Namibia - Over 3,000 kilometre road trip [Part 1]

[Mutema]

"I was sorry to see many tourists climbing all over the trees and hanging from the branches in pursuit of pictures."

 

Couldn't agree more! It broke my heart to see that tourists had carved their names into 900 year old trees!!

 

A return to Deadvlei at sunset is a must but go in shoulder season - in May I had the whole place to mysself for about 45 minutes before the other 5 in our vehicle from Sossus Dune Lodge came down from Big Daddy.

 

 

I was musing on how you could deal with this - most people will post these sort of pictures to Instagram or social networks. As they're geo-tagged, it's relatively easy to find them under a location search. A suitable hashtag to shame them perhaps? People often forget or don't consider the level of embedded data in imagery.

 

That's a good tip. I want to go back during the wild flower season in particular.

[Mutema]

 

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These images are absolutely fantastic. This was an amazing experience to see the Namib from a balloon!

 

Thanks for commenting Jeremie. I'd recommend the balloon experience although you really are in the hands of the gods when it comes to the weather on the other day. I was fortunate with the light but on some days, it can be incredibly flat and really limiting for photographs.

[Mutema]

Very, very beautiful landscape photos, especially like the panos. Definitely don´t look like "scouting efforts" to me!

 

Thank you. The panos were all done on an iPhone6. Amazing how technology moves on. When you look at the pictures at full resolution on the computer, you can see the differences very clearly which is fortunate because if they were on parity, I would be questioning my decision to spend as much money as I have on photographic equipment!

[Mutema]

@@Mutema wonderful photos of Dead Vlei and the dunes, I particularly like the tree shadow on the dune.

 

Your poolside wildcat sighting of a kitten and an adult was very special.

Thank you, appreciate the kind words.

 

It was very special seeing them, there was a level of respectful and mutual interest in each other.

[Mutema]

Your panoramas are after my own heart. I see the captions say they are iPhone photos. Is that a specific app or a built-in option?

 

How lucky to see a wildcat kitten!

 

Thanks for the comment. The panos are with the native app, I know there are other tools out there but for me personally, stitching from the camera will yield far superior results so I'm content to just play with the native app and for the purposes of adding it to the trip report to give a sense of place, I think they serve this purpose adequately.

 

I have too many apps on my phone as it is!

[Tom Kellie]

~ @@Mutema

 

Welcome to Safaritalk!

What a story — so well told through both commentary and images.

The colors in your photos are supremely convincing — true-to-life!

The composition elements have enough to entice the viewer to continue reading.

Truly a trip report of distinction. You're inspiring me to do better when I'm next on safari.

With Appreciation,

Tom K.

[Mutema]

Thanks Tom, with encouragement like that, you're inspiring me to write and post more.

[Tom Kellie]

Thanks Tom, with encouragement like that, you're inspiring me to write and post more.

 

~ @@Mutema

 

The high quality of both commentary and imagery deserves no less.

The photo showing the large balloon wicker basket unloaded onto a small flatbed trailer has extraordinarily attractive bokeh.

The subjects fairly jump out from the background with uncanny clarity.

I would feel I'd made quite a step upward, were any of my images to be even half as fine.

Tom K.

[Atravelynn]

May that tree climber fall out and skin his knees and bruise his elbows, short of requiring hospital care, but enough to make an impression and maybe a lasting impression called a scar.

[wilddog]

,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,or perhaps land on a scorpion @@Atravelynn

 

 

Really enjoying this TR @@Mutema. Your landscapes are stunning.

[KaingU Lodge]

This is awesome stuff. Thanks for sharing a trip report that really is exceptional.

[Atravelynn]

I like the scorpion addition, @@wilddog, as long as the scorpion does not get hurt!

 

"To create exceptional photographs that don’t feel hackneyed, I think multiple visits to Dead Vlei are required and I treated this visit as a scouting trip. One of the shots that I had envisioned was compromised by our arrival time and as the sun draws its arc across the sky, the shadow from ‘Big Daddy’ retreats incredibly quickly. This limits the amount of time you have to realise shots unless you have a production assistant and meticulously plan in advance."

 

This is really good advice. Sandstorms can also limit your visits and options at Dead Vlei. A serious photographer that I met at the dunes was spending a week there.

 

You still got some great shots, @@Mutema.