by Lufthansa Flyer | Nov 4, 2016 | Dulini, Featured, Photography, Safari, Travel, Trip Reports |
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!
How we found Torchwood minutes after his kill.
Yep, he’s staring my way…..
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.
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.
You can see the exhaustion in his expression.
Hard work, but worth the effort for him.
After another short break, he began to rip into the flesh of the Warthog and enjoyed the fruit of his labor.
Clearly enjoying his success!
Tasting success…..
Simply a beautiful animal…..
by Lufthansa Flyer | Nov 3, 2016 | Air Berlin, Airlines, Airports, Corporate, Etihad, Eurowings, Featured, Frankfurt, Germany, Industry News, Lufthansa |
Today was a busy news day for Lufthansa and not in a positive manner. Aside from an earnings report that was lackluster with future forecasts that were not overly optimistic, Ryanair announced something that will force a shift in how Lufthansa does business on its home turf.
It was perhaps not a coincidence, but on the same day that Lufthansa announced their 3rd quarter financial results, Ryanair announced that they would begin offering flights from Frankfurt. A place where Lufthansa controls over 60% of air traffic movements and also an airport in which LH owns an 8% share.
Ryanair in its announcement stated that 2 737 aircraft would be deployed beginning in March 2017 and will focus primarily on warm-weather holiday markets in and around the Mediterranean region. Ryanair expects to invest over $200 million dollars into this expansion that is specifically targeted at Lufthansa’s low cost carrier unit, Eurowings. Ryanair will now operate out of 9 German airports.
Plans for Eurowings never included operating in Lufthansa’s hubs in Munich and Frankfurt, but due to the ‘attack’ of LCC carriers upon Eurowings, Lufthansa had to relent and recently announced that in fact it would operate Eurowings out of Munich, and today they were forced to announce that Eurowings may also be coming to Frankfurt. This decision had to be made as a direct response to Ryanair’s action. LH didn’t provide specifics, simply because they were caught off guard by the Ryanair gambit. However, expect a Eurowings / Frankfurt announcement sooner than later.
WHY NOW FOR RYANAIR?
Previously, Ryanair avoided Frankfurt-Main (FRAPORT) like the plague choosing instead to operate out of Frankfurt-Hahn which is about 70 miles outside the city. Their CEO, Mike O’Leary, even went on record last year saying that Ryanair would never fly out of FRA. What prompted the change in strategy was the inducements that the Frankfurt Operating Authority offered Ryanair, including substantially reduced landing fees, gate expenses, and similar overhead. In all, Ryanair will pay 40% less than other airlines for the same services. FRAPORT said this was done as part of a new strategy of offering huge discounts in order to attract more airlines and routes. My question is where are you going to fit them when the airport is already at capacity and your dainty neighbors don’t want flights departing or arriving when the sun is below the horizon? But I digress……
Of course this irritated LH’s senior management who now are challenging their own business partner in FRAPORT to extend similar discounts to those already using the airport. This soap opera will get more interesting over the coming weeks as Lufthansa responds to the Ryanair announcement. But give credit where credit is due, Ryanair simply is taking advantage of an opportunity that was placed nicely onto its lap. FRAPORT has initially suggested that no deals will be made with existing carriers at Frankfurt, but I can’t see that remaining the case.
USED INSTEAD OF NEW…..
Also part of todays earnings commentary was an announcement that going forward, Lufthansa may opt to purchase used aircraft instead of new aircraft as it looks to replace aging aircraft in the short haul fleet (regional jets, etc). The rationale behind this decision is to reduce some of the capital expenditure as a result of softer earnings expectations. This does not affect any orders that Lufthansa has placed for new aircraft, it may just result in fewer orders for new aircraft. LH still plans to spend 2.2 – 2.7 billion dollars a year over the next 3-5 years as it takes delivery of new aircraft.
NO TO ITALY AND ALITALIA…….
