The safari experience I had in Africa will definitely stay with me for a long time.  It’s hard to believe that it was already a year ago and it’s equally hard to believe that we didn’t go back this year.  OK – perhaps it’s not that hard to believe – I wish we had the ability to go again – but the money and timing aren’t there this year.

So much of that trip was so memorable, and of course top among them are the many safari game drives that we went on.  Early morning or late evening drives around the plains searching out different animals of all kinds became daily routines that we quickly adopted.

One of the aspects that our guides tried to convey was the hunt for the animals – it wasn’t all about just pulling up and seeing them – afterall, you can get that in a zoo.  This was much more about keeping your eyes open and searching the landscape for any signs of the animals around you.

This was not always easy and the guides easily put us to shame.  They are so in tune with their surroundings they can just as easily identify animals by their sounds or their tracks as they can by their sights (sometimes silhouetted in the far distance).

I wanted to capture some of what that was like in this image: the idea that this massively deadly animal was only feet away from us and easily missed was not short of hair raising.  We would watch animals like this leopard and then when he sat low in the tall grass we would lose him immediately – right before our eyes.  Turn your head and your chances of rediscovering his sitting spot was close to impossible.

For this shot I wanted especially to capture the leopard’s eyes staring back.  There’s something just so direct about it – he’s there, in the grass, in control and he’s got his eyes on you.  Ultimately I think the photo is pretty successful – it would be nice to have more of the eyes exposed but at the same time, the whole point is to have the leopard partially obscured by the grass, so overall I was pretty happy.

After South Africa, our next destination in Southern Africa was Namibia – a parched country on the Western coast of Africa.  We had an amazing time in Namibia and I would unhesitatingly return in a heartbeat.  We found the people to be friendly and the country easy to travel in but the reason we traveled there was because of the desert.

The desert in Namibia is a sight to be seen and the apex of that experience is the Sossusvlei pan in the Namib-Naukluft National Park.  Here the Orange dunes lurch out from the desert floor.

We arrived before sunrise – as the general custom is to enter the park and watch the sun rise above the dunes.  We raced through the park as the sun came up over the horizon stopping along the way to photograph the scenery.  Some of the dunes attract hikers looking to summit just as the sun comes over the surrounding dunes and mountains.

This photograph captures one of those climbers on his way up (a little late for the rising sun).

Even within a short time of entering the park, I was taken with the scale of the surrounds.  I wanted to capture the diminutive size of the person compared to the scenery.  There are a few aspects of this photo that I think help capture that feeling.  First, I wanted the tree to draw in the eye as the immediate subject.  This immediately puts the figure as a lesser character.  Second, framing the image with the dune taking up the majority of photo and the person squeezed into the top of the frame helps convey the overwhelming feeling of the space.  Finally, the lighting, with the distant dunes (just visible behind the person) a darker shade helps establish depth, and the sense that the dune being climbed is not among the larger dunes in the park.

Overall, I was pretty happy with the photos I took in Sossusvlei even though I wasn’t thrilled with the overcast lighting that day.

After our desert adventure, our next African stop was Victoria Falls and it couldn’t have been more of a contrast.  We were there during the height of the Zambezi river flow and after spending more than a week in the desert it was quite a thing to see so much water.

This photograph was taken as the sun was lowering in the sky (in fact, we were among the last visitors to the falls that evening exiting just after the sun dipped below the horizon).  I like the way the light – though not obviously coming from the side at first, highlights the water to give it a sense of depth.  The mist from the falls was quite amazing as evidinced in other photos from that day but in this image, it didn’t effect the contrast too much.

I took several photos, but I liked the closeups the most, even though they might not convey the full breadth of the falls.  These closeups are not as successful as others I’ve taken at Yoesmite, but that’s a post for another day.

Last year this time, Meghan and I were down in South Africa exploring the countryside.  We had already been in Africa for about a week, and on this day we were driving ourselves from down South around Agulhas to the wine country just outside of Capetown.

I’m a big fan of straying from the beaten path, so on this part of the trip we were wandering around some dirt roads through the farmlands.  Along the road we saw different animals – especially birds, as well as spectacular scenery.

This image I like because of the way the different patterns emerge.  I love how the clouds in the sky mimic the plow rows on the field and how the horizon line of the hill cuts a wave through the scene.  The dual track road splits across at an odd path heading up and over the hill.

Of course there’s nothing about this photo that screams “Africa.”  It could have been taken anywhere.  But much to our surprise, a lot of the African outback had that feel.  Once we got out of the cities, the countryside could have been European or Asian (or I’m sure South America, though I can’t say from experience).  To some extent, that never ceases to amaze me as I travel around – so much of the countryside the world over is so similar.

I look forward to getting back to Africa – and (at least for now) I plan on more random exploring through the countryside when I return.