Tanzania, Home of the Jackal

You might call this animal the African coyote, as the looks and
 habits seem so similar.

The Jackal is a curious creature. We saw 4 of them from a
distance crossing the road, from about 1/2 km away approaching
slowly. We were very fortunate to catch
some close views of this family.

The main issue, from a photographers point of view... the light! 

I liked the environment so much, so we figured it was worth a try.

Even though the sun was setting, and the light was coming from

directly behind the animals... sometimes these things just seem

to work out!

Techs!

Center weighted metering, aperture priority, - 1/3 ev, @ 1/800 sec,

f4, and shooting with the D300, 200-400 VR @iso 320 and a

focal length of 360mm.  Hind sight... I may have
shot even ev, and f7.3 to 

acquire a little more depth of field. 

The composition might seem a little awkward to some, but
 I liked the Jackal's head in the top left
third of the frame, again,

looking back possibly closer to the centre of the top
third would have been better, so for now,

I will leave it as is, and see what you think.

Any questions about our recent tour, please email me here...

best wishes for a good week.

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ray@raymondbarlow.com

A Battle of Stripes On the Flats of the Ngorongoro Crater

What a scene to Photograph!

Unfortunately, a very sunny and hot day,

maybe around 88 F, with a lot of heat wave rising between us 

and these 2 warriors in battle.

The encounter lasted a good 5 minutes, biting, chasing, and climbing

all over each other... Exciting to watch, and also to photograph.

You can see how dry and dusty the crater was during this

 time of year, lots of sunshine has burnt out the grasses, as 

the dust was a factor on this day.

This image took a bit of extra sharpening on the animals, 

but the 2560 x 1440 copy looks pretty cool, even with 

the distortion caused by the heatwave. Someday I 

will have this printed very large for my office wall. The 

experience of witnessing this all natural war is something we 

all will never forget.

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ray@raymondbarlow.com

The Birds of Tanzania

(Please click on the image for the full view, then click 
the X on the top right to return to this page)

Tanzania has an incredible species list, with 
both animals and birds.

Our group was extremely fortunate to find some amazing 

looking birds. Here we have one of the most common, and the most

beautiful, the Little Bee-eater.  This cute and colorful species
is smaller than a robin, and bigger than a
goldfinch., so relatively small.

They are reasonably comfortable with people, most are approachable 

within 30 feet via vehicle, and maybe 35-40 feet on foot.  They
 seem to have their favorite perches, so when they
venture out for a hunt, it is normal to see them return
back to the same location with a meal.  

I have found them to usually perch low in the area where 

they are hunting, so they can look up to see their prey against the 

sky.  Butterflies, bees, dragonflies appear to be the most
 likely targets on the menu.  

One of the cool and interesting notes concerning photographing 

these bird would be the head angles. Since the Bee-eaters 

are very active, they are constantly hunting.  I find them
 to be quite still on their perch, but they are always twitching
their heads looking for the next target above the perch.

In flight, the colors are spectacular, a speedy dart for a 

chase, and quick return to kill the prey and swallow it whole.

More images soon!

You may check the extra large files here on my pBase site,

2560 x 1440 prepared for iMac monitors.

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ray@raymondbarlow.com

The Lions of Tanzania

One of the highlights of this recent tour to Tanzania, was the amount of amazing lion encounters.

We had several families, with cubs of all ages to photograph, different environments, angles, light, it was spectacular.  Special thanks to Nickson and Paul, our guides... what a great job!

In many cases, we were so close to these animals, I had to put down the 200-400, and use my friend Leigh's 70-200 VR2 that I borrowed for this tour.  Also, we really enjoyed the environment., we had a little rain the first day, then sunny skies, mixed with clouds for the rest of the 9 full days of shooting in Tanzania.

More images to come soon!

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Holy Hippo Fight!!

Unbelievable luck!  Our driver found a cool Hippopotamus family in the Mara River, and allowed us close to the most dangerous animals in Africa!  On foot!!  It was spectacular just sitting on the bank watching these huge animals enjoying the fresh flowing water, then suddenly, right in front of my nose, these 2 huge creatures pop up right in front of me twice!!

I guess this was a battle for a mate. One male trying to infiltrate an established group, so we all just sat there in total amazement, while firing hundreds of frames!  The whole thing was over in about 3-4 minutes. We could not see any evidence of damage, or injury... but for me, the whole thing was shocking!

Thanks to our awesome guide, Nickson, a great guy, superb driver, 20 years experience throughout the Plains of the Serengeti!  This guy can see through trees!

More images as soon as I can get the energy to edit, still baked from all the travel and excitement.  Special thanks to all my guests, we had an awesome trip!

take good care. (please click on the image to see the full size!)

D300 / 200-400 VR 

1/1000s f/5.6 at 220.0mm iso250

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Thanks to BirdNote!

These very nice people in the USA used one of my images for

 their website today... please click here!

http://www.birdnote.org/birdnote.cfm?id=2079

Special thanks to Ellen Blackstone!

A view from Tanzania

Stonechat
RJB Tanzania, Africa Tour, October 2011
Nikon D300 ,Nikkor 200-400mm f/4G ED-IF AF-S VR
1/400s f/5.0 at 400.0mm iso320
having a blast here, awesome guests, and amazing shooting!
thanks for looking!
More soon if I have time!

 

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ray@raymondbarlow.com

Thanks to George!

Bella Coola was a great experience. My grandson Carter and I got to see 

grizzlies and blacks "up close and personal". With
your coaching and help we learned a lot and got some 

great photos. Thanks Ray.

George Harper

Thanks to Petri!

" A truly amazing experience! Breathtaking nature, clean air and unforgettable encounters with wildlife. That's Bella Coola… Nothing can prepare you for the encounter with a grizzly leisurely strolling past you in search of fish, and trust me, it will be somehing you will remember the rest of your life. Add to this a comfortable lodge with friendly staff and delicious food and your vacation will be unforgettable."