Jump to content

Another 5 days at Camp Hwange and more


Bush dog

Recommended Posts

Peter Connan

Always a pleasure following your reports Mike!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The next morning, we had, still on the concession, our second sighting of the small group of sables.

 

_N7A6442.jpg.4abf87514ad4e378bcc0462a19b9b157.jpg

_N7A6464.jpg.a5217dac315f64f6d1be964fc6afba6f.jpg

_N7A6478.jpg.9ad2d11a26cafa02bf3a6109865c863b.jpg

_N7A6482.jpg.641902728981843a903e8d968f506bd3.jpg

 

Some birds seen in the morning :

Lilac-breasted roller.

 

_N7A6435.jpg.0d53fbdc3859de353bbaddb7a55a52e8.jpg

 

African golden oriole.

 

_N7A6528.jpg.0b565d4bccb444589ef56b3df3907ef1.jpg

_N7A6553.jpg.a51017882d07cdbc4aacc2dade1f6a34.jpg

 

Black-shouldered kite.

 

_N7A6556.jpg.45158fb77e678f7f4716c3fb02e7373c.jpg

_N7A6560.jpg.49cc8e16758f4ed97356506c41d87277.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Game Warden
On 16/07/2017 at 9:02 AM, Bush dog said:

 

_N7A6370.jpg.7d796f7f5f387585a97295c3d3e5217f.jpg

 

Super timing in this one @Bush dog

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, @Game Warden, super timing perhaps but now that taking pictures became, with digital, more shooting than photographing, be successful with this one is easier than in the past.

Anyway, thanks a lot for your comment.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Some more birds seen in the morning :

Capped wheatear.

 

_N7A6675.jpg.c2d35f42b531db5072571511492d39a7.jpg

 

Red-billed teal.

 

_N7A6693.jpg.56232de89a1efb8f9edeea7aeb0770dc.jpg

_N7A6697.jpg.8189b43152c72748891a85e04298d3f9.jpg

_N7A6709.jpg.e3054df13abaa3c9d18ecdd61f9dd3c8.jpg

 

Grassveld pipit.

 

_N7A6716.jpg.2d768e393c1edcac0d381ff247292c68.jpg

 

Around the Shumba picnic site :

 

Tropical boubou.

 

_N7A6573.jpg.54b9ca3bc633d961ae02c94b6857c67f.jpg

_N7A6589.jpg.e34f12ddce3c82cecc4545e2ccb446ca.jpg

 

Crested barbet.

 

_N7A6607.jpg.b34c07be168280a902046576afc17cef.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

offshorebirder

Wow - you photographed a trio of Hueglin's Coursers @Bush dog!

 

You really were lucky with birds on this trip Mike - I would kill for a Marsh Owl.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Love the hamerkop on the previous page.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

lovely to see the ever gorgeous roans and young ones, and those adult jet black sables are magnificent. 

I neglected to say that B&W shot of the hippo framed by those water drops was awesome. 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Two weeks and how many fantastic photos! No need to praise more the well known photo skills of @Bush dog!

 

However I need to express my admiration in how much the technology helps us today. In post #77, even with a spot ligh the Marsh Owl photos would be impossible to get, or at least the quality would be same as a kid's painting on a very coarse sand paper :huh:; but your photos, even crops at 51200 ISO looks more then good.

 

Same can be told for LBR photo on post #83; I hope I am not jumping into any unfounded conclusion by saying there must have been an operator mistake by choosing 1/6400 sec so early in the morning. Yet, exposing the photo by 3 (?') stops showed us both the colours of the bird, and the unfortunate morning snack sticking out of the beak.

 

Always a pleasure to follow your TR, and watching your photos, as so much can be learned from both!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@offshorebirder

 

Thank you for your comments.

 

In fact, it was a quatuor of coursers.  The last one was out of frame.

 

Well, it's not too difficult to be lucky with birds if your guide knows that they are interesting you.  As for the marsh owl, I must admit that, in this case, I was very lucky when you know that even guides do not see them often.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@xelas

 

Thanks a lot for you very kind words and for following this TR.

 

Concerning the LBR picture, when we spotted the kill, the bird was about to swallow the frog.   We were on the wrong side of light.  So, to be sure to get a picture as much as the frog was still visible, I decided to quickly take a few shots, without having time to check the settings.  Then, we moved to be on the right side of light.  It was too late, the frog was already in the bird's stomach.  I knew that there would be great chances that the pictures would be underexposed and they were.  When processing the images, for the first picture, I pushed the underexposition until the subject appears in shadow play.  For the second picture, I did the opposite.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We began the afternoon, on the concession, with a few elephants at the edge of the teaks.

