Safari 2017:   Helicopter Run Through The Blyde River Canyon

Safari 2017: Helicopter Run Through The Blyde River Canyon

Over the last 2 weeks, we spent time at 3 different Safari Camps including the Dulini Private Game Reserve, Jaci’s Safari Lodge in the Madikwe Game Reserve and Khaya Ndlovu where we spent time with the Rhino Revolution team.

In order to get between most camps in South Africa, you either have to fly on scheduled Charters, drive for an unGodly amount of hours over horrible terrain, or take a Helicopter.  When it was time to transit between Dulini and Khaya Ndlovu, we decided to hire a Helicopter through Wild Skies Aviation out of Hoedspruit so that we can take in one of South Africa’s most beautiful natural wonders, the Blyde River Canyon.   The canyon is set apart from other canyons as it is the only ‘living’ canyon in the world, meaning that vegetation is found in abundance at the bottom of the canyon.

These photos will explain exactly what I mean! 🙂

a large canyon with trees and mountains

a rocky cliff with trees and mountains in the background

a rocky mountains with trees and clouds

a river with rocks and trees

However, the photos don’t quite do it justice!

As you’ll see in the video (taken with a GoPro mounted on the belly of the chopper), departing from Dulini and heading towards Bushbuckridge and Hoedspruit is fairly uneventful.   However as you approach the lush borders that surround the canyon, the world below is transformed into something magical.  Pay attention at the 30 minute mark and beyond since it is at that point that we enter the canyon and then weave through the canyon walls following the Blyde River out of the canyon and over a series of citrus orchards as we headed to Khaya Ndlovu.

 

 


a close-up of a plane

Safari 2017:  Part 1 Of Many

Safari 2017: Part 1 Of Many

Spending the last 2 weeks in Africa visiting three unique Safari camps, I finally now have the time to get caught up and start sorting through over 19,000 photos and hours upon hours of video footage including a dramatic Helicopter run through the Blyde River Canyon in South Africa as seen by a GoPro attached to the belly of the chopper.

For starters, here are some of the early favorites from the cameras.   This first batch is taken from my absolute favorite place on the planet, the Dulini Private Game Reserve in the western sector of the Sabi Sands of South Africa.   It’s tops on my list because virtually every game drive will have you seeing the ‘Big 5’ as well as a wide variety of smaller mammals and more birds than you can keep track of.   Never a risk of a bad or dull game drive and the photos will bear that out.

For this trip, I packed my Nikon D800 and D5, along with a Nikon 24-70, Sigma 150-600S, Rokinon 24mm 1.4 (For the star trails), and the ‘toddler’ as my wife calls it, the Nikon 600mm / f4.   The D5 did the most of the heavy lifting, but the D800 took lead on anything that needed huge megapixels.    I wound up having luggage far more full with Cameras, Lenses, cables, etc., than clothes and as far as I’m concerned, that’s the way it should be.

Enjoy these for now.   Many more posts on the way including a closer look at the SWISS First and Business Class experiences during our travels….

a lion eating an animal

an elephant standing in tall grass

 

a giraffe eating leaves from a tree

a giraffe in the sun

a lion walking in the wild

a lion in the dark

a hippo in the water

a lion eating a piece of meat

a leopard drinking water from a pond

a lion lying down in the dark

a group of warthogs lying in the grass

 

a plane flying in the sky

 

Safari 2016:   A Leopard Earns His Bacon

Safari 2016: A Leopard Earns His Bacon

The 2016 edition of our annual Safari Trip came and went all too quickly.    As always it was a wonderful 10 days to be immersed in the beauty and savagery of the South African Bushveld.   Being addicted to the experience, we once again stayed at our favorite place in the world, the Dulini Private Game Reserve in the Sabi Sand Reserve.    We’ve become part of their family so it’s only proper that we visit kin every year!

Over 18,000 photos came home with us and I’ve started the daunting task of sorting through them to see what stays and what goes.

I had taken new equipment with me this year, including Nikon’s brilliant new D5, which shoots off 12 photos per second so it was easy to rack up a high photo count.   Especially since it could take 250 photos without taking a break to write the photos to memory and do it with a 20.8MP sensor.    Combining the D5 with the D800, I had substantial fire-power when it came to catching the right moment.    As far as glass was concerned, my beloved Sigma 150-600mm , Nikon 24-70mm, and a new Rokinon 24mm / f1.4 specifically for Astro-photography rounded out the kit.  Enough about the tools.

As I go through my photos, I’ll post my trip reports as quickly as possible.

For the first installment, I’ll share what we observed soon after a beautiful Leopard named ‘Torchwood’ successfully hunted a Warthog.   We had just missed the actually ‘strike’ by Torchwood but got there in time to see him catch his breath and begin feeding.

Torchwood has a reputation in the region for being a Warthog specialist and is becoming one of the more dominant male leopards in the area.   Warthogs will typically inhabit abandoned termite mounds and will burrow into them for shelter and safety.   Torchwood, having figured this out, will stake out active burrows and will attempt to ambush the warthog.   These termite mounds can sometimes between over 10 feet tall, so he’ll also stand on top of the mound and surprise the warthog from above when it attempts to leave its burrow.   Simply amazing to watch his master hunter at work.

