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Safari Virginity --- Gone.


Big Andy

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offshorebirder

I am on a Windows 7 PC using Firefox and Andy's photos do not load in the trip report. It's only showing hyperlinks.

 

Maybe it is an issue with the photo site Big Andy is trying to use - perhaps it doesn't work well with Safaritalk's photo upload feature.

 

I find Flickr works very well...

 

@@Game Warden - do you have any ideas on why this is happening?

Edited by offshorebirder
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I can see all the photos. Beautiful male lions! Glad it was a great safari and that you did not have to parachute. Your enthusiasm shines through. Welcome home.

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offshorebirder

Question @@Big Andy - are you using the photo upload tool to insert your photos into the trip report? And pasting the direct link to each photo in the tool and then uploading/converting it?

 

Or are you just pasting a hyperlink directly into the text editor? If the latter, that is the problem... If the former, I am stumped and it must be something about the pix.ie photo sharing site you are using.

Edited by offshorebirder
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We had a very good lunch then sat in the shade to while away the heat of the day which although only about 36C seemed like a furnace to our unacclimatized British bodies. The other downer was the fact that the dogs didn't bother to turn up as hoped but you can't have it all.

For our afternoon drive we went back to the scene of the earlier lion encounter to see what had happened. Although they had moved a few hundred yards there was not much else happening although we decided to sit with them for a while to once again await developments. This was the advantage I'd wanted with having a private guide, being able to wait and not keep chasing off in different directions. I know Kaz wasn't our private guide but we were his only guests :) so were able to set our own pace. The knowledge of these guides is amazing, how they hold so much information in one head I'll never know. No matter what I asked, no matter how remote the subject, so long as it had a tenous link to wildlife/safaris he had the answer not only to the question but would then expand on the subject for a long as I wanted to listen, I just wish I could hold on to a fraction of what he was willing to impart.

 

Back on track, although I keep mentioning lions there were of course plenty of other things to see all around us.

 

Hippo both in the water,

 

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and in the full sun.

 

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One for the birders among you, a Giant Kingfisher.

 

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The lions were still about as I said and the cubs were now easier to see from our/their new position.

 

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As the sun headed to bed for the night we had our traditional sun downers and the thought of a slow drive back to camp in the dark as this was a private concession so allowed. To be honest I was not comfortable with the thought of lamping animals and disturbing their natural rhythm but consoled myself with the thought that as we were the only people there and no outsiders could come into the area there would only be a short interruption to their routine then we would be gone. Also as this lodge would be my only chance to try it I selfishly told myself to shut up and get on with it. :rolleyes:

 

At first we didn't see a lot other than the usual daytime characters caught out by the light. One that did surprise me was a crocodile sitting out in the open, they had been very shy when I'd tried to view them in the day time.

 

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Following that we got the cream of the crop, the ghost of the night.

 

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After that it was decided to call it a night, and what a night it had been, indeed what a day it had been. I could now go to bed and die a happy man but kept my fingers crossed I would last a few more days yet.

Edited by Big Andy
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@@offshorebirder To be honest I'm not sure what you mean, but suspect it's the second option I'm doing. I go to pix.ie and open the image in the desired size to be displayed and copy the link for forum use that it supplies then paste it into my post. How do I achieve the other option you have mentioned and I'll use that from now on if that'll solve the problem?

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Excellent photo's Andy - and tremendous that you got to see lions so early in your trip - I often think a nice early sighting like yours takes a lot of pressure off the rest of your time in the bush. And the leopard....well that is a serious bonus. After 15 weeks of my life in Mana, I have yet to see a leopard there! (Though this year my trail camera took a clip of a young female sat right outside my tent...I was of course asleep and oblivious!!!!)

 

For us, and I know others, it was an exceptionally quiet year for lions - never before have I gone so many nights listening for them before falling asleep disappointed.

Edited by Whyone?
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offshorebirder

That sounds like the problem.

 

@@Big Andy - you need to hit the little square green button in the row of tools, then paste the direct photo link - of the form http://www.xyz.com/image123.jpg into the space provided.

 

This topic has more info and detailed instructions:

 

http://safaritalk.net/topic/14-posting-images-in-the-text/

 

Also - the little button used to insert images in posts does not show up on iPads and other iOS devices...

Edited by offshorebirder
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@@Big Andy I cannot see that image nor the others you posted without clicking the link. This one looks different than the others though - this one has a big empty square as though a large photo should be in it, and in the top left corner it has a whole string of letters and numbers and the little image of what I think is a drawing of an icon for a photo but a generic drawing with a cloud and sky and mountains. That same little drawing shows with letters and numbers in the other posts of photos you've done, but those just have the image and numbers/letters in a small rectangular box whereas this one is a much bigger box. @@Game Warden do you know what is going on with the photos here?