 

_N7A6728.jpg.01a0f6198ec6520be775580911a71261.jpg

_U5V5881.jpg.b765da9ac4a1830b54dcd42193725ca1.jpg

 

And always more birds at Shumba pan :

A flight of white-faced whistling ducks.

 

_N7A6761.jpg.bad70a760f34f8f869321ff087247761.jpg

_N7A6944.jpg.db6c680d26cf687c242d168122959ca9.jpg

 

One of the frog eaters flying to the water for laundry.

 

_N7A6909.jpg.912c909fd80504537e4001bd10c4f0bb.jpg

 

A grey heron in flight.

 

_N7A6923.jpg.558d38c4468d213e353df73b2d1c75ff.jpg

 

And an angry blacksmith plover chasing an intruder to protect its nest.

 

_N7A6996.jpg.61d4c8b2a2193adee768366ebc3d294d.jpg

 

One more elephant.

 

_U5V5890.jpg.4f158de229fb0602155c3563643dca8d.jpg

 

And another profitable night drive :

Perhaps a fiery-necked nightjar.

 

_U5V5897.jpg.1546ab6cdd930ac6b8e6b43f7b7a7a3d.jpg

 

And a serval, hunting.

 

_U5V5907.jpg.3eabd8b73016d0754ffc5bef359b3dda.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

I come to the last full day of my stay where it will mainly be about birds.

 

Black-headed heron.

 

_N7A7019.jpg.ba4b89543385e86773e8e94331b3ef48.jpg

 

Senegal Coucal.

 

_N7A7031.jpg.b4627f18f3dcdb1bf151ca88c15061d8.jpg

_N7A7039.jpg.e742178de2d69f32e1ef29f712664904.jpg

 

Magpie shrike.

 

_N7A7048.jpg.ffbbe431952b094b038ad4c3fb3ad094.jpg

 

African hoopoe.

 

_N7A7053.jpg.70f9b8c80c0049fb27991ee3f20f56b0.jpg

_N7A7066.jpg.6da768d8c68e941e4721397e2455ab93.jpg

 

African hoopoe and fork-tailed drongo together.

 

_N7A7076.jpg.ad2d38c8f8ec11f4a6ffdd37d4f50d45.jpg

 

Dagga boys.

 

_N7A7093.jpg.4a3ba75e8cb4970598de3a52155f640e.jpg

_N7A7097.jpg.bc6f26d5cb7890c6921596f05f718740.jpg

_N7A7100.jpg.78504b965e81f5b2c37319951cce3b8d.jpg

_N7A7108.jpg.9a2127f8c19d498b2f0a49e242347707.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

More magpie shrikes.

 

_N7A7119.thumb.jpg.a5f9b4a02cf4e892686f1e27f0d16743.jpg

_N7A7123.jpg.4325308ea493e95a6fa1fbf87fd38197.jpg

 

Heron & Stork at Dwarf Goose Pan.

 

_N7A7128.jpg.33004044f7a069b632f445b8c2a4b74b.jpg

_N7A7147.jpg.66201df3371d4789a0e66f8d870799bf.jpg

 

Violet-eared waxbill.

 

_N7A7180.jpg.263ef38804b2b9e9c8cda3c8977ca8b8.jpg

 

Grey Heron & Crocodile at Masuma.

 

_N7A7198.jpg.2b983642234c5b9524a0a987975fe1b9.jpg

_N7A7203.jpg.c6a845c0a6defa76494f5514127809fc.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Catching up on this at last, after some time away and well, it's still lovely to potter around Hwange with you. Some fantastic and unusual sightings, which seem to emphaisise that going out of season can be incredibly interesting, if only you are looking for the right things. I think e.g. the mating monitors and the Goliath Heron way up in a tree - not to mention the rarer things like the marsh owl - are as wonderful as anything you could see in their way.

 

Great photos (well, still of course, but let's say it often!).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

madaboutcheetah

What a pretty bird, Vilolet eared waxbill ...... Beautiful, Mike!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@pault

 

Thank you so much for your comments!

 

"Incredibly sightings" indeed, and, for me what's the most important, in an quiet environment where vehicles can be daily counted on the fingers on one hand.  The western part of Hwange is less busy than the easten.

 

Once more, thank you for following this report.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Birds of the afternoon :

 

Black-shouldered kite.

 

_N7A7225.jpg.b9beb8ec809e99a93e17b5be9d9db459.jpg

 

Lilac-breasted rollers.

