We have had an exhausting couple of days, but we finally have a few minutes to share a couple of our adventures. Yesterday, after a long drive from the Serengeti in Tanzania, we crossed the border back into Kenya (stories to come later) to go to the Maasai Mara. We had a wonderful evening seeing cheetahs, leopards, and many other animals. We awoke very early this morning to enjoy a wonderful balloon ride followed by a champagne breakfast. From there we started our game drive where we had the most amazing experience. A cheetah jumped on the hood of our Land Cruiser, not once, but twice. We will share photos of that unbelievable and unforgettable encounter once we can get to all of our photographs. Still a few more days on safari before we head to Nairobi.
Sunrise from the Balloon Heating the Balloon Cheetah Several Impala Sunset to End Our Day
We are in the middle of the second day in the Serengeti. It is once again a completely different experience and magnificent in every way. We chose not to bring a computer in order to save on space, so we will have to wait until we get home to go through the 5,000 photographs that we have taken. With another five and a half days on safari and several days in Nairobi, the numbers will be staggering. Until then we can transfer from the camera, we are limited to pictures from our phones, but we still have thousands to choose from. We have already seen the “Big Five”, lion, rhino, water buffalo, elephant, and we saw the leopard yesterday. WIFI continues to be spotty, so we will post again at the next chance that we get.
One of two leopards that we saw yesterday Impala We have seen over 40 lions and we will get to see many more Hawk on the top of a tree
We have seen many different animals throughout our travels, some of them more interesting than others. As we prepare for our safari, we know that we will come home with many more animal photographs than what we even have today. We are always on the lookout for motion in the trees that surround us, the rustling of bushes, or even shadows moving across the ground so that we don’t miss out on a possible animal sighting. Many of the animals are cute and adorable, some colorful, and others perhaps a little strange or even dangerous. Taking photographs of animals can be tricky at times and sometimes it all comes down to a little bit of luck.
Llama in BoliviaBarbary Monkey in Gibraltar Anteater in a Tree in PanamaBig Horn Sheep in ColoradoMonkey on the Rocks of Halong Bay, VietnamThree-Toed Tree SlothPoisonous Frog in the Amazon
It obviously helps to have a telephoto lens, but that also comes with its own set of challenges. It can be difficult to go from the naked eye to the camera and get it to the location where you just sighted the animal. Another interesting thing that we found from several of our trips now is the trick of using binoculars and a cell phone to capture a photograph. The binocular acts as a telephoto lens for the camera on your phone and the images are often as good as those captured with a digital camera.
Agouti in Panama Friendly Donkey in South DakotaTurkey in the Bolivian JungleCamel at the Pyramids in EgyptUp Close and Personal with Monkeys in PanamaColorful Wire-Tailed Manakin in Ecuador
One thing that is clear is that you don’t have to go to exotic locations to captures photographs of animals in the wild. There are obviously birds of all different kinds wherever you travel, but it isn’t surprising to see snakes, lizards and other creatures as well. There are also places that have allowed the animals to remain in the wild at certain tourist locations like the monkeys in Gibraltar or even the wild donkeys in South Dakota. All it takes is a little patience and a willingness to take several photographs so that you just might get the one that you were looking for. Do you take photographs of animals in the wild?
Lizard Standing on a Rock in UtahTarantula Crawling Out of a Tree Bird Along the Trail to the Top of Gellért Hill in Budapest Colorful Details of a Hummingbird Moth in Our Backyard
