Tag Archives: wildlife

I Love Hippos and I Wasn’t Disappointed

When going on a safari, there are animals that will be the ones many people will want to see most. Lions, elephants, maybe rhinos will be top of the list. I am not saying I didn’t want to see those because I clearly did but I have a fascination with hippos and seeing them was very high on the list of things I wanted. Thankfully, we had plentiful opportunities to see them in various locations.

I knew that they were one of the more dangerous creatures, but we never got in any situation where they were a direct worry to us. They tend to come out at night and feed before retreating to the water in the morning to stay cool and away from any predators. Therefore, many of our sightings were when they were in rivers. However, this wasn’t always the case. We would see them wandering on land, heading through marshy ground and even asleep on the land. I should note that one hippo we saw asleep on the land was showing signs of attack with wounds across its body so this may have been out of character.

We came upon one river that had loads of hippos in it. We watched then for a while and then, as some of the other trucks pulled out, our guide moved us up into the dead end where they had come from. This brought us in to sight of another big group of hippos way closer in. It was amazing to see so many of them together.

What was the shot I wanted? It had to be the mouth. Hippos yawn and show off their large mouth and the huge teeth. I so wanted to get that shot. One hippo was in the water looking straight at me and I was just willing it to yawn but it didn’t oblige. However, I did get some more distant shots when the full yawn was happening so that was really great. They are such excellent creatures and, considering that they are vegetarians, ones that need to be treated with great caution. What a treat.

Leopards Are Harder to Find

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Our time in Kenya and Tanzania included plenty of lions but, when it came to the next big cat on the food chain, things were a lot less common. The leopards were there to be seen but they were not anywhere near as numerous. It doesn’t help that, unlike the lions that live in large prides, the leopards have a solitary existence. If you are in a territory, it is one leopard that you are looking for.

We did have some encounters, though. The first leopard we came across was at the beginning of the day as we headed out from the hotel. We hadn’t got very far when our guide spotted a leopard sitting on a termite mound. We stopped and got some shots of it and then tried to get closer but leopards are a lot more skittish than other cats and it didn’t take much to spook this one. It ran off up the hills.

Our next encounter was with one that had been busy feeding. On a couple of occasions, we had seen carcasses of animals up in trees where the leopard had pulled them. In this case, the leopard had then taken to another tree to rest after its meal. We were quite close beneath it, but it didn’t seem bothered about us and I don’t think it was likely to pounce down on us. Instead, it was sleeping and barely recognizing our presence.

The other encounters we had were probably with the same leopard but this time down in some bushes alongside a river. The first time the leopard was pretty well in the bushes and was lying down. It didn’t seem intent on doing much and we left it after a short while. Back in the same area on another day, it was on the move. We were able to be ahead of it and it walked towards us before cutting back into the bushes and being lost from sight again.

The leopards are such powerful creatures, and they look far more menacing than, say, the cheetahs. Their ability to haul a heavy animal up into a tree is impressive and, pound for pound, they are stronger than the lions. However, the lions will still take them out if given the chance. With overlapping territories, this is not something to be ruled out. I’m glad we got the time with them that we did.

Getting Down to the Level of Fungi

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Ever since I have had cameras with flip out screens, I have been far more likely to get down to the right level for a photo. Lying on the ground was something I would only do in the right circumstances. Walking through the arboretum with Nancy is not the right time to get grubby doing that. However, now I can let the camera be low down and check the shots from a slightly more comfortable height. This was the right thing to do when I was taking some shots of some mushrooms. You get a totally different perspective from ground level!

Grebes Scooting Over the Bay

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Earlier in the year, I was up at Juanita Bay before things got too warm to make it enjoyable. We get plenty of ducks and coots on the bay but, on this occasion, there were a load of grebes on the water. The types of grebes I grew up with a larger than the ones I saw here. To be honest, I am not certain whether these were adults or juveniles because they seemed to have very small wings. Maybe that is how they are, but it could be that they weren’t fully grown. Maybe some of you know your birds well and can enlighten me.

Anyway, they would periodically get excited and start zipping around the bay. They would be flapping these small wings furiously and just skimming across the water until they found somewhere that they were happier to be. I don’t know whether this is just normal movement or that they were spooked by something but it was fascinating to watch them hurtling around.

One for Fans of Big Cat Diary

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When I was a lot younger, I watched wildlife programs on the BBC. There was a film maker that was on my local BBC region called Simon King. He graduated to working in the Maasai Mara where he was on with another photographer and film maker who had been there for many years. His name is Jonathan Scott. He still lives in Kenya and, with his wife Angela who is also a photographer, can be seen out and about in the Mara covering the animals. I was really pleased when we came across the pair of them. He was driving their Land Rover with his wife in the back shooting out the side. He had a camera mounted close but too. I waved at him at one point and he smiled and waved back. Had a bit of a fanboy moment!

Filming Crews and Their Serious Gear

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We came upon a few filming crews while we were in the Maasai Mara. There were professional photographers but more of the video teams. National Geographic had a crew out working and there were others filming too. You would sometimes find vehicles that were scouting crews for the filming. The thing I found funny was that they often had signs saying that they were filming crews and not to follow them. I might never have paid attention to them until I knew that they were filming crews and might well have good intel about where animals were!

Modified vehicles which allow the camera operator to sit outside the vehicle and shoot looked like just the sort of thing I would like to have. They weren’t always in use, though. I did see one operator sitting inside the vehicle with his feet up while checking stuff on his phone. Looking at the very pricey lenses attached to the camera rigs was almost as fun as looking at the animals. Nat Geo also had a vehicle with a gimbal mount out on the front of the vehicle. It would have been fun to see that in use!