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Below I've tried three different ways to show the image do any of them work for people who can't see the above images? For me only the third one is showing but will be interested in what others can see.

 

http://photos5.pix.ie/C0/2B/C02B8035F6224C189AD2FBFDCFFB13C6-0000339573-0003813306-00080S-00000000000000000000000000000000.jpg

 

C02B8035F6224C189AD2FBFDCFFB13C6-0000339

 

 

C02B8035F6224C189AD2FBFDCFFB13C6-0000339

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Sadly, none of those work for me. The second two look the same as each other. The first one doesn't work even when i click on it, I get an error message.

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http://photos5.pix.ie/C0/2B/C02B8035F6224C189AD2FBFDCFFB13C6-0000339573-0003813306-00640L-17C4DB08F20E4C128D387E31C82D22EC.jpg

 

C02B8035F6224C189AD2FBFDCFFB13C6-0000339

 

OK tried in larger as suggested first attempt directly pasted into post second attempt pasted into the image box.

 

Still only seeing one of the hippo photos.

Edited by Big Andy
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Not working! Damn.

 

For what it is worth, when I click through to a photo, after that it will show in the thread, when I refresh. And the second hippo shot appeared for me when I refreshed. Not really helpful/

 

Sorry, that is me out of ideas for now. We can't do this too long or we won't be able to clean up our mess. I'll clean out my test posts from your trip report now, before they are in there permanently, and return if I have any further bright ideas. Maybe raise it in the thread on how to post photos.,

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Well I'm now starting to loose the will to live where these photos are concerned, I've tried every trick I know and to no avail. Thanks Pault, offshorebirder, and the others that have tried to assist. If someone else knows the answer then please tell other than that if @@Game Warden or one of the mods could clean the thread I'll carry on with the report for now. And on the bright side at least I can see them. :D

Edited by Big Andy
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Day 2.

Today as we were on site to start in the relative cool of the early morning we set out on foot for my first safari walk. I'll say in advance that this produced no spectacular sightings and accompanying images but was none the less very interesting as we were taught about the ecosystem as a whole and the importance of the small thing in keeping it going. The game we did see was noticeably a lot more skittish with us on foot as I had heard before but this was my first time to witness it. There were some areas that looked like some sort of plague had gone through the trees with thousands of dead trunks standing stark in the leafless bright sun light. Kaz explained that although some of this was due to the elephant ring barking them the primary cause was a lack of nitrogen in the soil then pointed out the thousands of low bushes starting to grow under the dead trees. He explained that these types of plant would actually increase the nitrogen in the ground and would flourish now the canopy of mopane trees had gone. In years to come when the nitrogen had reached high enough levels the mopane trees would once again return and the cycle repeat.

 

I find all these details fascinating and could listen to Kaz pass on his love of the bush for hours on end. Needless to say there was a lot more information given but my recall skills are not what they were, so I can listen to it all again next time and be equally enthralled. One of the few bonuses of getting older.

 

I'm not sure if these images were taken when on this walk but will give an idea of the sights we had.

 

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Edited by twaffle
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I am enjoying your photos @@Big Andy

A beautiful leopard, the excitement of a walk, and of course the lions!

(I love the idea of a lion called Gerald -such a great name for a lion - anyone remember Gerald the Gorilla from "Not the Nine O'Clock News" - British TV and showing my age)

Edited by TonyQ
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Day2 PM

After a leisurely lunch followed by a refreshing wallow in the small swimming pool we were set for another outing. This afternoon it was decided to drive as we would be staying out for a bush dinner and returning in the dark. We went out to see if the lions were still in the area but were unable to trace them. We did find the small herd of buffalo they had been watching so decided to keep an eye on them to see if the lions may still be hanging about looking out for a weak one as they do. I know this all sounds very quite but believe me there were lots of things to see and an endless flow of knowledge from Kaz and not a moment to spare at any time. The Buffalo were on the other side of a Zambezi side stream to us but decided to come back over.

 

Not wildebeest and not the Mara but it was a crossing of sorts, :P and yes there were crocs present as it was on the top of the bank in the back ground that we had seen the large one basking the night before in the torch light.

 

 

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Following this we took a boat out onto the Zambezi to try and get a bit closer to the hippos and crocs plus anything else that came along. This would be our only chance to get afloat so didn't want to miss it.

 

For such a dangerous animal hippos seem to have such a friendly smiley face. And this one wasn't happy about being caught away from the water when we went passed.

 

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A nice view of a female Saddle Billed Stork, apparently the males have a red eye.

 

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That evening we had a bush dinner on a platform in the trees on the flood plane, a nice gesture but I couldn't help smiling to myself that as we would be moving to our mobile camp the next day all our meals would be bush meals instead of the restaurant. We then had another night drive back to the lodge but no leopards this time, instead a nice sighting of a Civet.

