Here is a glimpse of some of the beautiful scenery of Damaraland, and my transfer between Sossusvlei and Damaraland.
Damaraland Highlights
Birds at breakfast
These birds seemed to think that breakfast is not only the most important meal of the day, but an easy breakfast is!
A sociable weaver looks sleepy atop a bowl of museli.
Scarlet Chested Sunbirds
I decided to work through the last of the sunbird photos I had flagged off, so that I could start on something new in the coming week. Hopefully 4 posts in a row dedicated to just one bird type isn’t too boring. I had hoped that I could include the white fronted sunbird I captured as well, but those photos were taken from the hide and the bird was in a tree quite far away. Sadly, they are completely lacking.
1/320sec, f5.6, ISO 180
1/1000sec, f5.6, ISO 500
1/1600sec, f5.6, ISO 400
1/100sec, f5.6, ISO 800
1/1000sec, f5.6, ISO 800
http://jennifersawicky.smugmug.com/buy/46618501_HZ72M2/3829450432_86z3RG7/
Scarlet chested sunbird – stare down
1/1000 sec, f5.6, ISO 800
Zebra on the move
Black Bellied Bustard
I saw both male and female black bellied bustards while at Zimanga Reserve, but only managed to capture a few photos of the male, on a couple of different days. Each time, it was on the ground looking for food, and took off after being startled by the approaching vehicle.
Like most bird species, the female is far drabber in appearance, and lacks the black belly. Unfortunately the only photo I have of a female is completely out of focus as it was shot from the moving vehicle.
Vervet Monkeys
While at Zimanga Game Reserve with Wildlife Act, our group was fortunate enough to have two sessions in their fantastic bird hides. The first was an afternoon session in the Bhejane birdbath hide, and the second, where these photos were taken, were from a morning session at the Mkhombe birdbath hide. The morning session provided over 900 photos, and not just of birds; warthogs and the vervet monkeys came from a drink as well.
While the vervet monkeys can be incredibly cheeky around a lodge or camp, snatching food and wrecking havoc should they decide to go inside, I find them fascinating to watch and love seeing their antics. Around the birdbath, they were more concerned with each member getting a drink than getting into any mischief (although there was one snacking on the scattered birdseed). I especially loved to see the moms with the tiny babies clinging to their stomachs, and I believe there were either two or three babies in the troop.
1/1600sec, f7.1, ISO1600
1/1600sec, f9.0, ISO1600
1/1600sec, f9.0, ISO1600
1/1600sec, f9.0, ISO1600
1/1600sec, f7.1, ISO1250
1/1600sec, f7.1, ISO1250
Mama and baby rhino
On one of my South African trips, I was lucky enough to see this white rhino cow and calf having an afternoon rest. Mama was providing a shady spot away from the afternoon heat for her baby, but they were very quickly startled by our presence and moved off just a moment after I pressed the shutter down.
1/800sec, f5.6, ISO800
Lilac Breasted Roller
The lilac breasted roller is one of my favourite South African birds – it has such a wide variety of colours in its feathers. While I saw quite a few on my trip, usually it was while we were driving and they were flying away – not the best opportunity for capturing a photo. Here though, I lucked out. A bright sunny day really brings out the feather colours, but the flat white sky also serves as a good backdrop.
Grey Herons
While on a drive along Lake Sibaya, I saw a pair of grey herons – I don’t know it was a pair of males battling for dominance, or a male and female completing an intricate mating ritual. Regardless, they were beautiful to watch and I love the shapes created by their wings.
