Desert scenery & survival artists

[Marks]

Absolutely gorgeous landscapes, and of course the rhino photos are awesome, too. You are off to a great start.

 

This picture made me laugh out loud - what an expression!

[TonyQ]

@@Wild Dogger

Congratulations on the Rhino- and the photos look good from here!

[michael-ibk]

 

 

Congratulations on the Rhino- and the photos look good from here!

 

Absolutely. Very cool experience!

[xelas]

I cannot find any faults at your rhino shots either! The one obviously unsharp/unfocused one is clearly visible, yet the rest of them are just good enough for web site posting.

 

I would set the aperture at f8; even if the rear of the animal would not be in focus, with 1/1000 sec any motion blur should be avoided. For atmospherics nothing better than using the C-PL.

[Gregor]

Fantastic shots and a thrilling rhino encounter Your landscape pictures is stunning, And I love the picture of the rhino from the side, running of in a dustcloud.

[Tom Kellie]

~ @@Wild Dogger

 

I like the portrait of Claudia with the wine glass in such an idyllic setting.

Each and every photo well worth looking at. Your 300mm f/2.8L lens delivers such fine images.

This trip report is a treasure, as others have noted.

Thank you!

Tom K.

[Geoff]

@@Wild Dogger Nice work, some lovely images. Fabulous rhino sighting. I think your disappointment with the rhino images is the perfectionist in you shining through.

[elefromoz]

@@Wild Dogger, Im almost too embarrassed to comment in such company but, having missed this report first time around I'll just say, Im glad it popped up again today. Its enough to make you rush straight out and get that trip to Namibia booked. That tiny, tiny Rhino looks so vulnerable out there in all that nothing. Cheers Claudia, the things we women have to do

[wilddog]

What excitement @@Wild Dogger . I also think your images of the rhino are fine. She had a decent pair of horns too and to get a youngster with her............. Seems to me like a huge success. Great bum shot too

[AKR1]

@@Wild Dogger. Great report with superb pictures. Loved the rhino in motion shots and don't follow your comment at all about wrong settings on the camera! The pictures are excellent. Real looking forward to your report on Hoanib Camp and the skeleton coast.

 

Can't believe I missed this report. It was all the old threads crowding out the forum. I suggest pinning all trip reports at the top for one month as clearly, trip reports are the most valuable part of ST. Understand you can follow a report but if you miss it in the first place, obviously that's not possible. It's not after I saw @ Wild dog's response to the desert lion/ skeleton coast thread that I started looking for this report.

[Earthian]

@@Wild Dogger

what fantastic photographs. Class, pure class!

[Kitsafari]

those monochromatic shots of the elephant were incredibly moody. and i scrolled down the shots of the rhino and her baby running to you, and that transported me to your spot as well! such a heady feeling.

[FlyTraveler]

Another great TR, @@Wild Dogger! As always, superb wildlife and landscape photography, and what a scenery. Beautiful aerials, as well! Really enjoying this, thanks for sharing!

[Atravelynn]

The photos turned out great. Funny how a clap sends them off. What an exciting encounter.

[Wild Dogger]

Thanks to all for the nice comments.
I am still not too happy with my rhino shots either. And yes, I am hard to myself.

If you carry almost professional gear with you, you must have the attitude to make the best out of the opportunities you get.
And the opportunity was much better than the results.

 

Hey... where is the Hoanib?
I'm sitting here and jump and waiting

 

Hoanib´s coming.
Been to Thailand the last two weeks, so bear with me, you´ll get your load . Jumping is good for your health, btw..

[Wild Dogger]

28.11.2015

 

This is our last morning at Desert Rhino Camp.
We´ll do a short walk before we fly to Hoanib Skeleton Coast Camp.

Our guide digs a scorpion out of his hole.

 

 

 

It was good to just stay only 2 nights here. Even our guide says, that there´s not much more to see then we did. But we´ve been extremely lucky with the Rhinos. The guys and girls who went the day before only got a short glimps of them. We got the full count!

I once again have to say, that this camp was amongst the very best hospitality wise which we ever encountered on Safari! Such lovely staff!

 

After we packed we head to the airstrip.

 

Euphorbia close to the runway

HSCC is north of Desert Rhino but we first fly south again to Doro !Nawas and from there to the Hoanib. Very strange!
Wilderness Air seems to fly on a strict schedule.

This circuitous route costs us time and money. I calculated that it costed us approx. $ 500 for the 2 of us more than going direct! I found this almost cheating.

 

On the strip we first meet Natalie and her dad from Johannesburg, who will share the vehicle with us at Hoanib.

 

We arrive at the „camp“ right in time for lunch.

This camp is verrrrrrrryyyyyy stylish.

 

 

 

 

Normally I don´t like that on Safari, but somehow it works here and the „tents“ or „chalets“ or whatever you want to call them fit perfectly in the landscape.

 

 

 

 

 

The setting for breakfast/lunch/dinner here is supposed to be different. No long tables with communal dining. Every pair is supposed to sit on its own table.

First thing we did is starting a little revolution. As Nancy was travelling alone we sat together with her.
At the end of the day it ended up in a long table of 7 revolutionaries.
It´s never too late for a good revolution from time to time.

