The Tanzanian Top Ten

'Serengeti Sunrise'

After laboriously and lovingly checking out, individually, all 20,000 photos taken during our three weeks in Tanzania, I've made a pointless attempt at choosing my ten favourites.

It is very unlikely that anyone will agree with the order of these photos, and it is quite likely that I will change my mind next time I look at them. However, I've tried to give a rationale for each decision...

Number 10 - 'Le Bisous'.

As finding the painted wolves (African wild dogs) was our main objective, including at least one photo of them is obligatory. They play and hunt at dawn and dusk, with very little movement in-between. Therefore lighting levels for photography are challenging (as is most wildlife photography). 

I've included two shots of them in the top ten. This first one has little action, making it easier to get good definition/detail.

This was taken late in the day, just before sundown, so the ISO had to be set high at 3200 with a shutter speed of 1/500, just fast enough to get good detail. The noise due to the high ISO was easy to get rid of.

The photo shows two young males taking a break in the middle of play-fighting to kiss each other's cheeks ('le bisous' in French). In actual fact, this was a prelude to an attack. There was an injured hyena (bitten by a wolf attack) trapped in a bush next to them and they were waiting for it to attempt an escape. Unfortunately for the dogs, the attempt was made only when five other hyenas arrived. 

The battle commenced. As it threw up a cloud of dust, and as all contestants moved with lightning fury, getting a good photo was impossible. Very impressive to see though...

'Le Bisous'

Number 9 - 'Passing By'.

These two Palm-nut Vultures are much more photogenic than the average vulture. Average vultures are sadly lacking in all self-respect and regularly attempt to win the 'ugly awards'. 

Being relatively slow moving, they were easy to photograph in motion. 

I like this photo because it seems to show one bird inspecting the undercarriage of the other. You can almost sense its disapproval...

'Passing By'

Number 8 - 'Necks at Dawn'.

There are very many giraffes in Tanzania. Hunting of them is banned and anyway, hanging their head on a wall would be tricky. 

Despite seeing them everywhere, it is difficult getting any action photos. They gallop in slow motion, they pose like multiple telegraph poles. To catch them fighting as they are in this photo is a rare opportunity. They swing their long necks in an attempt to bang their horns against their opponent's chest. Severe injuries do occur. 

It now seems likely that, although their necks may have evolved additional length to access leaves in trees, the extreme elongation may well be due to this method of fighting, he with the longer neck winning due to the greater force, thus being the one to reproduce. This would also explain why the females have shorter necks.

In this photo they both kindly took a swing at the same time..

'Necks at Dawn'

Number 7 - 'Peekin'.

We saw few leopards this time, and this one we glimpsed for only a short moment. 

She was in trouble. 

At the foot of this tree was a pack of lions intent on killing her. This shot shows her peeking around the large branch that she had taken refuge on, to see if we were prepared to help.

We weren't.

'Peekin'

Number 6 - 'An Up and Under'.

These two lionesses were part of a pack of seven. They were on the move, lionesses racing ahead while the large male was dragged reluctantly behind, knowing that was the only way to get his just desserts.

As they ran, the young lionesses were playing, dodging in and out of each other's path. Lots of movement, difficult to track, great result.

'An Up and Under'

Number 5 - 'Necking'.

This is the second of the two photos of painted wolves. It shows them in full action during their intense play-fighting. 

They were in the shade with a bright background. Every photographer's nightmare. This was taken at 1/800 of a second, just fast enough to freeze the action, but the resulting noise was difficult to edit out.

'Neckin'

Number 4 - 'Bee Hunt'.

This photo of a little bee-eater is the first of two shots requiring a special technique called RAW-burst. It was taken at 1/3200 of a second, nearly but not quite freezing the motion of this extremely fast moving bird. An effective focal length of 800mm meant tracking was really tricky.

'Bee Hunt'

Number 3 - 'Roll-up'.

A similar shot to the previous one, but this lilac-breasted roller was closer and the lighting was better, Taken at 1/4000 second meant almost no motion blur.

'Roll-up'

Number 2 - 'Dawn Raid'.

These two ground hornbills were easier to capture in motion due to their larger size and slower movement. The big problem here however was the lighting. To capture detail of the bird was not difficult, but the sky was comparatively way too bright even at dawn to get any detail in the sky. Thus I had to take two photos, one of the birds taking off, then another immediately after, exposed for the sky. Then glue the two photos together...

'Dawn raid'

Number 1 - 'Self-Portrait'.

This photo, which, for obvious reasons, is called 'self-portrait', is a rarity. It is not uncommon to see lions in trees, but it is VERY unusual to see an adult male doing so. Especially this guy who appears to have eaten an entire wildebeest. None of the guides in the camp had seen this before in their entire careers.

Also, this is exactly how I feel after having spent three weeks in a truck, on a bed or at a dining table...