One thing that occurred to me as I watched these teams at work was the volume of material that they would collect that would be culled down to make a TV show. Sure, this would be a vast amount of data to store and sort but how different this must be from the days of wet film. Those crews shooting things like the early Big Cat Diaries must have been carrying a ton of stock and then had to manage all of it through processing and cataloging. That must have been a very time consuming and expensive proposition.

Coots are Freaking Out

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It has been a while since I was down at Juanita Bay. During the summer, the light is harsh, the heat haze is tough, and the humidity is uncomfortable. I also sometimes find myself getting bitten by stuff. However, a pleasant fall afternoon after work seemed like a good time to head down and see what was going on. Things were not too active, but it was nice to relax in the sun as the wildlife did its thing. Sure, an eagle did fly over at one point, but it seemed more interesting in annoying the other birds than actually hunting.

There were tons of coots on the water. They were grouped together with lots of preening and bathing going on along with the regular feeding. At some point, something happened to spook them, though. I don’t know whether there was really anything there or not. I wondered if an otter was under the water, but I never saw any sign of one. Whatever happened, the coots all seemed to get upset and they took off in bunches to go to another part of the bay. Some of them came very close to me so I got them “running” across the surface of the water to find somewhere they felt more relaxed.

Cheetahs – Both Large and Small

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At the end of our first day in Amboseli, we came upon a bunch of vehicles that were sitting near some trees. There was nothing apparent to me about what was going on, but the word passed around that a cheetah had been seen near the trees. We sat and waited for a while. The sun was rapidly going down and that meant that any vehicles that weren’t staying in the park, had to be out by the deadline. They had to leave so the remaining vehicles were only those staying inside the park. There were still quite a few trucks but not too many.

Before too long, the cheetah came in to view. It was walking away from the trees but quite far away. Still, it was great to see it. Then a second appeared and the two of them started walking. At first, they seemed to be paralleling the road but soon it was clear that they were converging with it. We would drive a little way down and wait for them to come towards us and they were getting closer and closer. Occasionally they would stop and sit, almost in formation. Then they would start again. We would let them walk past us then drive a little further and wait again. Vehicles were leapfrogging each other as we all did the same thing.

The light was fading fast, and the ISO was really cranking up, but it is incredible what a modern mirrorless camera can do. Meanwhile, the two cheetahs were getting closer and closer to the road until they eventually decided to cross over the other side. Being so close to them was an incredible end to our first full day.

Our next cheetah encounter was a surprise. We drove out towards a tree in some open space (admittedly an area known for cheetahs). There was a truck near the tree but only as we got there did we realize that there was a mother cheetah and her cub sitting in the shade. They were quite relaxed with us there and the cub was sitting next to mum albeit with some long grass making a clear view a touch tricky.

We left them to it but, an hour or so later, as we came along a road, they were walking towards us along the road. Mum was in front with the cub trotting along behind. They went off the road into the grass to pass us but then resumed using the road once they had passed us. It was so cool to see them moving by as if we weren’t there.

Our last cheetah encounter was entirely down to Nancy. We were bouncing along a road at speed as the third of the three trucks. The side of the vehicle was covered in mud as a result of the heavy rains we had been experiencing. Somehow, through a tiny gap of clear window, Nancy spotted a cheetah and called out loudly. We ground to a halt and did a U turn. Sure enough, a cheetah was alongside the road eating what remained of a Thompson’s gazelle. The others turned around to join us as this animal finished its meal. The stomach was looking very full.

The cheetahs are just glorious looking animals. They are small and sleek compared to the larger leopards and the even larger lions. Speed is their thing, and they look so fast even as they are walking. The markings on their face are really interesting too and the cubs look almost sad with the facial lines. There were many high points on this trip, but they were definitely up there.

Beetle on the Acer

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Walking through the backyard, I noticed a colorful looking beetle on one of the branches of our Japanese maple. Did I shoo it off? Of course not. I ran to get the camera instead. The bug flipped around the branch as I returned and was showing its underside instead which was not what I wanted. I got a shot or two just in case and then waited to see if it would turn over again. Thankfully, it did and I was able to get something closer to the shot that I had originally envisaged.

Lions Abound!

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For the first of my animal related posts from our trip to Kenya and Tanzania, I am going to go with the apex predator – the lions. When we saw our first lion, I was so excited. It was off in the distance that a bunch of lions from a pride were hanging out. A young cub was running around but everything was far away. However, this was just a taster. Before too long, we were right in amongst a pride of lions. They were youngsters one the whole and playing around. One was resting and it turned out to be nursing an injury.

From this point on, we just saw more and more lions. Sometimes they were far away but often they were very close. Usually they were doing nothing. Sleeping during the day is a regular occupation and hunting is something that they prefer to do at night. We came across a solo male (surprisingly close to the spot we had stopped for lunch) and he was quite injured after a battle of some sort. He could look either imposing or vulnerable depending on the moment.

We also came across mating pairs on a couple of occasions. One of these pairs was out on the grass on a sunny day with the light making the male look totally serene. Their lack of interest in us was hard to get used to. (Step out of the vehicle and things would change rapidly!). I liked getting shots of them sleeping too as they often looked like they were in uncomfortable positions. However, a quick opening of the eye would transform the shot.

It was easy to get a bit blasé about the lions after a while. We saw so many and in a variety of locations that it was easy to forget that these were lions for goodness sake! Don’t ever forget that. Now, as I look back through the shots, I am reminded of just how lucky I am and how amazing this was.