Namibia

[Manfred M]

I thought I'd post a few more images of some of the animals and a few scenes aound and about Etosha National Park in Namibia. While there is lots of wildlife, one has to keep a sharp eye open to see many of the animals, especially in remote places where they are not used to seeing people. Most of the pictures were taken from inside the truck, and I took to driving with the camera sitting on my lap, ready for use, whenever we came across something interesting.

Leaving your vehicle outside of designated areas in illegal in Etosha National Park, so many of the shots ae from the road sitting in the vehicle. Park rules also mean that your have to stay inside designated sites between sunrise and sunset, so pictures during "golden hour" are difficult to get.

Most of the wildlife shots were taken with an 80-400mm lens using a Nikon D90. All of the shots were hand-held..

This is what it is all about, the Etosha Pan; 130 km / 75mi long and up to 50 km / 30mi wide salt pan that is dry for most of the year. During the rainy season, some parts are covered by a few cm of water. With all that space, you'd think I could find a place without a tree in the shot. The tiny dots on the left are a small group of gemsbok.





Elephants are certainly one of the main animals every visitor wants to see. These are actual small group of desert elephant, who have adapted to life in the Namib Desert. The interesting colours on the backs of the elephants is sand, from a sand bath they had just given themselves



We were driving along road in the heading towards the northern part of Namibia, when we spotted this large group of Springbok on the road ahead of us. We stopped for a quick picture before driving on and scaring them of the road.




Yes, there are wild horses in the Namib Desert. There are all kinds of theories as to where they came from, but they are certainly out in the Namib, far away from and settlements.




Cape Fur Seal - The largest colony in the world is located at Cape Cross on the Skeleton Coast, some 120 km / 75mi north of Swakopmund. It was pupping season when we were there and hundreds of young seals were being born. They almost look like puppies with flippers




The western part of Etosha National Park has been closed to tourism for over 75 years, and had only been opened to visitor a few months prior to our visit. Access was restricted to people staying at Dolomite Camp, a semi-luxurious resort perched on an outcrop overlooking the western part of Etosha National Park, This is the lodge, while the sun is setting over western Etosha.




Birders head to Namibia because it has one of the most diverse bird populations in Africa. This is the Lilac Breasted Roller.



Zebras are one of the most common animals we saw in Namibia




Lions are on everyone's "must see" list, and while we heard that we had been close to seeing lions several times, we finally had a bit of good luck and ran into this lioness drinking at one of the water holes



The leopard is the one of the "big five", and the one the fewest people see. This is the one we spotted on our last day in Etosha. It had just broken off the hunt for some impala and decided to have a drink from one of the puddles in the road before heading off and out of sight.



My having my camera on my lap, ready to shoot worked out in this instance. This jackek popped out from under a culvert alongside the road and I was close ehough to get a nice head shot,

[darknight]

lovely photos manfred, the namib is on one of our places to go list !

[Mike Buckley]

You have some real gems there, Manfred. Thanks for sharing them along with your fascinating explanations.

Would it be too much of a crop (resulting in a portion of the image that is too small) to crop the zebra image to eliminate the two zebras on the right side? I just love the idea of emphasizing the one zebra looking over the back of the other zebra.

[Manfred M]

Thanks for the comment Mike - I think I actually have a closeup of the two heads already done. I'll have to see if I can find where I put it (I've had to go to my backups for these as one of my hard drives was acting up)

[Geoff F]

Excellent shots. Focus, exposure and subject material all good.

[FrankMi]

Very few have the opportunity to travel to locations like this and of those that do, it is even rarer to capture images of this quality, unless you just happen to work for the likes of someone like Nat-Geo. An excellent set Manfred!

[Bobobird]

A great set of shots. I particularly like the confusion in #3. Sort of trapped and not knowing what to do or where to go. Nice.