Primus
Offline
• •
Upload & Sell: Off
|
Abuttolph wrote:
I returned home a week ago from a month in Kenya and Tanzania and it was an exceptional experience. Before launching into the trip report, I want to thank those FM members who so generously offered advice and guidance for this trip. The information was invaluable and helped to make the trip as successful as possible.
Upon arriving in Nairobi, I spent three days at Ololo Lodge in Nairobi National Park. This time was mainly to get over the worst of the jet lag coming from the western US, but also to get into safari shooting mode. The decision to spend time there was a good one. The lodge is really nice and the staff are terrific. Nairobi National Park was the only place on my trip where I saw rhinos, both black and southern white rhinos. Another highlight was watching a serval hunt a rat then take it back to her two kittens to play with. I was over the moon about that because I actually did not expect to see servals at all, then saw three just a couple of days into the trip. Little did I know that I would be fortunate enough to see more both in Maasai Mara and Serengeti.
For the Maasai Mara portion of the trip, I signed up for two successive weeks with David Lloyd. We were originally supposed to be at Entim Camp the full time but the camp cancelled the reservations and David found other camps at the last minute. This turned out to be a very fortunate change. The first week was spent in the Ripoi Conservancy and we stayed at Mara Siana Camp. During two of the days, we went into the Maasai Mara National Reserve to shoot the river crossings, but otherwise stayed in the Ripoi Conservancy. I absolutely loved both the camp and the Ripoi Conservancy. All of the staff at the camp, including the guides, are Maasai. They have an incredibly deep connection with the land and wildlife and it is very apparent. Our guides, Salaash and Fred, were incredible. They know the area like the back of their hands. Their knowledge of pretty much everything was impressive and they were more than happy to give information and share their knowledge.
Ripoi Conservancy is new and at this point, the wildlife is still getting used to visitors. Planning for the conservancy has been aimed at keeping the number of people low with a maximum of one guest per 350 acres. This was terrific as we never saw a single other vehicle while there. Photography there was excellent. Highlights for me were lions, including cubs, cheetah, elephants, and giraffe. We also saw a vulture feeding frenzy that was unlike anything that I have ever witnessed. It was a pulsing, seething, noisy, bickering mass of vultures on zebra corpse. It proved to be a challenging situation for my cameras autofocus, but I got a few good shots although I really don't think that still photos captured the way that the feeding frenzy seemed to have its own life. If I had to choose a favorite place from this trip, it would be the Mara Siana Camp and the Ripoi Conservancy.
During two days that that we ventured into the Maasai Mara National Reserve, we did see a pretty good river crossing, although there were so many vehicles that the dust was incredible and some of the drivers broke off the chain of wildebeest which cut the crossing shorter than it probably otherwise would have been. We also saw a cheetah hunt a hare and that was the only cheetah hunt that I saw during my trip.
For the second week with David, we moved to the northern Maasai Mara and stayed at Mara Tangulia. As with the previous camp, all of the staff and guides were Maasai, so there was definitely a consistency with the level of knowledge and the approach taken to game drives. Highlights from this area were the Marsh Pride, a male lion who is not part of the Marsh Pride, elephants, servals (two kittens, did not see the mom), baboons, mongoose, and various birds with a particularly not shy lilac breasted roller. There was one baby elephant that was a real character and so much fun to watch and photograph.
The week in Tanzania was handled differently and we moved to a different place nearly every night. This part was run by a different operator (Primaland Safaris and Inscape Photo Tours) and was a more budget friendly safari. During this part of the trip, we visited Arusha National Park, Ngorongoro Crater, and Serengeti National Park. We saw a couple of Mara River crossings but with the vehicle competition for spots, I was never in a particularly good position for photos. Admittedly, this seemed to be a problem everywhere and was not a fault of the driver/guide. Plus, it seemed that in Tanzania, vehicles were restricted to a further distance from the river. The best photographic opportunities that we had were cheetahs (both single and in a coalition of three) and lions. One lion pride had at least 16 individuals including eight cubs that were still nursing. With another group of lions, we had the opportunity to photograph a little cub that had climbed on top of a rock outcrop and did some posing for us. There was also a serval and for the life of me, I don't know how the guides knew where to turn off to find it but they did. The Serengeti was incredibly dusty and definitely in general, more dusty than the Maasai Mara area.
As discussed previously in this thread, the national parks see far more vehicle traffic than the conservancies. It was much more pleasurable to be in the conservancies where there were fewer vehicles. This also goes for areas of the parks that are not so busy as well. If I am fortunate enough to go again, I keep time in the national parks to a minimum and spend the majority of time in the less frequented areas.
On gear, I took a little more than needed, but I did use almost everything that I packed. Here is the list, with comments on usage:
Three Sony A1 bodies (used extensively, obviously)
Sony 300mm f2.8 prime lens - used extensively and more than any other lens, both with and without the 1.4x and 2.0x teleconverters
Sony 1.4x and 2.0 x teleconverters (see above - used extensively)
Sony 200-600mm lens - used extensively during the first part of the trip and less so later on, mostly because I wanted to simplify while in the vehicle. I was able to get some images with this lens that I would not have been able to otherwise without the zoom.
Sony 70-200 f2.8 GM II - used a lot
Sony 24-70 - used infrequently
Tamron 17-28 - did not use
Monopod - used infrequently to get low angle shots (had some trouble with the AF using my cable release and finally gave up)
I have not yet had time to work on editing images but hope to do so in the coming weeks. Have a lot on my plate with other things right now but will try to upload as I can....Show more →.
Looks like you had an awesome time, thanks for the report. Look forward to seeing some photos as well. PMd you separately about the Ripoi Conservancy, it sounds really promising.
I think the hardest thing for us to experience well is a river crossing. With the climate changing so much, it is such a hit and miss, even more than it used to be. And the crowds are ever increasing. The one and only crossing I've seen was on my very first visit to Africa, in 2007. In all my trips since, despite being there in season, there was no crossing. Luck of course is a big factor. On that first trip, our team leader who had been to Africa 16 times already, was just as excited because it was the best event he had seen. Thousands upon thousands of animals were crossing in front of us, I even managed to photograph a crocodile catching a wildbeest in its jaws! And the best part of it - there were no more than 3-4 cars - at the crossing near Mara Serena!
I would certainly love to see it again but not sure where to go.
|
. I bought the 24-140 specifically for this trip as I am looking to shed some weigh to accommodate another body (RX10 IV) and an action cam but I understand your logic as well and it does make sense. 
