground began to dig into my back or my hips. So it came as quite a surprise to find that I was actually asleep when I got woken for[…]
Read moreOlympus Stylus 1 – punching above its weight
Let’s make it clear from the start that this is not an in-depth technical review; rather a series of first impressions based on 2 field trips. Having said that; is there a better way of finding out if a camera will do what you want? I’ve used Nikon cameras for many years and have no quibbles about the image quality[…]
Read moreWitfontein, a small slice of heaven in the Klein Karoo
Every time I travel to Witfontein, our house on a private wildlife reserve in the Klein Karoo, I wonder what I will find there. On recent visits, in addition to the perennial questions like; will the veldt be green or brown? will we get sunshine or rain? I’ve found myself trying to guess who might be dropping in for a[…]
Read moreImages from Africa
Photographs for Sale For some time now I’ve been getting requests for copies of my photographs, either as digital images or as prints. It came to a head last Christmas when I found myself being asked to produce a whole bunch of canvas prints so that people could give them as presents. One of the most common gripes I’d received[…]
Read moreWildlife and Waves in Tanzania
Combine the Serengeti with the Indian Ocean Coast Tanzania is where crystal clear beaches meet intimate wildlife experiences. As one of the most attractive locations on Africa’s safari circuit, from the vastness of the Serengeti, to the calm waves of the Indian Ocean, Tanzania has so much more to offer than game viewing alone. From the beating heart of the[…]
Read moreWill 2015 be the year that YOU visit Africa?
Well, will it? By most people’s reckoning, 2014 was not a good year for Africa. It was a year when the continent was constantly in the news but for all the wrong reasons. With the headlines shouting out about deadly viruses and repeated attacks by Islamic militants across the continent, it was no real surprise that most travellers sought alternative[…]
Read moreCan photography be art?
For some inexplicable reason, over the past couple of days, I have been coming up against a recurring theme; “can photography be art?” and if so, when does it become art? It all kicked off when I read an article in the Guardian entitled “The $6.5m canyon: it’s the most expensive photograph ever – but it’s like a hackneyed poster[…]
Read moreThe Elephants of Kanga Pan
Elephants at Kanga Pan Our first sight of Kanga Pan did not fill us with optimism. What we saw was a lot of mud, with a few small pools full of stagnant green water and it certainly bore little resemblance to the year round waterhole we’d been expecting. Appearances can be deceptive though, and over the course of the 2[…]
Read moreMana Pools and the Zambezi
to read the previous chapter of our Safari Diary An elephant named Boswell, Wild Dogs and a Leopard click here 26 September 2014 The topic of conversation when we gathered for our morning drive was noises that had entertained us during the night. I’d heard hyaenas and lions but apparently at about 5am 2 wild dogs had run through camp[…]
Read moreAn elephant named Boswell, Wild Dogs and a Leopard
This follows the previous chapter in our latest safari diary – Matusadona, a birding paradise on the shores of Lake Kariba 25 September 2104 Mana Pools here we come Our flight to Mana Pools was booked for 9 o’clock, so we had to make an early start. Our stay at Rhino Safari Camp was much too brief (much much too[…]
Read moreMatusadona, a birding paradise on the shores of Lake Kariba
The 9th installment of our latest Safari Diary follows on from – Cheetahs and vultures on our last morning in Hwange Matusadona National Park As we come into land the first plane is sitting waiting to take off again and no sooner have we taxied off the runway than it roars off kicking up another dust storm. We disentangle ourselves[…]
Read more