Elephant family slowly making its way towards the river for a drink
Growing up in small town Ontario, I remember waking up on Saturday mornings to one of two exciting things; Cartoons and Nature shows. I probably never really grew up because I have never gotten over either of them. We only had 3 TV channels and had to move the antennae each time we wanted to change the channel. So with the TV guide in hand, we would plan what shows to watch. We had just a few options but Lorne Greene's New Wilderness, Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom and Untamed World are the ones I remember and it was always the African Safari episodes that kept me imagining myself in a safari vehicle exploring with a camera.
Standing in our Toyota Land Cruiser. Looks pretty similar to the ones I saw on TV as a kid. (Photo by Salwa Farah)
Years later, as a nature photographer, my dream has always been to go to Africa to live that life, even if only for a short time. Nearly a year ago, we made plans for a 2 week trip to Tanzania with a group of nature photographers. With just one week to go, we got news of protests that resulted in deaths during the Tanzanian election. This resulted in a number of countries making statements basically saying "do not travel" to Tanzania. Needless to say, I was stressed out and a bit depressed with the idea that the money we had put towards a once in a lifetime trip may be gone. Fortunately, after going back and forth with the safari company and reassurance from customers on the ground in Tanzania, with the exception of one couple, we made the decision to go. The trip was a success and I believe I got almost everything I wanted out of it. My inner child saw everything he dreamed about and more.
I didn’t realize that lions climbed into trees as often as they do.
Getting the big five animals in Africa was certainly one of the goals, but it wasn't about ticking things off a list. I really wanted to get to see these animals living their lives. It wasn’t about just getting a pretty portrait of each. For the big five I can say we managed to get good pictures for 80% on that goal. There was so much more to see than the big five, and I'll explore those later, but for now let's take a look at some of the big ones, let's call them the big five-ish.
A pair of male lions doing a bit a of dance before lying down to rest on the Serengeti
So, let's start with what is the accepted definition of the big five. They consist of elephants, lions, leopards, buffalo, and rhinos. For me the "ish" part adds in giraffe, hippos, and cheetah.
Three cheetah taking a quick look back before heading off.
With nature photography in Canada you can usually count the number of animals you see on a single hand, On our first day out in Tanzania, we saw a half dozen giraffe in the first 5 minutes of crossing into our first National Park, and things got even better from there.
Giraffe at the entrance to Arusha National Park with an elephant statue in the background near the gate.
Giraffe
Giraffe are an interesting challenge to photograph, especially from a truck that can't leave the road. This is where the Tamron 35-150mm lens became the most useful not only for big subjects that were up close, but also for those shots that include more of the environment. We saw giraffe almost everyday, and in so many different environments. These are a majestic animals that I could easily take pictures of daily without ever getting bored.
Lone giraffe wandering across the stark grasslands
Elephants
While the Giraffe were fun to watch, usually one or two at a time, the elephants on the other hand were most often seen in family groups. The interactions between the elephants made for the best shots, I really had no idea how active they were and how much they interacted with each other. This was a show again I could watch over and over again. We watched them walking together slowly in long trains to reach water, but once they got there they were like a bunch of children in a playground.
Two elephants play fighting in the water left in the river basin
Sometimes they would play fight, other times they sprayed water or dirt over their hides, and the little ones would fall and roll in the dust, as if they were still discovering how to use their legs and trunks.
Spraying a little dirt overhead, I’m assuming it helps with the bugs or the sun.
Lions
Most times of the year you are limited to staying on the roads in Tanzania’s National Parks, so getting to see lions at first was mostly a case of seeing them at a far distance as they lay under the shade of a tree to escape from the heat of the sun. Fortunately, the more we explored, the more lions we saw. We found several families resting near the road and another group hanging around in a large sausage tree.