'Self Portrait'

Special Mentions:

Although there are many other photos I'm pleased with, this little guy deserves a special award for flashing:

'Flashing'

Also, no collection is complete without a dawn/dusk photo. 

Here is one capturing a marabou stork puncturing the sun. 

'Sun-burst'

You may also notice a sunset panorama sneaked in at the top of this page.

And finally...

Incase you missed it first time round, here's a short video with most (but not all) of my favourite photos...

And a final finally...

The full story. Three weeks in Tanzania contracted down to a mere sixteen minutes...

Heading Home: Day 21 of our Awesome African Adventure.

And so to our final day here in Tanzania. The last blog. You must be disappointed...

Normally our last day would be just a drive to the airstrip, then the day spent waiting in airports trying to log on to the airport 'free' wifi, but this time, by a major feat of organisation and pure luck, we had almost all day to go on a drive, our flights not starting until mid-afternoon.

So, our last chance to see rhinos. Our last chance to see caracal Our last chance to get completely bogged down and miss that flight.

Finally, on our last day; a decent sunrise. Up until now they had been spoilt by smoke or clouds. Often both. Today, clear sky with only artistically designed clouds to add ambience.

As usual, a giraffe wanders by in the hope of becoming viral on the internet.

Just incase you are crossing your legs in anticipation: No, we did not find rhinos. We did find quite a lot of bogs though...

Also, this cute bat-eared fox...

...and jackals quite happy to pose for the camera.

As usual, there were large herds all sorts of grass-eating meat-on-legs. These topi for instance...

The lions that we followed yesterday are still around and still hungry. Perhaps they couldn't decide which topi to go for?

These kitties are full of love.

Don't try this at home.

We coasted by the Mara again looking for rhinos.

...and yet again got stuck. This was when we realised for sure that the diff-lock was broken. Being towed out also broke the rear bar. Work required...

After this we had to be much more careful, neither wanting to be rescued again nor missing our afternoon flight.

We did, however, manage to attend the local nose waving competition.

We dined next to a pride of lions dozing on some rocks. As one does.

Then, as needs must, we headed for the airstrip to start our laborious journey back home. 

One sad farewell with our guide and friend Ian. No, that's is not him in the photo...

Four flights lasting all night through to mid-morning the next day.

Five bagage checks of increasing intensity and pointlessness.

Multiple meals at unconventional and inconvenient times of day. 

One flight film in multiple small parts interrupted by meals, drinks, announcements, technological blips, and sleep. 

One car trip, trying to remember where we put our bloody parking ticket and which side of the road to drive on.

Two people sad to leave, happy to be home, totally and completely knackered.

The toothpaste made it till the end.

The Bogs, Part Two: Day 20 of our Awesome African Adventure.

Fear not, we were rescued last night as the sun seemed to disappear with our hopes. We got to camp just in time for food (and the long lost wine) then crashed out...

Forget the shower...

This morning we set off when there was enough light to avoid bogs. 

Well, that didn’t work did it?

There was enough light however to avoid three hungry adult male lions just outside the camp. I had heard these guys during the night, not far from the confines of our lion-resistant canvas tent.

Thank goodness the lions were there to protect us...

The sun rises on our last full day in Tanzania. This day we hunt rhino.

Hunting black rhino is far from easy. They are exceedingly rare, thanks to the magical effects of their compacted nasal hair (horns). Imagine being someone skilled enough to sell the idea that rhino horn has viagran like abilities. Very few have that skill just using lies and misinformation. Brexit anyone?

Anyway, another reason that they are difficult to find is that, despite their enormous size, they can appear to disappear into their preferred daytime environment; the jungle. They tend to only graze in the open at night. They, for some strange reason, are averse to getting blasted by an elephant gun.

Added to these difficulties is the boggy terrain, something that would come back to haunt us.

Thus we spent much of our day being disappointed and stuck in bogs. Thankfully there are plenty of other things to see, if only the long grass and bogs would allow it.

The long grass also made personal hygiene a little difficult. How desperate do you have to be to respond to a call of nature when the grass that surrounds you could contain snakes or safari ants? Safari ants are definitely best avoided. Snakes too.

Then there is the problem of cleaning yourself if you successfully achieve your goal. Most Tanzanians don't use toilet paper, a product rare and too expensive. Instead they use water jets. I admire their aim. Wildlife, on the other hand, achieve hygiene by other methods. 

Here is an ostrich to explain...

Other birds are available...

We then tried to go east and cross a sand river. Forget it, all approach roads to the one bridge were totally bogged down. There was a second bridge. ‘Was’ being the operative word. 

We turned back, and as doing so a leopard ran at speed below us. There was no way we could get near it. 

Instead we managed to find a route down to the edge of the sand river, where some elephants were crossing to meet with another herd. This sand river is clearly inappropriately named.