 

Again the scenery has changed dramatically. No more red stones, now everything is in a beige/sandy tone.

 

In the afternoon we go out and explore this beautiful part of the world.

 

 

 

 

We get to see one elephant,

 

 

some Oryxes,

 

 

 

 

 

 

giraffes and springbok.

 

 

 

It is strange to see a Giraffe in this arid landscape. I find it much stranger than seeing elephants here.

 

 

 

 

I always have my ideas what I want to see and photograph.

Top on the list is a Oryx walking on a sand dune, if possible in late light with a long shadow.

Well, I did not get that, but this one was much better:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Desert Lion Research has its hub at the camp and as all lions in the area are collared by Flip Stander there´s a good chance in getting to see them.
I am not that much a fan of collared animals but that´s for a selfish reason and I found it strange that all lions in this area were collared. In other areas there´s just one or maybe two animals in a pride which are collared. I think this is enough for research purposes but here the backdrop might be different. Stander wants to protect the lions to be shot by farmers. He wants to be able to tell farmers when lions are in the vicinity, so that they might move their cattle to another place. Unfortunately this does not work always and lions are still killed by farmers.

 

This was a great day in the Hoanib.

 

We enjoy our evening and dinner in camp, although the design of the dining room was absolutely not my taste. Not appealing at all.

The next day we are supposed to drive all the way west to the Skeleton Coast.

Like our guide said no game drive but a scenic drive.

I am really looking forward to this not knowing what to expect.

Edited January 25, 2016 by Wild Dogger

[xelas]

Once I saw a photo of a leopard walking down a very familiar dune in Sossusvlei. It looked very unrealistic. OTOH your desert lioness looks very real. And the light is just splendid!

[Marks]

Superb lion shots, especially the monochrome version!

[michael-ibk]

That lion shot is just wonderful, such a strong image - wonderful! Really like your '"revolution". :-)

[Wild Dogger]

29.11.2015

 

Trip to Skeleton Coast

 

That day we do an all day trip to Skeleton Coast, which is quiet a distance to go.

 

We leave camp at 6.30 and will arrive on the coast at 11.

 

The drive is called by our guide to be a „Nature Drive“, so we don´t expect to see a lot of animals (I did not expect to see a lot of animals on the whole trip, anyway).

We are driving in a convoy of 2 vehicles. Unfortunately we are the second car, so we always only get to see the leftovers of car #1.

 

The scenery on the way is just stunning.

 

 

 

 

It changes from a slightly rocky area, where the camp is, to a desert, how a desert is supposed to be, with dunes and lots of sand.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The magenta toning comes from oxidation, we are told.

 

We still get to see some animals, obviously Giraffes, Oryx. Springbok and a Goshawk.

 

 

 

Oryx running on the foot of a wall-like sand dune.

 

 

 

 

 

Atop of the sand dune

 

2 ways to go down

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks to Nancy McDaniels for letting this 3 last pics for me!

 

Desert Oasis

 

Seal colony at Möwe bay

 

 

What a smell, puuuh!

 

When we arrive we see that there´s plenty of seal puppies. Seems they get their offspring all at the same time.

As we get out of the vehicle the adult seals all but a few disappear into the ocean. They leave their puppies behind!

I lie flat on the ground to get some low angle shots.
One of the puppies comes closer and closer. Seems it mistakes me for its Mum. Funny situation!

 

 

 

 

 

 

After this we have our lunch on the coast line.

 

 

 

At 2.30 we are scheduled on our scenic flight back to camp.

Claudia´s no happy flyer and I feel pitty for her as the flight is more a stunt flight than a scenic one.

 

 

Beautiful Hoanib Skeleton Coast Camp from up above.

 

In Camp we get to see a film about the desert lions research program.

 

The obvious Brown Hyena pays his visit to the waterhole, but it´s too far for photography.

 

Another great day´s over. Tomorrow we get the option between 2 game drives or one all-day outing, with the possibility to see black rhino.
am not a big fan of these all day trips and as we had a good sighting of Black Rhino already we will do 2 game drives.

[Atravelynn]

All that professional gear earned its keep with the lion on the dune. Then your oryx showed up just as you wished. Even a scorpion to go with that iconic Namibian scenery.

[PCNW]

Thank you, so many great images!!

[AKR1]

Was really looking forward to this. So it's 4.5 hours from camp to the coast. Just fantastic pictures- my favorites are the dunes and the seal pup. Did you see any shipwrecks and/or whale bones at the coast.

[elefromoz]

@@Wild Dogger, Very stylish, almost space-age camp. The magenta colouring in the dunes too, almost other-wordly. The images of the wildlife in that harsh terrain are just beautiful. Out of curiosity, what is the Desert Lion population in the area?

[Wild Dogger]

Was really looking forward to this. So it's 4.5 hours from camp to the coast. Just fantastic pictures- my favorites are the dunes and the seal pup. Did you see any shipwrecks and/or whale bones at the coast.

@@AKR1

Thanks for the kind words.

We saw one almost done shipwreck but no whale bones.

There´s a small museum where you get to see all kind of bones and jaws.