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@@Kitsafari

Congratulations on your Pith!

I have always enjoyed reading your positive contributions, and have appreciated your interest in a wide range of places.

I think you make a great contribution to Safaritalk - and I look forward to the next 2000 posts!

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@@TonyQ thanks so much for your kind words! I'm looking forward to wishing you the same for your pith.

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Taken at Kanga camp in Mana Pools Zimbabwe while sitting at the feet of this bull elephant enjoying a morning drink.

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~ @@Big Andy

 

His dentist could ask for no finer view!

Remarkable!

The pupil of the eye is so clearly visible.

You must have been in the closest possible position...without actually being a dental x-ray technician.

Thank you!

Tom K.

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  • 1 month later...

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Hyrax Sporting a Leaf



Photographed at 9:11 am on 2 May, 2015 at Great Rift Valley Overlook, Kenya, using an EOS 1D X camera and an EF 400mm f/2.8L IS II super-telephoto lens.


ISO 6400, 1/800 sec., f/11, 400mm focal length, handheld Manual exposure.


*****************************************************************************************************


At the Great Rift Valley Overlook, there's a stone retaining wall where visitors gather to have their portraits taken with the magnificent scenery as a backdrop.


Were they to peer over the retaining wall and gaze downwards, they's see several small mammal species, including this hyrax, insouciantly sporting a tiny leaf cap.



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  • 2 weeks later...

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Leopard Hills Suite in Sabi Sands, South Africa



Photographed at 4:23 pm on 18 January, 2016 at Leopard Hills Private Game Reserve, Sabi Sands, South Africa, using an EOS 1D X camera and an EF 400mm f/2.8L IS II super-telephoto lens.


ISO 200, 1/1600 sec., f/2.8, 400mm focal length, handheld Manual exposure.


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During my 9 day/8 night stay at Leopard Hills, I was assigned to Suite #8, which is isolated from the other seven suites, is adjacent to the dining area, and has the most unobstructed view of the waterhole.


The plunge pool and outdoor shower are on the left. Both bushbuck and nyala grazed below the terrace in the early morning. Vervet monkeys were daily visitors. It was my “home away from home”.

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@@Tom Kellie Looks a good sized room - I tjhink I've lived in smaller apartments :D

Edited by pomkiwi
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@@Tom Kellie Looks a good sized room - I tjhink I've lived in smaller apartments :D

 

~ @@pomkiwi

 

I fully agree.

How nice it would have been to have been able to bring it back home to serve as my new abode!

Tom K.

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@@Tom Kellie stop tempting me! that just makes me want to book that lodge straightaway! but i shall resist... for now....

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@@Tom Kellie stop tempting me! that just makes me want to book that lodge straightaway! but i shall resist... for now....

 

~ @@Kitsafari

 

After two exceptional visits, I'm certain that it's a lodge which regularly offers superb wildlife sightings on all game drives, not to mention the outstanding accommodations, amenities and cuisine.

I know why @@Tdgraves enjoyed Leopard Hills. It's not at all commercialized or ‘canned’ but rather is as natural and unplanned as anything I've experienced in Meru or Samburu in Kenya.

Should your resistance weaken...GO FOR IT!

Tom K.

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Morkel Erasmus

 

@@Tom Kellie stop tempting me! that just makes me want to book that lodge straightaway! but i shall resist... for now....

 

~ @@Kitsafari

 

After two exceptional visits, I'm certain that it's a lodge which regularly offers superb wildlife sightings on all game drives, not to mention the outstanding accommodations, amenities and cuisine.

I know why @@Tdgraves enjoyed Leopard Hills. It's not at all commercialized or ‘canned’ but rather is as natural and unplanned as anything I've experienced in Meru or Samburu in Kenya.

Should your resistance weaken...GO FOR IT!

Tom K.

 

 

@@Tom Kellie I can only agree with that, one of my favourite lodges in all of South Africa!

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Morkel Erasmus

Here is an iPhone pic of the fireside setting in our Wild Eye Mara camp set up on the banks of the Mara river in the Mara Triangle every Migration season.

I can't wait to get back there in August! This is the moment our guests first arrived during the 2014 safari I hosted.

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Taken at Kanga camp in Mana Pools Zimbabwe while sitting at the feet of this bull elephant enjoying a morning drink.

22210715903_b32caf0927_b.jpg

 

Wow, Big Andy. When I took a similar shot at Kanga I used a 34mm (or equivalent of) lens.

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School bus, stuck in the mud. Meru, Kenya Oct 2011

 

Olympus E-3 & 50-200mm f2.8-3.5

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

School bus, stuck in the mud. Meru, Kenya Oct 2011

 

~ @@IamFisheye

 

That's an interesting image.

What especially intrigues me is that it was taken in Meru National Park, Kenya.

As it happens, I've yet to see any school buses in any other park or reserve, aside from two on Lake Nakuru National Park in July, 2015, yet in three separate visits to Meru, I've seen school buses each time.

