Safari Updates

Ben's Bulletin: We were up extra early this morning for our extra spectacular early morning Balloon Safari.   We arrived at the airfield while it was still quite dark and excitedly took photos of each other and of the balloon as it inflated. Finally it was filled and we leapt into the basket … and lift off. We spent the next hour and a quarter experiencing what it must be like to be an eagle. The views of the Mara were breathtaking and the early light, with the sun peeping over the horizon, creating long shadows and shapes kept us enthralled. The moving animals made the shadow shapes even more interesting and grotesque.   Our pilot flew the balloon at times extremely high, and we could see the wildebeest and zebra packed onto the plains, with some herds consisting of 10 000 or more animals creating dark blotches and stains on...

From Wim:   What a fantastic, beautiful, amazing day!   We rushed out of camp early to be there for any action.   As the sun rose, sending shards of unbelievably beautiful iridescent light through the heavy clouds and across the sky we found a herd of elephant right up on the escarpment. We were within meters of the animals and the light behind them gave us the chance to fill memory cards with the most exquisite images.   Just 3 km further on a pride of lions feasting on a kill was followed almost immediately by two male cheetah walking down the road, we followed them for some time until they came across a huge boulder, about 4 to 5 meters tall which they proceeded to climb. They looked breathtakingly magnificent peering over the rim of the boulder out onto the Mara Plains below. Having checked out the entire area...

From Brendon: This morning was cold and misty as we left so we took time to grab some lovely scenic shots with the misty conditions and early morning light. It was still early when we were totally delighted to find Salayexe (the leopard who has young cubs). She was at the Serengeti dam and we followed her for much of the morning as she patrolled her are, marking her territory and on the lookout for intruders. It is exceptionally exciting to follow her because there is always the chance that she could lead us to her cubs. As she moved, she climbed termite mounds to look around and with the mist and morning light behind her we captured some beautiful portrait shots. She disappeared into thick bush just as the time came for us to return to the Lodge for breakfast. This afternoon we were surprised again! A lone male...

  Andrew reports: After the great start we had to our safari yesterday you can imagine that we were keen to leave early and capture more amazing bush action. While we were enjoying our early morning coffee before setting out, we heard lions roaring, and they sounded quite close, so without any dallying we jumped into our vehicles and started out in the direction of the roars. Sure enough we found tracks not too far away and followed them until we found them. There were three large males ambling along. It was still dark, so out came the spotlights and flashes as we proceeded to take as many images as one could desire. We followed the three, snapping away, until they moved onto a neighbouring territory. We had hardly left the three lions when we turned around and encountered a beautiful female leopard. We followed her as she strolled through the...

  Hilton reports: We planned to be out really early this morning to find any of the cats ... either the lions that we had heard, or hopefully to catch up with one of the leopards we had seen. Again luck was in our favour. We found Salayexe again, and we almost experienced a bit of deja-vu to begin with - she was lying on another exposed termite mound. As we were taking the opportunity to collect more stunning pictures of the peaceful, resting cat, the scene changed, as often happens in the unpredictable bush. A hyena wandered into the scene and in a flash the serenely resting Salayexe changed into a snarling, hissing, angry creature. She bared her teeth menacingly, hissed with fury, and did her best to intimidate the interloper, who first looked at her in amazement, and then growled equally menacingly. The two glared, snarled, hackles raised and...

From Brendon Cremer Every day in the bush (especially somewhere like the Okavango Delta) is a fantastic experience, and then some days just stand out even more. Today was one of those days. We set out from camp and while still in the pre-dawn dark we found a herd of a thousand plus buffalo sleeping along the road and the surrounding bush. As we arrived, the buffalo started to stir, and as they moved, they created huge clouds of billowing dust. What lovely photographs we captured with hundreds of horns sticking out of the glowing dust. We moved away from the buffalo after a short while, intent on finding the two large black maned lions that we had seen yesterday, and who had called through the night, so we knew they were not too far away. To our surprise, only about 500 meters away we found two young male lions who...

From Brendon Cremer at ChitabeLast night we heard the lions calling for most of the night and they were particularly vocal just before dawn. We set out in the dark as early as possible to go and find them. Shortly after, we found lion tracks very close to camp and followed these for about half an hour. Just as the sun was beginning to creep over the horizon, we spotted two huge black maned lions lying on termite mounds. The rising sun created a beautiful light behind and around them and they started to wake up and rubbed their heads together in greeting. To make the photography even more spectacular, they started roaring and the mist issuing from their mouths created a very dramatic scene.Once up, they started walking and we followed as they patrolled their entire territory. During this time, we also photographed more wattles cranes. Following on from yesterdays...

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...

From Brendon CremerWhat a day of rarities!Getting out to the Plains really early was a priority for us this morning. Firstly, the beautiful golden misty conditions allow us to take truly magnificent photographs and we wanted to catch up with the large pride of lions. We knew that they would still be resting after that kill two days ago, and we were keen to catch the early morning family interactions as the pride awakened.They did not disappoint.As we arrived, most of the lions were already awake, and a few decided to have some more of their meal. However, by this morning there was very little left, and tremendous tussles broke out as lionesses, cubs and subadults all vied for bits and scraps. Snarls, swatting, snatching, clawing, mock attacks, and intimidating growls kept us all entertained as our cameras worked busily to catch the dynamics.When the interaction started to calm down, we...

Is it possible that the outstanding days that the ODP Safari groups have been experiencing can possibly continue? The answer came shortly after leaving the Lodge this morning. The morning mist hung heavy and beautiful, again allowing for those magical early morning shots, this time capturing images of a Side-striped Jackal gnawing a bone. And then off to the lions. The first pride to be spotted was Silver - Eye's pride who were already up, and stalking the buffalo. They proceeded through quite thick bush, and many excellent images of stalking, running and ambushing were possible. The action became really intense, and the ODP vehicles followed closely. Suddenly they looked around and realised that they were right in the middle of the action. There were lions all around, and with the snorting buffalo, multiple lion attacks and charges, the whole scene became quite breathtaking. Once again attack after attack was...