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I Invoke the Dragon Gods
After the frustrations and ultimate disappointment of the previous night hide session, I demur from another and after lunch wave goodbye to John and Colin before joining another group, with Calvin as guide, for an afternoon game drive. I Discover … Continue reading
The Scavenger Hide
The next morning we head off for our (in my case, at least) long-awaited session at The Scavenger’s Hill Hide. As the name suggests, this is designed to attract the reserve’s less glamourous occupants, those who depend on the kills … Continue reading
In Which Andrew Meets Many Heffalumps
With our search for elephants still not fully resolved, and Frances confirming she wants me to come back with evidence of at least one baby elephant, we give Tyrone a fairly straightforward directive for the morning game drive: "find us … Continue reading
The First Great Heffalump Hunt
Despite the short guest appearances on previous days, our hunt for elephants remains unfinished business. Zimanga has about 40, and it should in theory be relatively easy to find them, so that’s the initial focus of our morning game drive. … Continue reading
A Bit More Action
The 4th day of our stay at Zimanga delivers where the previous day did not. We start with another game drive, again aiming to track down the reserve’s male lions. Almost immediately there’s a confirmed sighting, and we head to … Continue reading
Absence of Elephant
You don’t have to shoot Zimanga at 800mm! I call this “Absence of Elephant”. £4M please! (If Peter Lik can get away with it, why can’t I?) Oh, and about 5 minutes after shooting this scene, it disgorged a herd … Continue reading
Bird-Dogging, To Hyphenate Or Not To Hyphenate?
Day 3 dawns with a borderline white-out: thick mist filling the valley under heavy low cloud, and it appears to be even colder than the previous day. The drive is somewhat hairy, and also almost a wash-out: we find the … Continue reading
Fun at the Bird Bath Hide
The afternoon of day 2 is spent at a hide officially called Bhejane, but in practice known to everyone as "The Bird Bath", because it attracts a wide variety of small birds who come to both eat the bird seed, … Continue reading
Amazing Zimanga
We head north to Zimanga, the first South African game reserve designed specifically for photographers. Located in KwaZulu Natal, not far south of the Mozambique border, this is a private game reserve of 7000 hectares (about 18000 acres), which is … Continue reading
Safari Shakedown
After what seems like a long gap (including retirement and an operation) but was in fact only about 9 months, I’m back on my travels. This time I’m in South Africa, on safari. A group led by Lee Frost will … Continue reading
The Beauty of Tuscany
I’ve been a bit delinquent regarding the blog, and I still have to write about the last couple of days in Tuscany. I’m working on a slightly more serious piece ruminating on the level of visible economic activity, but in … Continue reading
The World’s Second Worst Panorama 2024
Here’s my traditional group panorama for the 2024 Cinque Terre and Tuscany trip. From the left: Yours Truly, Grant, Elizma, Hildige, John, Buzz and Lee. Remind me never to book any of my fellow travellers for a portrait shoot – … Continue reading
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