Category: Wildlife and Nature
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Namibia: Strange Birds
Namibia has a number of different types of hornbills – some fairly common, but some a bit rarer. This fellow below – a southern ground hornbill, was spotted casually walking through the forest toward the road we were on, with about 5-6 of his colleagues / family. About the size of a small wild turkey,…
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Caprivi is for the Birds
Caprivi is that northeasternmost region in Namibia that looks so odd on a map. I’m sure there is a really interesting historical reason dating from the colonial days for Caprivi being part of Namibia. But for now it just sticks out there, too thin to really even qualify as a panhandle. It borders Angola, Zambia,…
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Cheetahs and Leopards
Had the opportunity to do some filming of cheetahs and leopards (well, actually just one leopard) recently. They make excellent photo and video subjects! The first was an amazing opportunity at Okonjima & Africats, (about 2 hours north of Windhoek, Namibia) – I blogged about it once before – when we found 3 cheetahs lounging…
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Behold the Grey Go-Away Bird
These guys always make me chuckle. The first time I encountered a grey go-away bird – which is very common all over southern Africa – I was working in the back yard and was startled by its sound, which at the time sounded like a child saying “heeyyyyy…” from about 10 feet away. They will…
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Supermoon + cheetahs: nature goes out of her way to cooperate
Namibia really is an amazing place for photographers. On this occasion, everything lined up, but as a photographer I was unfortunately not fully up to the task. Still, some amazing photos. The location: Okonjima / Africat, where two organizations collaborate on a 22,000 hectare plot of African bush to rehabilitate injured carnivores. Africat has taken…
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New Sony NEX-VG20 – low light test (wildlife at night – Onduruquea Reserve)
I was pretty nervous about the new camera I recently ordered – the Sony NEX-VG20 is an interchangeable-lens camcorder that boasts a sensor the size of most still cameras (23.4 X 15.6mm) – which, in addition to the versatility offered by the changeable lenses, apparently offers many features you don’t often see in a $2,000…
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Photographing a Leopard
Leopards make excellent photographic subjects, but they tend to stay hidden in the wild – when they’re not trying to EAT you. Seriously, some subjects are best photographed in captivity or a controlled situation. This particular leopard is in a pretty large pen, but he gets fed daily. The experience can be unnerving -sitting in…
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Best music for hanging out with giraffes
When you’re editing vacation videos, it’s always fun to come up with the best music – ideally one that conveys the right mood, maybe something that relates to the place you’re visiting. But sometimes the best music to convey the mood is no music at all. In this video, we managed to get awfully close…
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Life and Death at Avis
We have this pretty amazing reservoir just outside Windhoek created by Avis dam – it’s a wildlife protected area / bird sanctuary / dog walking area / jogging area. And fishing/boating pond. And you can get some awesome pictures out there if you pay attention. Examples: An egret takes flight Pretty good fishing at…
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Macro [micro] Photography – Spider
Since the unhappy theft of my camera and laptop, I’ve been relatively silent on the blog as there’s not a whole lot of photo/video action to write about. But I’m still enjoying the digital microscope I got recently from the Sharper Image – essentially a kids’ science toy, but I’m not ashamed to admit in…
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Spider: 3 Views
I happened to catch this interesting spider on a glass door, and snapped a couple of different photos. I believe it’s Selenopidae, or the wall crab spider. Because it’s so flat, depth of field/focus issues are not as much a problem as with ordinary macro photography. Because the spider is about an inch across, not…
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Video: 24 Hours at Etosha
Along the southern fringes of Etosha National Park, Namibia’s flagship park, are scattered a handful of camps and watering holes. The oldest of these is Okaukuejo, 18 km from Anderson gate in the southwest corner of the park. At Okaukuejo, the “bush chalets” are oriented around the watering hole in a westward-facing orientation, which makes…
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Video – Elephants at Okaukuejo
We spotted the first elephant in the distance, and soon noticed he was followed by many more, all neatly in line, ears flapping and trunks swinging in that crazy, bouncy, elephant way. Eventually 32 of them arrived at the watering hole at Okaukuejo Camp,where they drank, bathed, played, and in some cases were a little peeved with…
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Photos: Reflections at Etosha NP
It’s fun to play around with reflections off a body of water – though in my experience, it’s rare to come across a body of water (a) that’s calm enough to reflect without too much distortion (b) at the right time of day and (c) where there’s something worth reflecting. At a recent visit to…
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Photo: Bug Eats Millipede
I snapped this interesting photo the other day as I was experimenting with some screw-in macro lenses I had gotten in the mail. Here in Namibia, there are millions of millipedes coiled up under rocks, soil, everyplace you dig. So in the course of gardening there are bound to be a few casualties. So this…
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Supporting Africa’s Dwindling Wild Dog Population
Today I’ll be participating in N/a’ankuse Lodge and Wildlife Sanctuary’s “Corporate Eco-Challenge” to help raise money for their efforts to advocate on behalf of Africa’s dwindling wild dog population. African wild dogs, also known as “painted dogs“, are the second most endangered carnivore on the African continent, after the Ethiopian wolf. Estimates of the remaining…
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Spring has Sprung in Windhoek
Spring is definitely in the air in Namibia. At least that’s what my daughter tells me – she informed me that September 1 was “spring day”. Apparently in South Africa and Namibia, it’s not the 21st that heralds the coming of spring, but the 1st of September. And given the weather these days, it’s not…
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Wildlife through a Loupe – Micro goes Macro
For my latest video, I noticed I had gradually been collecting random footage of “micro-wildlife” I have come across while working in my new garden here in Windhoek. One of the creatures I had been continually running across is the millipede. These guys are everywhere, coiled up under the soil, perhaps waiting for cool weather…
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The Blackbirds Came Back – Wildlife Videography
I was pretty excited about the opportunity to do a little more “wildlife photography” in my back yard. The blackbird pair that I featured in the video “Learning to Fly” came back for another brood. I saw one of them fly into the ivy that climbs one side of our house and grabbed a closer…