 

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It was now nine o'clock in the evening and I was dead on my feet, it's surprising how tiring being on safari can be. No late night drinking, one beer then bed with the thought of a 5AM call.

 

Did I say 5AM? Not a chance, about 3:30 I heard lions roaring in the distance and bounced out of bed to sit on the balcony in just a pair of shorts and listen to the night sounds until breakfast was called. I LOVE AFRICA.

Edited by Big Andy
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All photos are visible to me except the link in #42. Also #35.

 

I can relate to that end of the day fatigue you describe. I think you also offer an explanation--too much keeping us up during the night. Harder to get that REM sleep.

 

The crossing had to be exciting, complete with crocs. A buffalo would be a more formidable opponent than a wildebeest from the croc standpoint.

 

I'd trade you several leopard sightings for such an excellent view and photo of the civet. Truly outstanding. Your angle accentuates the racoon-like features.

Edited by Atravelynn
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Agree - what a gorgeous shot of the Civet, wonderful!

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offshorebirder

@@Big Andy - seems you are still just pasting hyperlinks directly into the body of the text.

 

When you are making a post, look at the row of tools just above the text window. See the square box with the green filling?

 

Click that box and it brings up a text window that says: URL (with a place you can paste text into)

 

Now go over to your photo sharing site. Click whatever you need to to share the image - some like Flickr you have to then select "embed" to get the HTML for embedding your photo.

 

Now just copy the URL portion of that stuff as follows:

 

* I am replacing the "https:" with an "X" so you can see the actual text, not a hyperlink:

 

X//farm1.staticflickr.com/575/22269444781_380507df05.jpg

 

 

This is what you should get:

 

22269444781_380507df05.jpg

Edited by offshorebirder
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There must be a problem with the site Big Andy is hosting his photos on. Some links works after refreshing the page, some not, but clicking on the ? mark opens the web hosting site and the relevant photo.

 

But that is a shame as your photos are soooo good!! Why are you not uploading them directly into your Trip Report using the More Reply Options?? And give us additional 200 pix, please !

Edited by xelas
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Hi @@Big Andy,

Great start, beautiful photos (no problem to see them), love your photo of the civet, I am enjoying your TR and look foreward to more.

Say hi to Shirley for me.

 

Andrew (Andreas)

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Day 3

We had our early morning walk heading west from camp this time straight after a light breakfast of toast and cereals. once again there were no major sightings but was none the less enjoyable for that. We studied a Buffalo skull, a Hippo skull and an Elephant skull all equally interesting particularly the Hippo as the huge teeth were still present and loose enough to be removed and held. They are truly enormous and sharp as daggers, you really don't want to be in the way of the owner of those when he's in a bad mood. They were carefully replaced in position and we continued, looking primarily for tracks of the dogs but once again they eluded us and we had to return to camp to meet our Nature Ways vehicle for the run to Chitake Springs.

 

Before we leave we got a group photo of our selves and Kaz who I would recommend to anyone as one hell of a nice guy and a really knowledgeable guide. Before GW chases me I will add a camp report to the appropriate when this TR is finished. ;)

 

22209070734_bb41608258_b.jpg

 

 

 

When our vehicle arrived I was a little disconcerted to see it was open topped and as you can notice from the above image the legs are not overly tanned for a 2.5 hour drive in the midday heat. However by quickly pulling out a couple of shirts and draping them over our legs it turned out to be a very cool way of travelling when taking into account the air temp was now pushing 40C in the shade. We of course had good wide brimmed hats and sleeves rolled down. Actually putting on long trousers would have been a lot warmer even if it would have kept the sun off.

Other than a small group of Nyala which were a first for us and a fleeting glimpse of some Impala there was nothing to see on the whole journey. We did see other people when we stopped at gate two to sign in, a quick painless five minutes then on up the dusty road we went until finally arriving at Chitake Spring in the full heat to find it teaming with life, including a couple of Austrians and their guide Doug.

 

The camp was tucked away behind the thin layer of shrubs running along the edge of the dry riverbed taking what shade it could. All around us there were Baboon which interestingly showed absolutely no interest in us or the camp including the food as this has been carefully keep away from them so they present no problem and just act naturally and calmly while going about their daily business. The Austrians were of course @@michael-ibk and his companion Andreas now sharing camps with us for the next seven nights although being guided by Doug.

 

We were now introduced to our guide Andrew Smith.

TBC.

Edited by Big Andy
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How can you say that, we saw nothing except a few Nyala?!? ;)

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I've now tried it the way @@xelas has suggested does this work?

 

post-44861-0-08387600-1446837027_thumb.jpg

 

@@offshorebirder I did try it the way you suggest but unfortunately that seems to fail as well, I will look to host them somewhere else in the future to stop this problem but just don't have the time to move thousands of images at the moment.

 

Interesting that the colours look very muted in that image in comparison to the earlier posting of it

Edited by Big Andy
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