Over the next week or two I'll work through my photos of the recent trip to Africa, and put some up here as I get them sorted. I'll post them by location. 1. Etosha National Park, Namibia Part 1, Southern Etosha. Sunrise over Etosha National Park. Sunset. Burchell's Zebra Zebra and Wildebeest. African Elephant Springbok. Black-faced Impala. Northern Black Korhaan. Black-backed Jackal. Guess who is hiding in the grass? (Female lion) Lions. Black (Hook-lipped) Rhinoceros. We saw this a long way off, heading towards a water hole. So we waited: A very long way off, testing the limits of my camera... Red Haartebeest. Blacksmith Plover. I'll post the next lot of photos (the Etosha pan and East Etosha) over the next couple of days. Cheers Tony
1. Etosha National Park, Namibia (continued) [I'm posting the photos in the order of my travels]. Part 2, Heading to the Etosha pan then to eastern Etosha. Black -backed Jackal. Springbok. Jackal sidles up to Springbok, thinks better of it, looks away and keeps going... Gemsbok. Crowned Plover. Haartebeest Ground Squirrel. Ostrich. Gemsbok. Pale Chanting Goshawk. Southern Yellowbilled Hornbill. Still needing an ID on this little raptor... Giraffe. Springbok. It's a boy! Meanwhile, over at the girl's camp: Now you see me.. Now you don't. Secretarybird (for those that don't know, these are very skilled snake killers). Ostrich. A lone male elephant. Pale Chanting Goshawk. Steenbok. Male Giraffe. When your legs are that long, getting down to drink is a task (and must be done when predators are not around). Female Kudu. Now... look whose hiding in the shade. Leopard. Banded mongoose. Grey Lourie. Yellowfooted Tree Squirrel. Lilacbreasted Roller. Pygmy Falcon (Still need to positively identify this small raptor).
Edits for my post above: 1. whose -> who's! 2. The unidentified raptor is the African Kestrel. Cheers Tony
1. Etosha National Park, Namibia (continued) [I'm posting the photos in the order of my travels]. Part 3, The last photos from eastern Etosha. Eagle (not positively identified, yet). Kudu and Gemsbok. Eland (way off in the distance). The largest antelope. Kudu, Gemsbok and Eland. Blue-cheeked Bee-eater Juvenile Redbilled Teal Threebanded plover. Chestnutbanded Plover African Spoonbill (immature). ?Dark Chanting Goshawk Lone male Elephant. Duiker Dik-Dik Crimsonbreasted Shrike. Next stop is the upper Okavango... Cheers Tony
African Darter 2. The Mahango Core Area/Bwabwata National Park [Warning: probably too many Hippopotamus photos...] This area is in the Caprivi strip on the upper part of the Okavango. Outlook from Mahangu Lodge. Sunrise: On the Kavango river: Hippopotamus. Cape Buffalo. Spurwinged Goose. Hippos. Cape buffalo. Nile Crocodile. Little Bee-eater. Pied Kingfisher. Waterbuk. Bushbuck. African Darter. Little Bee-eater. Hippo. Nile Crocodile. Chacma Baboon Cape Vulture (foreground) and Maribu Stork. These birds were a long way off. Roan (also a long way off). Great White Egret Spurwinged Goose Red Lechwe (young) Black-faced Implaa Cape Buffalo. Young calf taking a quick drink on the move. Saddlebilled Stork. African Jacana. Meve's Longtailed Starling Fish Eagle. Yellowbilled Hornbill. Kudu (female). Warthog (one of my favourites!). Female Blackbellied Korhaan. Tsessebe. Still more to come.... Cheers Tony
I have a pic somewhere of a pair of Rainbow Bee Eaters on my clothes line (1975 empty blocks surrounding us) When I identified them I had already destroyed what I thought were rat holes being dug in a pile of brickies sand the holes were actually the start of their nest burrows.
2. The Mahango Core Area/Bwabwata National Park (continued). Little bee-eater. Elephants. Bushbuk. Nile crocodile. Monitor lizard. Tongue out... sniffing the air. Squacco Heron. Redbilled Francolin and chick. Impala. African Yellowbellied Bulbul. Grey Hornbill. Sunset! Next stop, Chobe in Botswana. Cheers Tony
Beautiful images Tony - thanks for sharing them. The bird labelled as a Pygmy Falcon is (I think) some form of Kite. Cheers Peter
@shagratork The camera is a pocket sized Panasonic Lumix TZ90. It has a Leica lens with X30 zoom. I bought it at the airport on the way out of Australia. I didn’t want to carry the SLR that I have. I’d been bushwalking with a friend who has an earlier version of this camera and I liked it a lot, so I lashed out for the African trip. Cheers Tony
@peterthevet I've sought the wisdom of "Twitter"... if not Pygmy Falcon (as my field notes said, on advice from our guide) it might be Dickinson's Kestrel. I shall continue to inquire. Cheers Tony
The image reminded me of one of the Kites found in Australia - hence the comment. Just did a Google image search for Black shouldered Kite and one for Pygmy Falcon and I think it is a Kite..... it is not important anyway!! The images are stunning and you managed to see an incredible variety of wildlife. Would love to get to Africa one day....used to dream about the place when I was much, much younger. Cheers Peter
@peterthevet I'll let you know what I find out (I'm a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to wildlife identification. It used to be my trade). Cheers Tony
Hmm, that wasn't a deficiency in the camera - more like the cameraman who failed to point it the the correct direction... The wildlife pix are excellent, nonetheless...
I've just been enjoying your pics, Tony. You must have had a fantastic trip. That unidentified eagle (the first pic in part 3) looks as though it could be a Steppe Buzzard. But I'm no expert... Peter