The banks of this river were however made of sand. This made getting down the bank a mite on the tricky side...

Having an exhausting effect on some of the more overweight family members.

Getting back up appeared easier, involving making you own staircase. 

Leaving here we of course got stuck again. Totally stuck. Help was required but rescue was nearby so it didn't take long to be freed.

We then followed some local lions out of this area. This pride was on the hunt... 

Although, as usual, the male held back, being reluctantly dragged along in the hope of getting his oats. (I look forward to seeing how this translates into French.)

We then went down to the Mara and stayed a while watching the hippos, 
These guys were plagued by giant fleas.

We headed off. 

About five meters. 

Grounded again.

This time no help was at hand, and communication poor to non-existant. We were on our own (appart from the hippos, who seemed quite amused).

After much struggle and teaching of Swahili swear words, Ian jacked the car up and got rocks to put under the tire. After several attempts, we were on our way. This time we were much better equipped. Both red and white wine were available.

Oh well, non of these looked like rhinos...

Tomorrow, our last day. Our last chance to see rhino.

Our last chance to get stuck in a bog...

Next episode here

The Bogs, Part One: Day 19 of our Awesome African Adventure.

[After a couple of days break from sending blogs due to a lack of time, a lack of internet and a lack of mental capacity, I am finally back to torture you all...]

We had delayed heading north by a day as we had heard that conditions up north were a little tricky. Whereas in the west, the smoke had started to overwhelm my bronchioles, in the north the problem was the water-sodden soil. Much of this savannah had been turned to bog. The frogs loved it, the trucks; not so much.

So the day has finally arrived to leave this smouldering part of the Serengeti. We set off early (surprise) leaving the smokey horizon behind us.

Even the high and mighty ones came to bid us farewell.

We had not got far before seeing our first pride of lions. 

An ideal place for breakfast. 

A goshawk looks on...

Our host and guide chose a short-cut to the northern part of the Serengeti by leaving the Serengeti and passing through some local villages where running repairs could be done on our undercarriage. Our joints having become a little stiff...

All our joints...

We re-enter the Serengeti here:

Here you will see a list of rules and regulations. Amongst them:

    3. Please refuse and expose corruptive practices, advances or gestures.

I, of course, complied...

Shortly after entering northern Serengeti we stopped for lunch by the Mara river. A quick refill (although someone had forgotten the wine 😠) and we were off. 

Here, our search had changed. We wanted to see rhinos, but seeing anything has become a trial as leaving the main tracks presents huge challenges. In fact, staying on the main tracks themselves is, in places, impossible.

This was anathema to our brave guide. His normal disregard of local rules as far as staying on-road were concerned had changed. Before; we searched the horizon for species rare and bizarre. Now; we searched the ground just in-front of the truck for solid traction.

One clue to the problems here were the widespread numerous water-holes, normally quite rare. This young elephant was in his element.

After some time spent navigating this bog-ridden landscape, we came across a broken down truck with another truck to help out. The guests within were without. Unbeknownst to them, danger was not far away. 

Skirting the repair crew we headed uphill, to find:

Some of this pack were staring down at the broken-down truck and its tasty tourists

One of the lions in particular showed a lot of interest, eye-balling the unknowing tourists and flicking her tail. It seems likely that she has already tasted human flesh and wanted more. This is not unusual. Tourists, such as ourselves, are well protected within our large trucks. Stay within and you'll be ok. On foot, however, and you are fair game. This seems fair as the likely victims of these top-predators is the predator the most top-of-them-all: poachers. Some of them fail in their task and become victims of their own prey.  

Eventually these lions took their kill (a warthog, not a tourist) and we followed. 

Only to get completely and utterly stuck in a bog.

After about half an hour of trying to outstare five lions, another truck arrived and, guess what, got stuck in the same bog as well.

We checked our supplies for a potential overnight stay in hostile territory. Enough food but still no wine...

I really should have got out of the van to take a picture of all these goings on, but apparently lions have a preference for Europeans.

Finally the cavalry arrived (two trucks and a tractor) and heaved us out intact. Sadly they too had forgotten the wine. 

After such an adventure we headed home, stopping by this immense beast. This elephant is at least forty years old, and on his last set of teeth. 

Talking of which, our supply of toothpaste was now dangerously low. It has been suggested that we use ash instead. Well, why not? It works on our wood stoves. It might just help grate off the coffee stains. 

As we neared our objective, that of getting to our camp for the night in a place of security (in a canvas tent), we came across this majestic beast:

A leopard absorbing the final rays of a dying sun.

Then the usual sunset pic before returning to...

 … oh… hang on. 

We’re stuck in a bleeding bog once more…

Bogs, bogs everywhere,

and all our hopes did droop

Bogs, bogs everywhere,

Nor any bog to poop...

Next episode here