Lions are not quite as agile as leopards when it comes to climbing but this one managed pretty well
These animals are so used to the vehicles that most of the time they barely noticed us, and when they did it was in passing as they used the shade of a truck to get out of the sun before making their way towards a watering hole. Luckily for us, most of the time we got to enjoy the lions by ourselves. Although this wasn’t the busiest time of year for safari’s, there were occasions when we saw lions in a tree with a bunch more vehicles. I managed to get a shot of one descending from the tree with a Land Cruiser in the background.
With safari vehicles in front and behind, this lion acted as if we weren’t there at all but wandered behind our truck to get out of the sun for a bit before heading back to the rest of the pride.
We were lucky to see many lion cubs, sometimes playing with the rest of the pride lazing in the sun and with a couple that were a little curious about us.
Fuzzy and cute, lion cubs seemed to act a lot like house kittens, curious and energetic but often a bit clumsy.
Leopards
I can say that we were very lucky to see several leopards on this trip. Our guide was pretty thrilled since typically they can only get a glimpse of them in a distant tree. Instead, we got to spend a good amount of time watching one resting in a tree, another coming down from a tree to start to hunt, as well as another beside a tree after an unsuccessful hunt for a mongoose.
lone leopard in a tree noticing something interesting back behind us
Although the light was challenging to get great shots, the fact that we were able to spend as much time with this elusive cat made it worth having to do a little work to get the best out of the shots.
Buffalo
Cape buffalo were a little difficult to get interesting photos of, at first we only saw them far away in small herds and often mostly hidden in the brush, but in the Ngorongoro crater we got to see a larger group of them in a wet, muddy open area. One of the photographers in our group was on a mission to get a picture with oxpeckers on the buffalo which, after patiently waiting, we did manage to get exactly the shot he wanted. I also managed to get something, but the composition I really wanted would have been a backlit headshot.
Cape Buffalo with a pair of oxpeckers in the Ngorongoro crater
Rhinoceros
Salwa wanted to see a black rhino, from our first day out it was on her list and it wasn't until the final day that we had a chance to see them. In this case that was pretty much all we can claim is that we saw a couple as it was from a long distance though many trees with a significant amount of heat haze in the air. I only managed to get a couple of shots off, and I think I can at least say for certain that it was a rhino but I'm not going to be showing off any of these photos. I think in this case I'm mostly disappointed about the fact that rhinos now need to be protected so much due to human predation and over tourism that they have had to close down many of the roads to allow them a bit of room away from people. It is our own fault and I hope that some of the work being done will mean that these magnificent animals will have a future. For now, I can live without getting a nice picture.
Highly cropped image of two black rhinos deep in the bushes on a hot afternoon in Ngorongoro conservation area. Not a great shot but at least we got to see them on the last day.
Cheetah
From day 1 of the trip, when asked what I wanted to see, it was always a cheetah on the hunt. While I didn't get to see one at full stride chasing an antelope I did get to see a mom with two cubs and three active cheetahs on the plains. I think these were my favourite moments from the entire trip, and something that child watching TV on Saturday mornings can now say he got to see in person.
Cheetah mom and cub on a termite mound to give it a bit better view of anything wandering by
Hippos
Anytime we came close to water and the air smelled rank, there was a good chance that we might be close to some hippopotamus. The rainy season had not quite started yet so most of the time we found hippos in muddy, putrid ponds where they were all squeezed close together. Hippos seem to be rather ornery creatures, but I suppose I would be as well if someone was flinging dung in my face with their tail.
Big yawn, very big teeth and a lot of attitude.
The one thing we watched numerous times that I hadn't expected was hippos rolling over with their feet up in the air on a regular basis. It helps to keep their backs wet and muddy so they don't get sun burnt, and it was amusing to watch.
Hippos can move very quickly in water, and tend to raise a good bit of muck while doing so
While we can certainly call the trip a success on the basis of seeing and photographing the big five, there was so much more to see. So many antelopes of different types, numerous birds everywhere, lizards, smaller mammals, and monkeys. We travelled through Arusha National Park, Tarangere, Lake Manyara, the Serengeti and Ngorongoro crater over 10 days. I’ll have many more photos to share in the next few posts. You can take a look at the Tanzania Gallery for some of my favourites.