2016-12-02: Feel Good Friday

My first day in Buhoma in the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, my group took an afternoon village walk with a local guide.  It was a very interesting experience, as we had the opportunity to tour the local school and meet one of the teachers and some of the students, walk through the village market and trek up the hill to visit the pygmy village.

I must admit, the walk up the the pygmy village had me winded and left me very worried for the gorilla trek that happened the following day!  Here I was huffing and puffing along, and had young children passing me carrying large containers of water home; it certainly made me appreciate the luxury of opening a tap at home for water even more than I did before.

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A welcome dance from the Batwa villagers.  Wearing hats made of natural materials was very important to the elders of the group.

After we left the pygmy village, we stopped to talk with locals making banana beer and banana gin (I passed up the opportunity to try either), and were treated to another dance by a group of locals.

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Near one of the shops in the village I spotted this sign; what an excellent example of diversified business strategies!

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2016-11-25: Feel Good Friday

These are the pictures that jumped out at me to post today; I’m not sure why, but I decided to run with it. 🙂

These are from my time in Damaraland, Namibia.  We had the opportunity to explore the Twyfelfontein World Heritage Site to see the bushman rock art.  The rock art depicts people, the animals and birds of the region, and even the location of both permanent and seasonal waterholes.

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A view from the pathway around the rock art site.
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Giraffe, oryx, humans, and I am going to guess a bird like the Kory Bustard are depicted here.
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Giraffe and antelope carvings and the landscape beyond.

If you’d like to learn more about the area, here is a link to a wiki page about it.

2016-11-20: What I've seen this week

It’s seems like such a long time since I have done one of these posts!  I was planning to do one last week, but woke up Sunday morning to a computer meltdown instead – not quite how I was planning to spend my day.

I’ve got a bit of a mixed bag from the last two weeks… Fingers crossed I can get back into the routine of weekly photos again 🙂

Have a great week everyone!

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I was very excited that the first time I’ve saw Bohemian Waxwings happened to be on a bright, sunny day.
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These were part of a larger group that were in my neighbourhood for a very short period of time.  If I had left a few minutes later for my lunchtime walk, I would have missed them.  1/800 sec, f5.6, ISO 320
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This fox has become a fixture in the neighbourhood, but (s)he is very shy and scurries away as soon as Spencer and I get close.  The weather has been to iffy to haul around my big lens, so zoom and cropping are my friends.  1/500 sec, f5.6, ISO 800
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For the Monday supermoon, I went on a field trip with my photo club.  After a year and a half living here, it’s the first time I have been down to photograph the train bridge.  All you can see of the moon is the light trail on the water. 0.4 sec, f4.0, ISO 2000 (Nikon D610)
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Same scene, different camera and a different interpretation.  0.3 sec, f3.1, ISO 1000 (Panasonic FZ1000)

10-31-2016: Monochrome Monday

This is a first edit of a photo pulled from deep in the archives, shot with my first dSLR camera and lens combo while on a cruise, January 2012.  I’m really liking how this has turned out 🙂

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If you’d like to have this on your wall, click here 🙂

 

2016-10-22: WPC H2O

I could have shared any number of photos taken along the river near my old home, with lovely sunrises and mountains… but this spoke to me more.  I recently took a bird watching trip along the Kazinga channel in Uganda, and this village was at the turn around point for the tour.  For a photo challenge topic of water, a photo shot from the water, of a village that completely relies on the water, seemed fitting.

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Hopefully these fishing boats were safely moored for the night, as the storm that rolled in about an hour after I shot this brought with it some intense wind.

WPC: H2O

2016-10-20: WPC Edge & Nostalgia

Here’s a blog post that hits two of the WPC photo challenge topics at once.  When I read the description for the edge challenge, I knew that some of the shots I took while flying between camps in Kenya would be a great choice to share.  But being on those planes ties so well into the topic of nostalgia for me.  Being in a small plane (especially up front) takes me right back to being a kid, heading up with my Dad in a two or four seater plane, and flying around either sightseeing, or heading to my Grandparent’s cottage.  Great memories and such fun times 🙂

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During my transfer from Nairobi to the Selenkay Conservancy adjacent to Amboseli, I was lucky enough to be the only passenger on the caravan plane, and the pilot was nice enough to invite me to sit up front with him. As you can see, there is a reason that bush pilots buzz the runway nice and low before banking and coming back around the land. Hitting a zebra would not be good!

 

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The camera was level, honest!  Taken during a steep bank after buzzing the runway at Selenkay Conservancy.
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Air transfer between Nairobi and the Masai Mara.  I wasn’t lucky enough to get a seat up front on this one, but the views were still awesome.

WPC: Nostalgia

WPC: Edge

2016-10-09: Holiday Photos

Every month the photo club I belong to has a photo topic of the month, as well as being able to submit a further 5 photos for review and discussion.  Since all I have captured since I returned home are a few grainy images of one of the local deer (and lots of my dog) I thought I would share them here as well.  I am hoping to get back into the swing of things with my “What I’ve seen this week” Sunday post very soon.

Until then, I hope you enjoy some images of Uganda and Kenya.

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This image stirs up so much for me.  I can almost smell the fever trees and the acacia and the scent of the elephants, I can almost hear the rumbles, the crunch of branches and chewing of leaves, I can almost feel the warm of the sunlight.  Working on these images takes me right back and gives me a mini mental holiday 🙂
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Three young male lions had taken down a wildebeest in the night, and shortly before I shot this, all three were still picking away at the carcass.  There were a half dozen jackals hanging around, trying to figure out how to safely get close enough to grab a morsel or two.  This one only took another step before turning away.
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Witnessing a river crossing involves a lot of waiting, and then a lot of chaos in a short period of time.  I’m looking forward to sharing more about this experience!
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Just like human babies, the mountain gorilla infants that I saw were incredibly curious, and explored their world by touching everything.
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A lappet faced vulture lays claim to a wildebeest carcass that looks to be little more than some fur and bones.
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The repeating lines of tea fields near the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest in Uganda.

2016-09-19: Monochrome Monday

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The skies of the Okavango Delta amazed me every moment I was there.  I can’t wait to return!  This view was during an afternoon game drive from Sanctuary Baines Camp, April, 2015.  1/500sec, f10, ISO 2500

Please note, I’m away for several weeks, so I have scheduled my regular Monday, Wednesday and Friday posts in advance. I will moderate and respond to any comments just as soon as I am able.

I am hoping to be taking loads of photos, so if you would like to follow along, please feel free to give my page a like on Facebook @jennifersawickyphotography and a follow over on Instagram at jensawicky.

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