As part of the same session today, LH Group CEO Carsten Spohr put to rest the rumors surrounding Lufthansa taking a stake in Alitalia as part of a larger deal to acquire Air Berlin. There had been conversations between Etihad (stakeholder in both Air Berlin and Alitalia), Alitalia, and Lufthansa about a potential 3-way deal that would have LH take a substantial stake in Alitalia, and in return Etihad would proffer Air Berlin. This plan was in addition to the existing plan that will have Lufthansa wet-lease 40 aircraft from Air Berlin and fly the planes the routes that those birds normally served. In his comments, and perhaps they were unscripted, but Spohr simply stated that the personal home that he owns in Italy is about as much as Lufthansa is going to invest in Italy. Hopefully a speechwriter doesn’t get a bonus for that wit.
‘IMHO’ (Brewing for a while!) ………
For this LH fan it’s become increasingly frustrating to see an Airline struggle in a business where by all reasonable measures, it should be the dominant player. It has allowed itself to be nickle-and-dimed into positions that it shouldn’t be in. It should have stepped up and fixed its labor woes years ago instead of suffering hundreds of millions in losses due to strikes as a result of unhappy labor. It would have been ridiculously more cost effective to settle with labor instead of being stubborn to bend to a compromise.
I think another mis-calculation was the decision to create some kind of super-LCC within the group. Thus far Eurowings has not proven itself as a successful model and the jury is still out as far as its viability is concerned. I’m hoping it works out because in theory EW would be a fantastic complement to the group but on the other hand I think Lufthansa has taken their eye off of what used to matter.
The successful Lufthansa paid attention to their best customers, took their advice to heart, and developed product and services based on what these passengers were asking and willing to pay for. With that commitment came a fierce loyalty from their best passengers. That has changed. No longer is Lufthansa actively soliciting the advice of ‘HON’ and ‘Senator’ level passengers. Instead they have turned their focus on the low-margin passenger who travels once or twice a year and wants to buy the cheapest seat possible. They’ve transformed marketing and social media campaigns to focus on the guy or gal who will pay €79 euro for a once in a lifetime trip from Stuttgart to Ibiza.
I’m no marketing expert, but I am well versed in reading corporate financials. When I see the priority being shifted to filling up an economy cabin with $400 fares instead of focusing on the far more loyal, and far more profitable, premium cabin passenger, it comes as no surprise to see Lufthansa struggling on the balance sheet. They keep referring to a challenging operating environment but other carriers seem to do well in the same environment. A few years ago, fuel expense was the scapegoat. Now the scapegoat-du-jour appears to be the fierce competition coming from LCCs. Eventually the list of rationalizations is going to run out. The challenges to Lufthansa’s success are within the airline, not outside of it.
Focus on your best passengers. They’re the ones that will determine success or failure for any carrier.
by Lufthansa Flyer | Nov 1, 2016 | Business Class, Fare Sale, Featured, Lufthansa |
Lufthansa has launched a Business Class fare sale that has very attractive pricing between New York and a number of European destinations.
For example, New York to Istanbul can be had for only $2,400. New York to most of Germany is pricing between $2300 and $3000. Unfortunately not every major LH destination in Europe is part of this sale, nor is any other USA Gateway as far as I can tell. But I didn’t have time to search out every US Gateway.
The terms of the fare sale are confusing this time as well. In the detailed terms and conditions, it says travel has to start December 18 and a 28 day advance purchase is required. However I was able to find the $2400-$2500 fares available beginning in mid November. The return period also is generous as these low fares. Lufthansa’s terms and conditions state return travel needs to be completed by July 2017, but I found the low fares available all the way to the end of September which is as far out as possible that you can book a flight at this point.
So I don’t know if this is a fare error or not, but the pricing is not matching the terms and restrictions at this point. It looks like you can book a very attractive Business Class seat to parts of Europe almost a year out for a great price. Take advantage!
