The Hundred Acre Wood and The Search for Heffalumps and Woozles

[Morkel Erasmus]

@@twaffle 'twas tremendous to tread through this trip tale, tally-ho! (see the alliteration there?)

glad you enjoyed Mana, it's special every time and lures you back for more

 

some great images here - I've found often that the place actually produces a lot of moments that begs for cameras to be dropped from the eyes and the senses to start capturing the memories.

[twaffle]

@@Soukous. Thanks again.

 

@@Morkel Erasmus. Very clever. . Yes, often the camera fell silent.

[michael-ibk]

Thank you, Twaffle, I really loved this report, a joy to read after what, almost two unbearable Twaffle-Trip Report-less years?

 

Your pictures always have that certain something, that something which makes the difference between a person who takes photos on safari and a photographer. Just beautiful!

 

Especially liked the Civet in that gorgeous light, the Impalas so perfectly framed by the trees, and the Eles trunk embrace - and pretty much all Ele pictures!

 

Crawling up to the Hyenas must have been very exciting! Sorry to hear about your bad knee.

 

Doug "pithed"? That´s not allowed, he has not written 2000 posts!

[pomkiwi]

@@twaffle Lovely report - thank you. I particularly liked the pictures of the Long Pool (#43), especially the elephant in the shallows.

Edited August 17, 2016 by pomkiwi

[twaffle]

Thank you, Twaffle, I really loved this report, a joy to read after what, almost two unbearable Twaffle-Trip Report-less years?

 

Your pictures always have that certain something, that something which makes the difference between a person who takes photos on safari and a photographer. Just beautiful!

 

Especially liked the Civet in that gorgeous light, the Impalas so perfectly framed by the trees, and the Eles trunk embrace - and pretty much all Ele pictures!

 

Crawling up to the Hyenas must have been very exciting! Sorry to hear about your bad knee.

 

Doug "pithed"? That´s not allowed, he has not written 2000 posts!

 

Thanks Michael, yes it has been a long wait for me and I was very grateful to be back in the bush. Thanks for the photo compliments, Doug worked me hard, especially not letting any impala opportunities go unrecorded!! No rest for the wicked, I think one could say. The civet was the find of the trip for me, such handsome beasties.

 

Doug carried the pith with distinction, I hope he wears it on your next trip.

 

@@twaffle Lovely report - thank you. I particularly liked the pictures of the Long Pool (#43), especially the elephant in the shallows.

 

 

Thanks Pomkiwi, I'm so glad that you liked that Long Pool photo, it was one of my favourites.

[marirangwe]

Have to add my thanks and appreciation for your report. Your photographic work stands out superbly. I like the frame filled with elephant and pad very much! ( posted with photos at the beginning of your report) Thoroughly enjoyable images and read.

 

[twaffle]

@@marirangwe. Thank you very much.

[Game Warden]

'Tis a rare sight to see a pith helmet atop a guide's head nowadays: perhaps this is the start of new headwear beginnings? Give it a soak in the Zambezi, and have a cool pate throughout the day.

 

Wonderful images and narrative @@twaffle, they brought back some great Mana Pools memories for me, thank you.

 

Matt

[twaffle]

@@Game Warden thanks for popping by. The pith was a great hit with all who saw it in Mana and we should start having them made with Safaritalk.net written all over them. Not sure how it would work, but I can see them in all the safari gift shops!!!

[ZaminOz]

WOW @@twaffle ... what superb photos!

[twaffle]

WOW @@twaffle ... what superb photos!

Thanks mate.

[Alexander33]

@@twaffle

 

I'm late to the game (that seems to be happening more and more frequently these days), but a note of thanks for a lovely report. I've yet to make it to Zimbabwe, so for the time being I shall live vicariously through the trip reports of others. There can never be too many. Thank you again for sharing your thoughts and impressions.

[panamaleo]

Wow! What a fabulous trip report, Twaffle! Your photos are stunning, and catch the beautiful light of Mana Pools, the Falls and Lake Kariba. You are a keen, patient observer, and a fine writer.