Thank you for posting this.

Tom K.

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@@Tom Kellie I can only agree with that, one of my favourite lodges in all of South Africa!

 

~ @@Morkel Erasmus

 

I'm very pleased to know that you share my strong admiration for Leopard Hills in Sabi Sands.

Both @@Tdgraves and I have enjoyed superb wildlife photography during game drives there, not to mention outstanding hospitality.

I'm hoping that someday other Safaritalk members might find their way to Leopard Hills, as I'm certain that it would be a great experience for them and their spouses.

Were it at all possible, I'd love the Lipault Ladies, @@Kitsafari and @@SafariChick, to visit Leopard Hills for the baby elephants and baby leopards.

After two visits to Leopard Hills, I'm already contemplating a future visit!

Tom K.

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Were it at all possible, I'd love the Lipault Ladies, @Kitsafari and @SafariChick, to visit Leopard Hills for the baby elephants and baby leopards.

 

 

@@Tom Kellie sounds great - your treat? ^_^

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Lions under a snausage tree a bit down the road from the Oloololo gate in the Mara Triangle. There is nothing super special about this shot but it's one of my favorite pictures that I've ever taken as for me it just seems to capture the feeling of the Triangle.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

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Leopard on Stone



Photographed on 3 October, 2015 at 9:10 am in Leopard Hills Private Game Reserve, Sabi Sands, South Africa with an EOS 1D X camera and a Zeiss Apo-Sonnar T* 135mm f/2 ZE telephoto lens.



ISO 200, 1/1250 sec., f/2.8, 135mm focal length, manual focus, handheld Manual exposure.



****************************************************************************************************



~ When ‘Torchwood’ pauses, camera shutters click. He's the dominant male within his realm, seemingly unfazed by his steady stream of camera-equipped admirers visiting Leopard Hills.



This image was made with a manual focus Zeiss lens, as it's exceptional optics render colors as my eye saw them...or at least so my memory claims. In any case I like the micro-contrasts and rich hues.


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  • 4 weeks later...

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Down-time



Photographed at 6:28 pm on 4 February, 2016 in Olare Motorogi Conservancy, Kenya, using an EOS 1D X camera and an EF 400mm f/2.8L IS II super-telephoto lens.


ISO 1,250, 1/1250 sec., f/2.8, 400mm focal length, handheld Manual exposure.


*****************************************************************************************************


Reaching the secluded site where the Isaketa Sub-adult Pride was resting was the least developed track I'd been on in Africa. The reward for a slow, bumpy upward ride was seeing lions at rest and play.


Across a steep gorge lights were on over the doors ar Sir Richard Branson's Mahali Mzuri Safari Camp. Cubs and older siblings played with young lions and their mothers with unflagging energy.

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  • 2 weeks later...

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Family Outing



Photographed at 11:07 am on 5 February, 2016 in Olare Motorogi Conservancy, Kenya, using an EOS 1D X camera and an EF 400mm f/2.8L IS II super-telephoto lens.


ISO 200, 1/400 sec., f/2.8, 400mm focal length, handheld Manual exposure.


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~ Our morning game drive had included a visit to Masai Mara National Reserve where we observed a leopard — Nootare — stalking Thomson's gazelle and later, from a distance, the cheetah Musiera and three cubs.


An ostrich family was proceeding across a flat, grassy plain with exaggerated dignity, achieving an unintended comic effect. As ostriches are a particular favorite of mine, it was a lovely close to the game drive.

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Lioness in a Tree Watching a Warthog



Photographed on 4 February, 2016 at 5:13 pm in Olare Motorogi Conservancy, Masai Mara, Kenya, with an EOS 1D X camera and an EF 400mm f/2.8L IS II super-telephoto lens.


ISO 640, f/2.8, 1/800 sec., 400mm focal length, handheld Manual exposure.


*******************************************************************************************************


~ What a surprise! We were slowly following a wooded stream when this lioness was spotted in a tree. It was self-evident that she was watching a large warthog in tall grass nearby.


As this image shows, we were at very close range, beneath her. The thick vegetation around the vehicle didn't conceal us or the camera lens from her vigilant eyes.

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One Minute After a Chase




Photographed on 4 October, 2015 at 6:42 pm in Leopard Hills Private Game Reserve, Sabi Sands, South Africa with an EOS 1D X camera and an EF 200mm f/2.8L II telephoto lens.



ISO 800, 1/640 sec., f/2.8, 200mm focal length, handheld Manual exposure.



****************************************************************************************************



~ Looking at the EXIF data embedded in the photograph, this was taken slightly more than one minute after an ultra-rapid chase of a female impala through wooded scrubland. The impala escaped.



The exhausted, panting cheetah looked around, seeing a herd of impala grazing in the distance, and our open-top safari vehicle at a respectful distance. We admired the cheetah's athleticism and poise.


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@@Tom Kellie - the ostrich family wins this set of your postings for me :)

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