I just returned home after conducting a workshop with Paul McKenzie in Tanzania. While we were there Tanzania reported its first case of Coronavirus. That all happened close to our last day on safari, it added a bit of tension as some folks scrambled to re-book cancelled flights. My direct flight from Nairobi to JFK was never cancelled and I got home early this morning without any issues.
I don’t want to spend a lot of time talking about the virus as many of you have been living it day to day on the news, social media and with all kinds of closings that affect your everyday life. I do need to address some issues with my upcoming workshops. Do know that if I can conduct a workshop I will, but I need to consider everyone’s well being and the nations health above a photography workshop. That said, I will be reorganizing my schedule and postponing many of my workshops (see below). This will cause a lot of extra work and loss of income but there are more important things to consider at this point. Everyone will be making great sacrifices during this pandemic and I realize I am not alone.
Our Tanzania trip was fantastic. The photo opportunities were endless and our last day was incredible. I have many images to sort through but I have limited time with all of the other stuff on my plate. Hopefully I will be getting through the boat load of images I came home with! The Serengeti is much larger than the Mara, so things are spread out a lot more. We had light rain some days but it never lasted. We were lucky with the weather, only slight showers while we were out. To tell you the truth, I was hoping for more rainy photo shoots with lions shaking their heads in the rain.
Zebra and wildebeest as far as the eye could see. Lions in trees and hippos upon hippos. I love watching the behavior of the animals and trying to figure out what they will do next. My guide and I saw a lion walking out to an area that had vultures swarming above. The lion was going there in hopes of food. While we were heading out to follow him we saw a cheetah, the cheetah was running away from the direction of the meal and was hesitant to leave the area completely. That got us thinking that she probably had cubs…bingo she did! Four young cubs to be exact. We watched to make sure that she and her cubs got far enough away from the lion. We were careful not to crowd the cheetahs as mamma has a lot to keep up with. Female cheetah not only have to nurse their cubs but they have to protect them from just about every creature out there. In addition to the babysitting around the clock she is also the sole provider. The male is not a part of rearing the cubs.
After she and the cubs got settled we were able to photograph them on a termite mound as they kept a watchful eye on everything. I’ll share some of those later.
Almost every image was captured with either my Sony a9 that I had attached to my Sony 200-600mm lens or with my Sony 7r3 that I had attached to my Sony 24-105mm lens.
Tanzania Road Block
Hippo Stare
Let Sleeping Lions Lie - Paul has a different version of this scene and I like his a lot. I was trying to get all the curly tree branches but got caught up in the flow of the branches instead. That’s the beauty of photography, we all have our own point of view.
High key Zebras
The one that got away, this is a large crop from a moving vehicle. Not my best but I wanted to share this image of two lion fighting for a female.
Female Thomson's gazelle after just giving birth defending her hidden newborn against a Golden Wolf (used to be called a Golden Jackal-thanks to Mike Cristina for ID) I have another shot that shows the face of the gazelle really well. It has such beautiful sweet eyes. I’ll get around to that image and more once I get some time.
Lion Ear Abstract
Now that’s what I call a mane! ‘The King”
Love Birds
Vitelline Masked Weaver bird building a nest.
Cheetah cub keeping a watchful eye out for predators before retreating back to mom.
Over the next few weeks I hope to get a lot of workshops sorted out. Please don’t email me about workshops that are 6 months out as I am trying to reorganize on a priority basis right now and I am swamped-thank you. Charleston workshop is cancelled. Most folks will receive a credit for another workshop and will have 12 months to use this credit.
Some of the international trips that I have already paid in full are being postponed a year. I am in the process of changing/negotiating with my guides and agencies now and will be in touch with everyone with new dates as soon as I get things worked out.
If you are on the Vietnam 2020 trip you were recently sent new dates. Unfortunately since my Namibia trip will most likely be postponed too I am forced to change the new Vietnam dates. My sincere apologies for that, I had no idea that things would shut down as they are when I made the new dates. I will be re-sending dates to everyone soon but it will most likely be June 2021. Again, thank you for your understanding and patience. I truly appreciate your understanding during these difficult times.
If you are on my April Namibia 2020 new dates (most likely April 2021) will be given to all clients in a few more days as I need to finalize with all vendors. Patience at this time is a virtue and I understand everyone’s concerns. Please know that I am doing my absolute best to accommodate everyone.
I am still hopeful that my Palouse and Olympic National Park trips are still on…fingers crossed.