Category: Places
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Destination Namibia: How do you Market a Country?
I remember talking to one of Namibia’s tourism officials shortly after they had returned from the 2011 Adventure Travel World Summit in Chiapas, Mexico, and he was pretty excited about Namibia’s prospects in hosting the 2013 summit, knowing it would be the first time the event would be hosted in Africa. At the time, he…
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Sunsets: the impact of cropping and zooming
I never tire of these Windhoek sunsets during the “rainy season”. But I’m always amazed by how much of a difference cropping and zooming make on sunset photography. These are three photos taken in succession of the same sunset, with the same camera settings (OK, roughly), but zoomed. The point is, when you’re photographing a…
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Underwater Videography: Things I’ve Learned
If you’ve ever managed to take along a camera snorkeling, you probably had the same reaction I did when you got your finished footage home to the computer: “It looks nothing like it did when I was actually snorkeling.” Colors are washed out, everything is a dingy blue, all the fish you saw are nowhere…
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Madagascar on 12.12.12 part II: the Snake
For my second installment in the “One Day on Earth” project, in which filmmakers around the world are invited to contribute footage which may be used in a feature-length film, I was also in Madagascar’s Andasibe-Mantadia National Park. Technically, we were in the “Réserve Spéciale d’Analamazaotra,” and we were watching an indri (the largest kind…
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Madagascar on 12.12.12 part I: the Lemurs
If you’ve been following this blog, you’ll know that I have been pretty excited about 12.12.12. Why? Because that’s the day the third “One Day on Earth” film is to be recorded in every country around the world. The first film, recorded on 10.10.10, was in my Christmas stocking this year (you can order yours…
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In Namibia, the best light for photos is within 10 minutes of sunrise
Driving through the Namibian desert just outside the coastal town of Swakopmund at about 0545 can give you a real visual treat. It would have been more spectacular with a bit more of the fog/mist the area is known for, but within 10 or 15 minutes of sunrise (before or after) you can get some…
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Preview – Wildlife of Madagascar
Simply amazing – Andasibe-Mantadia National Park. Here is a preview of the kinds of things that will be posted in the near future on video. Though they are wild, these ringtail lemurs are very curious. This white-ruffed lemur is “just hanging around”
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Entering Madagascar
Getting off the plane at Antananarivo, we were greeted by a pleasant, warm humidity…and the occasional raindrop. As our driver took us into the city however, the rain started for real. Soon the rain was gushing down in buckets, and the streets of downtown ‘Tana turned into rivers, and I wondered how some of the…
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The Magic Hour
Strange things happen to the light in the last minutes before sunset. And in Windhoek, during the “rainy season” (usually December and January) it’s even more extreme. Every night, there are a few minutes where everything turns a brilliant yellow as the sun dips near the horizon. Usually there is a gap in the clouds…
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Gentle Giants: Elephant Encounter II
The sheer power and grace of elephants is difficult to convey. When they come in from the bush to drink water, and roll around in the mud, they absolutely dominate the scene, and other animals wait patiently until they’ve had their fill. It’s easy to just sit and watch these creatures interact with each other…
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Weavers in our Garden
In my opinion, there are few natural things as amazing to see as the nest of a weaver. In Namibia, there are the giant communal weaver nests, and there are the individual pair nests (built by two different species. The individual nests are built by bright yellow birds with a black eye patch). Both of…
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Elephant Encounter
We pulled into the parking area for one of the watering holes at Etosha, and noticed immediately that there were several large groups of elephants enjoying the place. One group was in the mud bathing, another was off to our right, and a third group was right on the gravel road, blocking our entry (and…
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A Day in Lüderitz – Two Different Soundtracks
Recently my daughter and I took a trip to the small, somewhat odd Namibian coastal town of Lüderitz. I say it’s odd because we arrived on a Saturday afternoon, after driving a long, winding road which seemed unable to keep the sand dunes at bay – at several points the dunes were slowly making their…
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Photographing the Ghost Town of Kolmanskop
Just outside the small, quaint port town of Luderitz, Namibia is a popular tourist destination known as Kolmanskop. This former diamond mining town, where once diamonds could be collected from the surface sand as they lay glinting in the moonlight, has been abandoned and is now gradually being taken over by the sand, which gets…
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Easy Panoramic Photos – Southern Namibia Horizons
I’ve posted before about how you can take panoramic photos these days without one of those fancy panoramic cameras. Given the resolution of cameras these days, you can just take a slice from an ordinary photo of the horizon or something equally appropriate for panoramic photos, make sure it’s lined up straight, and crop. One…
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Lions and Impalas
At Goas watering hole, around the center of the driveable part of Etosha National Park, we stumbled upon a pride of lions – it must have been seven. But the really strange thing was the impalas and the way they behaved in the presence of the lions. Rather than just leave and go to a…
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Lion Encounter
In most parts of the world, seeing a lion is a very much controlled experience – typically in a zoo. In Etosha National Park in Namibia, you have to keep your camera handy because there’s no telling when you’ll see a large animal – or even if you’ll see one at all. In spite of…
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Animal Shorts!
A handful of short wildlife videos from a recent trip. In the first, we discover how the “puff adder” got its name. Then, see a group of banded mongooses – mongeese? – doing silly things. Finally, a crocodile enjoys a snack, like clockwork, at 2 pm on Saturday. The videos are all taken at Kempinski…
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Zebras at Dusk
The “golden hour” directly before sunset offers really interesting options for photography. If you’re on a game drive in Namibia at the right time in the right place, you can get some truly stunning photos. Unfortunately, however, you’re at the mercy of the driver many times, and if you’re facing directly into the sun it…
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Windhoek to Swakopmund: the Scenic Route
You can get from Namibia’s capital, Windhoek, to the coastal city of Swakopmund, in around 4 hours via a paved road with one lane in each direction. Or you can head directly west from Windhoek, and you’ll quickly hit a gravel road (with a somewhat ironic “100 kph” speed limit sign) that provides a much…
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US Army in Afghanistan Parodies “Call Me Maybe”
Here’s the latest effort by troops deployed overseas to blow off a little steam and connect with friends and family back home. Some may feel it’s inappropriate – but you have to come up with things like this to stay sane sometimes. This is their description: A cover of “Call Me Maybe” performed by US…
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Photographing Victoria Falls
So you go to one of the most spectacular views in the world and you figure the photography is going to be child’s play – just hold the camera up in the right general direction and shoot. Not so in Victoria Falls. This is not for the lack of spots and sights. It’s just impossible…
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Scenes from the Caprivi: Nkasa Lupala Tented Lodge
There’s this cool new tent lodge “in the middle of nowhere” up in the Caprivi. So named because it sits just along the edge of the national park of the same name (formerly known as Mamili), this cluster of luxury raised tents sits in the middle of the Kwando-Linyanti river system, a labyrinth of narrow…