The Sabi Sand region is blessed with a vibrant Leopard population, so it’s wonderful to see these leopards grow up from being cubs to  being independent and establishing their own territories.   From my own count there are at least 30 leopards in the region, and I might be a bit low on that estimate.

Some of these photos may be a bit  graphic for sensitive palettes, especially if you’re not a fan of seeing a bit of flesh or blood.   However it is part of the experience and part of the reality that exists in such a wild environment and goes a long way to tell the story of a Leopard and his successful hunt.

You’ll notice that my photos bear the Dulini watermark.   As in past years, I’ve shared my photos with Dulini for use on their Facebook page so when I processed my photos I kept it simple by just applying the Dulini watermark instead of re-doing an imagine for my watermark.

I hope these photos bring a sense of what it’s like to be there watching the event in person!  Enjoy!

 

a leopard lying on the ground

How we found Torchwood minutes after his kill.

 

a leopard lying on a rock

Yep, he’s staring my way…..

a leopard climbing a rock

A few minutes later he went back to the Warthog to hide the carcass from Hyenae or other predators that could challenge him for the Warthog.

 

a leopard on a rock

Dragging his trophy to ‘safety’.  Typically he would pull the Warthog up into a tree, but nothing tall enough was nearby for him to take advantage of.

 

a leopard standing on a animal

You can see the exhaustion in his expression.

 

a close up of a leopard

Hard work, but worth the effort for him.

 

a leopard eating a animal

After another short break, he began to rip into the flesh of the Warthog and enjoyed the fruit of his labor.

 

a leopard eating a animal

Clearly enjoying his success!

 

a leopard licking a animal

Tasting success…..

 

a leopard eating a carcass

Simply a beautiful animal…..


a blue sign with white text

Scenes From Safari: Part VII

Scenes From Safari: Part VII

Part 7 continues with more photos that I though were worth sharing from our recent Safari trip.    You’ll find below photos from a wide variety of critters including Giraffes, Leopards, Rhinos, Cheetahs and a few birds.   After the photos, there’s a short video showing an adolescent Elephant greeting our vehicle…..

If you missed my previous installments, use the following links to see each part:

Part I,   Part II,   Part III,   Part IV,    Part V,   and Part VI

 

a bird flying over a field of grass

A rare daytime sighting of a Night Heron

a bird standing in a puddle

A Hamerkop (left) and a male Saddle Bill Stork share a watering hole…..

a lion in the grass

A Majingilane Pride Lion, nicknamed ‘Scar Nose’ puts his ‘hair’ into the wind……

a hyena with its baby

Hyena siblings enjoying a moment……..

a rhinoceros with mud on its head

A young Rhino hones his horn on the post…..

a giraffe with its head in the air

A Giraffe leans in to see what I was doing……

a hippo in the water

A suspcicious Hippo finally came up after spending 5 minutes under water.

a moon in the sky

Capturing a moonrise behind a Leadwood tree with Stars in the background.

a leopard looking at the camera

A Leopard is not distracted by having her photo taken……

a cheetah standing in grass

A male Cheetah looking towards a herd of opportunity.

a rhino lying in the grass

This elder Rhino is missing a fantastic sunrise……

a crocodile in the water

This Crocodile is leaving after being beaten in a fight by an even larger Croc.

a bird on a branch

A Gray Hornbill sits in the highest tree he could find…..

a leopard lying in the grass

Another Leopard takes a pause after a succuessful hunt (notice the blood on his shoulders?)

 

 


a gingerbread man with a smile and a hand raised

Scenes From Safari:  Part VI – RHINO VIDEO!

Scenes From Safari: Part VI – RHINO VIDEO!

This installment picks up where parts I, II, III, IV, and V left off (please click on a ‘number’ to be taken to that part).

Here you’ll find an assortment of critters including Elephants, Lions, Dung Beetles, Birds, etc. etc.  At the bottom of this post, be sure to watch the Rhino video.   We were as close as we could get without jumping on him for a ride 😉 !

 

an elephant with tusks in the woods

Did You Know? Elephants can communicate with each other through infrasound from 10-15 miles away!

 

a furry animal standing on a rock

A Mongoose provides a rare pose.

 

a lioness and lioness lying in the grass

I was about 30 yards away from these Lionesses with nothing between us. Fortunately they were too lazy to do anything about it.

 

 

 

 

a couple of leopards in the grass

A male and female Leopard (Ravenscourt and Tassleberry) are about to enjoy each other’s company.

 

a pair of black beetles on a rock

Dung Beetles battle over a pile of……territory.

 

two blue birds on a tree branch

Common but beautiful, the Blue-Ear Starlings shimmers in the sunlight.

 

a bird sitting on a branch

A Red-Billed Hornbill

 

a lion and a lioness lying in the grass

Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, are you up? Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom


a close-up of a plane

 

In this video, we experience a Rhino come as close to us as possible without sitting in the truck with us…..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HV6H85UU6aI