Safari Updates

ODP Safaris - Trip report of our last safari to Duba Plains by Wim van den Heever How does one begin to describe and share the amazing feelings, experiences, drama, beauty, sightings and photo ops that make up a safari at Duba Plains? The answer is you cannot! But let me share just a few snippets from one of our last safari with you: Besides the huge selection of animals and birds to photograph one of the biggest reasons we visit Duba Plains is to photograph the ongoing interaction between Lion and Buffalo. The relentless daily struggle between these two species has been captured on movies and documentaries by world famous cinematographers and mentors Derek and Beverley Joubert. Who can forget the incredible scenes we have seen such as in the 'Last Lions' and 'Relentless Enemies'. With this in mind, I cannot really describe that phenomenal feeling of tension, awe, some...

After the first  few days of rainy weather behind us the African bush has graced us with perfect sunny days and excellent lighting conditions. On day three the highlight had to be that we were able to spend 2 hours with Salayexe one of the resident Leopards in her natural habitat. . Salayexe is a most beautiful 6-7 year old Leopard that our guides tracked down after lunch for us. We tenaciously tracked her for 30 minutes after which  she led us up to a sparsely leafed Marula tree. For the next 2 hours she posed for all of us to take photos of her to our heart's content, or as the memory cards capacity could cope with...... all for the exclusive benefit of the ODP clients. The high light of this shoot will have to be the low light pics after sun down. Most manage to capture Salayexe yawning exposing all the...

We are now two days into our new ODP Photographic Safari at Elephant Plains and what fun we have had in that time. Yesterday afternoon and evening  we had a great photo shoot with a pride of five lioness which we found during our afternoon drive and then followed into the evening, giving us further opportunity to practice our night time photography using spotlights as a light source. The lioness were excellent subjects; stalking prey, playing with each other, chasing birds, mutual grooming...... this kept us and our cameras very busy. This morning greeted us with a beautiful African sunrise and was soon complimented with a sighting of a a female leopard and two nine month old cubs. The cubs were very playful with lots of stalking, tree climbing and general misbehaviour - all within a few metres of our vehicle that was expertly positioned by our very competent driver ! Needles...

Photo: Hilton Kotze Well we have come to the end of our first leg of the ODP safari, its amazing how fast 4 days pass by when you are having fun. The last two days were super, we picked up some lions in the morning and spent some time photographing them ,later we stumbled on a coqui francolin giving a mating call, he was posing on a termite mound and gave us ample opportunity to photograph it. That evening we found Salayexe a relaxed  a female leopard of the area,and had the opportunity to to practice our side and backlit technics. Its with a sad heart that we say goodbye to the friends we made in the first 4days, Its been a great 4 days and every one was very happy to be leaving elephant plains with wonderful images of lion, leopard and other species. We now look forward to the next ODP group arriving for their 4 day photographic...

  © hilton kotze After a glorious sunrise with lovely early morning light we came across a young male lion walking up one of the boundry roads looking for the rest of his pride after a disruption of the pride during a fight with invading males. We were able to position ourselves to take advantage of this wonderful photographic opportunity.   Feeling rested after a belly filling delicious lunch, and a group photoshop session, we set off for more adventures on our afternoon drive. Our expectations were soon met with a slow shutter speed panning exercise with running Impala, soon to be exceeded by a beautiful female leopard posing a few metres from our vehicles. We continued our photography of this cat into dusk using our spotlights allowing for unique nighttime images. All in all it was a good photographic success !   Ben and Hilton for ODP Safaris at Elephant...

Our Masai Mara safaris have now come and gone... It was with a very sad heart that we left this unbelievable natural spectacle on Saturday afternoon. Two weeks had come and gone in the blink of an eye. The sightings were off the scales and the memory cards all took a thorough beating. I cannot wait to get back...! I will be posting a trip report shortly, but in the interim here is a pic of the chaotic Mara migration. (click on image to view bigger)   These Wildebeest were leaping off the vertical banks of the Mara river some 4-5meters up in the air. It was unbelievable to witness. It was as if these animals had lost all fear and were driven by some unnatural force. Our human logic cannot comprehend what we were witnessing. One cannot help becoming part of the chaos that is the Wildebeest Migration of East...

One of the high lights was the secretary bird that caught a puff adder and was busy eating on it.

  Day 3 we were greeted by a glorious East African sunrise as we headed out onto the plains to see what the Mara could offer us. We first found some Jackal pups on the side of a termite mound frolicking in the sun, we then found the hyena pups and photographed some intimate behavior between mom and pup sharing a bone. Lions had made a kill and had moved off , we were presented with wonderful photographic opportunities to photograph vultures coming in to land at the carcass Later we found the famous arboreal lions of the Mara Photo: Liwi The day ended off with a series of 4 small crossings at the Mawi Mawi (rocky ) crossing point. Back at Kitchwa Tembo lodge we were entertained by the local Masai dancers before enjoying another awesome meal. Looks as if the big herds are about to arrive !!! Looking forward to the next few days...

Good day all. Well today is a very exciting day for all those travelling with ODP Safaris to what has been dubbed " THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH" the great migration in the Masai Mara, Kenya. The Masai Mara is home to an abundance of wildlife and is renowned for its annual visit by the hundreds of thousands of animals that make up the great migration. The first group leaves today and will be travelling over night to Kenya for a fantastic 7 nights at Kichwa Tembo Lodge, where they will experience and capture on camera the Masai Mara, a land of breathtaking vistas, abundant wildlife and endless plains. This ODP Photographic Safari is being led and hosted by Wim, Hedrus and Hilton. Keep up to date on the action from the Mara here on the ODP blog and on the Outdoorphoto Facebook page as we will be receiving regular updates...

(click on image to view bigger)   Our first safari on board the Nguni Voyager has kick-off this year. The Chobe region is looking fantastic and the bird life is even better than before. The African Skimmers are unbelievable this year with some breath taking opportunities coming our way...! We almost spent our entire 4 days hunting these elusive and highly prized gems of the avian world..! The result... Spectacular..!! Look out for some more hot action from the banks of the Chobe River!...