I love being outside in the early morning, and watching the sky progress through a multitude of colours as the sun climbs higher and higher. Waking up for early morning game drives while on safari is never a chore for me since I naturally love the time of day. Here are a few images from various early morning drives on my last trip.
A lioness passes close by our vehicle with the sun rising behind her. Moremi Game Reserve, Botswana. April, 2024.A pair of zebra in the shadows. Timbavati Private Game Reserve, South Africa. April, 2024.A group of giraffes grazing while the clouds are lit up in cotton candy colours. Timbavati Private Game Reserve, South Africa. April, 2024.A prime of lions sprawled out surrounding the road as the sun comes up. There were eight individuals in the shot, but more in the group. They were amazing to spend time with as they were all very frisky in the cool morning. Savute Game Reserve, Botswana. April, 2024.A pair of young giraffes following not too far behind an adult. Moremi Game Reserve, April, 2024.An impala showing off its agility in the early morning. There were several racing around and displaying their fitness. Makadikadi Pans National Park, Botswana. April, 2024.
Watching a sunrise with giraffes is never a bad way to start a day. I’ve shared some images from this sighting before, but it was so beautiful, another one won’t hurt.
Timbavati Private Game Reserve, South Africa. April, 2024.
After a few dreary and grey days, I was in the mood for colour again, and these giraffes images certainly fit the bill. The shape of the giraffe is so easily recognizable that they are a great subject for a silhouetted shot, if you are fortunate enough to be at the right place at the right time, with both subject matter and weather cooperating.
Our progress along this road was halted for a giraffe crossing. I think we had 3 or 4 individuals that crossed, just as it got light enough to take some photos. Klaserie Sands Private Game Reserve, South Africa. April, 2024.
A pair of giraffes in the last moments of light after sunset. A beautiful full moon was rising in the opposite direction. Savute, Botswana. April, 2024.A lone giraffe and the rising sun. Our guide spotted this giraffe at a distance and positioned the vehicle perfectly to watch the sunrise. Timbavati Private Game Reserve, South Africa. April, 2024.
You never know what you might cross paths with when out on a safari game drive. Between the guides, trackers and all the guests, there are eyes scanning in every possible direction, off into the far distance. But sometimes, the wildlife makes it easy by hanging out on the road or crossing right in front of the vehicle, making them very easy to spot and view.
All of these images are animals spotted on the roadways; these are the types of traffic jams that I never mind being a part of.
A leopard tortoise crossing a road through Moremi Game Reserve in Botswana. We came across the tortoise when it was already most of the way across the track, or we would have been stopped for quite some time, as there wasn’t a great option to go around it. Botswana, April 2024.A pair of hyena taking a fork in the road straight towards us. Timbavati Private Game Reserve, South Africa. April, 2024.An African hoopoe searching for breakfast along the roadside. Savute Game Reserve, Botswana. April, 2024.This young zebra was napping on the road until we drove up, disturbing its rest. Savute Game Reserve, Botswana. April, 2024.A roadblock I will never be unhappy about! A wild dog pausing in the middle of the road. Timbavati Private Game Reserve, South Africa. April, 2024.Both zebra and giraffe putting a pause on our early morning game drive. Klaserie Sands Private Game Reserve, South Africa. April, 2024.The soft sands of the roads through Chobe National Park are very helpful for seeing tracks. Even more helpful is coming across the animal leaving the tracks. Here we have a male lion crossing the road, following a female that had crossed moments before (her set of tracks are between the male lion and our vehicle). Our amazing guide Miss B was always in the right place at exactly the right time. Chobe National Park, Botswana. April, 2024.
I read the weekly newsletter of a photographer that I follow this morning, and one of the topics mentioned was about being overwhelmed with the process of editing photos. One of the comments he made really has me thinking, and may change the way I approach my catalogue in the future. The author mentioned that he doesn’t bother with a rating system anymore; it’s either yes or no. Do I want to work with the image, share it, etc, or not. Having only just finished my 2-star rating pass of my image catalogue from my trip, and finding it on the one hand enjoyable viewing images and reliving some of the moments, but on the other, incredibly time consuming, employing a new strategy might be necessary.
I’m hesitant because I worry I’ll miss something if I am ruthlessly flagging things yes or no. But flagging an image doesn’t mean I can’t look through them again later and see if my feelings have changed or not. It’s not like anything is getting deleted (well, except all the accidental shutter clicks of my pant leg, there’s no need for those).
In the spirit of looking for images I absolutely wanted to work with and share, here are a few giraffe images from my past trip. The instantly recognizable shape of the giraffe lends itself beautifully to a silhouette, and how nice of all these animals for cooperating.
Giraffes at sundown. Savute Game Reserve, Botswana. April, 2024.
A giraffe at sunrise. Timbavati Game Reserve, South Africa. April, 2024
Moving the vehicle allowed us to capture some of the friends of the lone giraffe above. Timbavati Game Reserve, South Africa. April, 2024
When you are on safari and see lots of antelope, giraffe, zebra and the like, many guides will say it’s been a good day for general game. I enjoy all the wonderful animals on safari, so decided to use that as a selection process for a few photos to share today.
A waterbuck and her calf, seen in the Timbavati, South Africa. April, 2024.A group of zebra, part of a much larger herd, enjoying a drink in Savute, Botswana. April, 2024.We came across this waterbuck at the perfect time for a nice reflection shot of him having a drink. Timbavati, South Africa. April, 2024.A very watchful kudu at sunset. Timbavati, South Africa. April, 2024.Giraffes at sunrise. Timbavati, South Africa. April, 2024.
The weekend got away from me, so just a quick few photos in the hopes that it helps me keep with the habit of completing a weekly post.
I selected some giraffe images to share today. They are such an interesting combination of goofy and elegant, and are usually quite chilled out when spotted on safari which allows for lots of photo opportunities.
The lack of hair tufts on the ossicones indicates a male giraffe. They lose the hair tufts as they spar with other males in the traditional necking competitions. The image above provides good contrast, and is either a female, or a young male that has not yet started necking.These two were part of a much large mixed group of giraffe and zebra spotted at the side of the road while on game drive in Madikwe, South Africa.
I had planned to edit a few images today, but then the day got away from me. This seems to be a familiar occurrence lately, and I am going to need to do a bit better in planning my time to work on photos.
This image caught my eye out of the grouping that I had flagged to work on. These young giraffes were necking in the warm glow of the early morning sun.
A pair of young giraffes necking, Madikwe, South Africa. November 2022.
As noted yesterday, my computer is dismantled for the time being while I work through some office reconfigurations, so today I’m sharing a few images that I have shared before. It’s just what caught my eye when looking through my media library, rather than a specific theme.