 

_N7A7252.jpg.08bd1c35ae384c97228a14fef45b8b12.jpg

_N7A7293.jpg.fc407e19d67e6c766f6636ec3315ab12.jpg

 

Helmeted guinea fowls, juveniles and adult.

 

_N7A7257.jpg.255e2f9ce9e7907b552cc2826b26aaae.jpg

_N7A7259.jpg.af3855a90e5d853eb215fb46ad9efb06.jpg

_N7A7264.jpg.77868bf2e41cfe5e35c9772fef7ee1c3.jpg

 

African fish eagle in the teaks with, it won’t hurt for once, something different in its claws, in this case a francolin.

 

_N7A7281.jpg.847eaa1b6693ae3d05d8de6f9fc986f7.jpg

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

At Shumba, at the end of the afternoon, the hamerkops were, like the previous days, busy hunting frogs.  As soon as the sun went down, it was no longer along the road but rather over the pan, a little like the skimmers do.

 

_N7A7310.jpg.47a171e3d2a0d84b676fe1d34263eb0e.jpg

_N7A7327.jpg.a2e6f3f6cd50563df1a78037d17d130b.jpg

 

The following three pictures have been strongly over-processed.  They were originally completely missed, but perhaps they are still?

 

_N7A7329.jpg.ef4f39fa5952315c3413ceef0160e71e.jpg

_N7A7330.jpg.f9cfca83f3265a4d8d8bc9b44e4d43d5.jpg

_N7A7356.jpg.a84731702aacdf51de26dd4bbbda9ba6.jpg

 

At night, the serval was back.  This sighting was better than the day before.

 

_U5V5950.jpg.e5c641631182768a3a5574a0d8b60a9b.jpg

_U5V5958.jpg.04d017d75aa7bfd8f286eed23072b51b.jpg

_U5V5965.jpg.9651a0c2934f4d94ccf5eb2908cc32e5.jpg

_U5V5976.jpg.d7a278f9d58690f4d933601bc67318bf.jpg

_U5V6001.jpg.051aa5339011aa3641733a600b6e8a02.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The next day, I left the camp early enough and took the road to Sinamatella and Mbala Gate.  A vehicle was waiting for me to take me to the Victoria Falls hotel where I spent a night before heading home.

 

On the way, just before arriving in Masuma, Washington stopped the vehicle and told me that he had seen a lion to the right of the road.  I still do not understand how he could have seen this lioness, motionless, lying in the shadow of a bush among others at a distance of more than two hundred meters, while the vehicle was traveling at a speed superior to that of a game drive.  We got closer and found that in fact there were three lionesses. I do not often think I met a guide who had such sharp eyesight as that of Washington.

 

_U5V6017.jpg.d2a326679b86a663c4b46a611e59df32.jpg

_U5V6034.jpg.555206c7b232f13e7f6f688e492f553f.jpg

_U5V6058.jpg.bf99c16021f2ccd844d5d99bc63a4855.jpg

_U5V6059.jpg.6a4cad8b2d9e91d4df2f17e5215453cc.jpg

_U5V6069.jpg.c608940ca4aa6d2b15cb483e0b6b1acb.jpg

_U5V6086.jpg.b338ef97138f834deea9bebc756b6303.jpg

 

Finally, later, I saw a leopard but it did not give me time to photograph it.  Very shy, it disappeared immediately, flat out.  Near Mbala, there are some steep natural walls, favourite habitat of the Verreaux’s eagle.  This one is a juvenile.

 

_U5V6125.jpg.98a1fc9bde075e51e384213fbef0bec5.jpg

 

This is the end of the report.  In order to loop the loop, I think to go back to Camp Hwange next October.

 

Thanks to everyone who took the time to follow it.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 02/08/2017 at 9:38 AM, Bush dog said:

Thanks to everyone who took the time to follow it.

 

Mike, it was a pleasure to follow your TR, and thanks to you to take time for posting it !

Link to comment
Share on other sites

michael-ibk

Thank you Mike, another one I really enjoyed!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A great report - some really memorable sightings, and your photos are sharp as ever!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Safaritalk uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. By using Safaritalk you agree to our use of cookies. If you wish to refuse the setting of cookies you can change settings on your browser to clear and block cookies. However, by doing so, Safaritalk may not work properly and you may not be able to access all areas. If you are happy to accept cookies and haven't adjusted browser settings to refuse cookies, Safaritalk will issue cookies when you log on to our site. Please also take a moment to read the Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy: Terms of Use l Privacy Policy