Our Latest South Africa Photo Safari was Packed with Adventure and Fantastic Wildlife Photography

by Gregory Sweeney

As the heat of the South African summer began to amplify we concluded a wonderful custom group photo safari filled with great encounters and fun filled adventure. We had the privilege of hosting another group of Japanese guests; a mixed group of photographers and wildlife enthusiasts. In Kruger, our cards were filled while watching elephants frolic in the water holes and lion cubs on the Thornybush Reserve. I also brought back some great white and black rhino shots. For a break from photography we like to challenge our guests to try something new such as the canopy tour on a zipline. The views are breathtaking and so is the zip down the cable into the trees. It is always a hit. Our lodge, Bona Ntaba Tree House Lodge, has grown with the addition of a new tree house and an archery range for everyone to use during our afternoon siesta time. Though this was a first experience for many of the guests, our archery contest was very successful and heaps of fun. Even the zebras grazing nearby seemed to enjoy it.

Capturing the Moon and Stars

The night sky of South Africa is brilliant and free from light pollution. It is mesmerizing to see how many stars there are up there. I have always wanted to get an image of star trails above of my tree houses. This year I was going to do it.

I started by practicing at home: this helped me refine and fine tune the number and timing of exposures to get the type of trials in my vision.

In Africa, I waited for night with no moon then set up my tripod with my Canon 5D Mark II. It was still light out and I used this waning light to get several exposures of the tree house HDR style. Then I waited until it was fully dark.

From my experiments at home I had decided on the following settings:

Lens: Canon EF16-35mm F/2.8 zoomed in at 20mm	Lens Mode: preset the focus then switch to manual	Camera Mode: manual
Aperture:  f2.8	ISO: 160	Shutter speed: 30.0 sec

My TC-80N3  timer/remote control  was set to interval timer mode. Set for 1 minute 31 sec  for a total of 3 hours.

With digital cameras it is not possible to leave the shutter open for hours like in the old days. A long exposure on a digital camera will cause the  CMOS sensor will heat up. You must use the timer and an interval that gives you an acceptable spacing between exposures that will still look like a complete streak after you do the Photoshop work.

I was pretty nervous leaving my good camera out there alone so long.  What if a giraffe or zebra came blundering upon it – they would at best knock it over and at worse trample it.   It was getting very late and I was glad to pack up the camera and get some sleep.

To read how I processed and combined the photos in Photoshop, read the full article on my website HERE

Every visit to South Africa is different and gives me new topics and beautiful images. I look forward to sharing them with you after our next adventure or better yet, come with us and make memories of your own!

Our Next Safaris:

2012: May 9 -18 and Sept 26 - Oct 5

The Southern Ground Hornbill

The Southern Ground hornbill is a large bird weighing from 2.2kg – 6.2kg (4.8 to 13.6 lbs) with the male considerably larger than the female. Its feathers are black while its face and throat have exposed vivid red skin. The violet-blue skin on their throats distinguishes females. They walk continuously in groups of 3 to 10 foraging for reptiles, insects, and small mammals. They will feed on carrion when it is available and will cooperate amongst several individuals to take down a larger poisonous snake or other large prey.

Ground hornbills nest in hollow trees laying 2 eggs but only raising 1 chick. Unlike other species of hornbills, they do not seal the female into the nest while incubating. The ground hornbills in Kruger loose nesting trees to the destructive behavior of the large population of elephants in the park. Ground Hornbills have the unusual habit of lining up multiple prey items in their beak before tossing them back and swallowing.

We often spot ground hornbills in Kruger around midday where their dark color is easily spotted in the grassy open areas. They march their way across the road in front of us never taking notice of us. The challenge is to catch them when they lift their head and to shot them in motion since they rarely will be still.

I find out the truth with the TruthCam 60

Our property around the lodge and tree houses is a favorite spot for the herd of giraffe and the zebra. I also love to check the dirt roads and around the buildings for tracks to see what has passed by in the night. To add to the fun of discovering who are my animal visitors, I bought a Truthcam 60. This is a camera placed in the woods by hunters that will take photos or videos in the night or daytime. I placed it on different trees each day and night all around the property to see what is going on. I captured night foraging bushbucks, a giraffe grazing the tree in which the camera was placed, , and a family of warthogs. I am still trying for the transient leopard. This will be lots of fun on future visits.