jweis

linjudy -
Thought I would offer ID's on a few of your birds and other things for your records and photo album.

1. Bennett's woodpecker at Mombo.
2. Greater Blue-eared Glossy Starling (note the yellow eye) at Mombo.
3. Redbilled Hornbill at DumaTau.
4. Glossy Ibis at DumaTau.
5. Squacco Heron in lagoon at DT.
6. Ground Hornbill at DT (as per NapaMatt).
7. Openbilled Storks (in tree at Kwetsani).
8. Plovers at Kwetsani are Blacksmith.
9. Tree and nest at Kwetsani is a Hammerkop's nest in a Rain tree.
10. Your comment about Elie's really liking Acacia trees is defintiely true but that one's feeding on a Leadwood at Kwetsani.
11. The pink flower at Kwetsani is called Vlei Ink Flower.

Great photos!

d110pickup

Linjudy,
You've got some fantastic photos in those albums!

Will you share the details of your camera equipment, lens, experience, etc?

My wife (mpkp on this board) and I are trying to make the final lens decisions for our upcoming trip to Zambia.
Thanks,
Mike

linjudy

atravelynn: The rhinos were the ones that were released to Mombo as part of the conservation program. There were 6 initially and now up to 30+.

I think the sightings are not that rare, but also not everyday. When we arrived, there was one couple who had been there for 3 days and had not seen them. They were absolutely determined to find them and had their own truck doing nothing but track rhinos. So we benefited from their efforts and saw them on our first full day. Our guide Alex was an extremely confident tracker and the rhino was the only animal that he wasn't sure he'd be able to find. So, I'd say your chances are ok, but not 100%.

Re the dogs at Duma Tau, the female is VERY pregnant. The camp was optimistic of her denning soon in the Linyanti. Though when we saw them it was the first time they've been seen in 2 months and there was great excitement.

jweis: thanks for the bird identifications. I confess I never had any interest in birds, but really enjoyed watching them for the first time. There were so many beautiful ones.

d110pickup: the camera is a Pansonic Lumix FZ20. It has a Leica lens with a 12x optical zoom. I've always just been a "point-and-shoot" person and don't know how to use a 35mm camera, so it was the best choice for me since it's the only mega-zoom camera with a stabilizer. That was really important since I didn't use any support (not even a beanbag. It was just easier to aim and shoot). I found it very easy to use. I mostly just zoom, focus, shoot in the automatic mode since I still don't know how to use 90% of the features. I would like to learn how to deal with motion and exposure better. Those were the two toughest things to shoot for me. There are some things I don't like about it but overall it worked out quite well. I also brought my old trusty digital elf but it was mostly useless with a 2x zoom.

Everyone, thanks for all your compliments on the photos. The leopard in the grass was pure luck as I could barely see it and just aimed in the general direction. It was only shot I got before it moved. I was amazed it turned out so well. Mostly it's better to be lucky than good

cooncat

Just had to add my kudos to these pics. Thanks so much for sharing. My lifelong dream is to go to Africa; we'll see, maybe next year! I'm curious how you planned your trip. Did you use one company or did you go it on your own? (As you can see I'm pretty clueless about safaris.)
Thanks again!
Sharon

atravelynn

Such luck with the dogs--1st time in 2 months! Thanks for the pregnancy report.

For the rhinos, somehow I thought I saw those shots in the Duma Tau pictures. Thanks for the clarification.

So those terrific photos were almost all with the Panasonic digitalFZ20? That's quite a camera for not being a 35 mm (of course the photographer has to have a good eye too).

Thanks again.

linjudy

Yes, every single photo you see was with the Panasonic, except the first leopard shot trying to drag the impala up the tree. We had just gotten off the helicopter and the Panasonic was packed away (the elf was in my pocket). Luckily the helicoptor pilot was in our truck and he got it for me (I wasn't about to climb around in the truck w/a leopard there!). The moral of the story is NEVER pack away your camera.

The elf I used mostly in SA esp. while hiking on the Garden Route. Haven't even gotten to organizing pictures for that part of the trip yet

Brit

Hi linjudy,

When I type in the addresses you list for your pictures, kodak gallery says the pages are not available. Am I doing something wrong? Is there another way to access them?

atravelynn

linjudy

Thanks for Panasonic info. It has been praised in some of the photographic threads here so it was nice to see some actual results.

How did you handle the battery charging? Bring extras, charge at camp? Sorry to turn this into a camera thread.

I hope those cheetah brothers you saw are meeting up with some females.

Looking forward to your report also.

Are you planning a return to A

atravelynn

frica?

linjudy

atravelynn: My husband insisted that I bring 3 batteries. One in the camera, one to take on game drive as backup, and one to charge in the room. I probably could've gotten away with 2, but was glad to have 3. I used the battery up pretty quickly because I often just kept the camera on since it takes a while to setup/focus (one of the things I don't like about the Panasonic). We had no trouble charging them in our rooms.

As for a return trip, absolutely!! Probably in a couple of years. We're joking that we will need to go to Botswana for all our vacations since it'll be so hard to top. I've even got my camps picked out already: Duba Plain, Little Vumbura, Mombo, and Jack's . Although it would be really great to go to Kenya or Tanzania to see the migration, and to compare the experience.

atravelynn

Thanks for the battery info. Good choices for next time, whenever that is. The fact that you'd return to Mombo says a lot about the place.