 

Guess I was extremely lucky to have had such varied and extensive dog experiences at Mana Pools. There were 2 packs; the one near the main road (around Mucheni and not far from Zambezi Expedition's mobile site) was 23 in number; 13 adults and 10 pups. We did not see the other pack near Kanga Camp during daylight (and the den is being monitored by Dr. R (spelling?), so did not go near, as the pups are quite young. But the dogs were almost under our feet during that amazing dinner my first night at Kanga. I recall Guide Bono (who was hosting dinner that night) say, "We'll they're eating; we might as well too!" Everyone (just myself and a newly-arrived American family of 4) was so stunned by the action, dinner went cold and largely uneaten that night.

 

What dates were you in Zim? I feel as though we might have almost met.

 

Lovely trip report; thank you.

[twaffle]

Thanks @@panamaleo. I read your Zim report with much interest and was glad that you had such great dog sightings. We were just unlucky this time but only as far as dogs go so no complaints at all. It's funny but I had discounted Kanga Pan as I thought we would be too early in the season to make it worth visiting but the drought and differing seasonal conditions this year made it a much better destination in July than expected.

 

We were in Mana for 9 nights up to August 2nd so perhaps we saw each other. We did pass Stretch a number of times as he took guests around and stopped a couple of times for 'guide' chat.

[SafariChick]

@@twaffle Loved the whole report, thanks so much. Of course stunning photos and the text complimented them perfectly.

 

@@panamaleo you mentioned the pack around the main camp had 10 pups and then the other pack near Kanga had very young pups. Sounds like they denned at different times, then - I assume the pack around main camp's pups were older? About how old were they, do you know? And when the Kanga pack was at your feet, I assume that was without the pups who probably were not venturing out of the den yet?

[twaffle]

Thanks @@SafariChick

[Big Andy]

Thanks @@twaffle for a great report, short on words maybe but with fantastic photo's that speak for themselves who cares. It was great to see images of places I recognised even the spot we saw Sapi take down the kudu on the corner at Chitake. To many to comment on each image but the hyena v the vulture early in the report looks primeval and make the hair crawl on the back of my neck. We didn't get a good view of the dogs either but like you it's not a make or break for the trip, and there is always next time as you say, in my case six weeks away.

[twaffle]

Thanks @@Big Andy, 6 weeks, lucky you.

[Peter Connan]

Wow @@twaffle!

 

I have been pre-occupied for the last couple of months and not getting around to reading trip reports. This has obviously been a grave mistake!

 

Your photography is, as always, absolutely stunning, and I have to agree with @@michael-ibk 's statement about the difference between photographers and those of us who take photos.

 

It would be very difficult to mention the truly stunning photos, some that come to mind quickly are the lone heffelump in the narrow, steep-walled section of riverbed, the heffelump reaching up against the sunset, the oft-mentioned heffelump drinking and foot photos, the backlit eyelashes, the woozle profile, at least two magnificent crock photos (the splash and the one walking toward you, the black-and-white snapping hyena, the hanging baboon youngster and several of the dwarf mongoose (truly one of my favourite creatures), two amazing squirels (the one on the side of the tree trunk and the one with the grass seed), several well-caught jumping Impala, the buffalo and oxpeckers, several great shots taken at the falls, that stunning Eland bull, ... (this is strarting to sound very much like a list of all the photos in the report), but there really are a few that stand out for me. There are several magnificent shots of golden sunlight reflections on water which really strike me.

 

But the star of the show for me is a photo that nobody else has even mentioned, and I truly wish I could have seen the making of it.

The one I am referring to is the motion-blurred shot of the lake with the hills in the background. The introduction of the absolutely flat, straight horizontal line across the photo is a magnificent demonstration of your genius. I could stare at that photo for hours!

 

Putting it all into Pooh perspective is similarly genial.

 

Thank you very much for keeping me entertained for virtually a whole sunday. I can only think of one better way to spend it, and that would be to spend it at any one of these magnificent destinations you visited.

Edited September 4, 2016 by Peter Connan

[twaffle]

Thanks so much @@Peter Connan I can't remember such a comprehensive review of my work nor such a lovely one. I feel very moved that it connected to you so much.

 

The image you like so much is a blur I took on Lake Kariba. They are quite simple to execute once you get the feel for it although I was pleased that I managed to get it so level from the moving boat. Luck played a part. I just play around with the shutter speed and do a sweep across the scene. Experiment with speed of movement and ss, I hover around 1/15 of a second but you will need to drop your ISO as well. Have a play.

 

I've just started playing around with some of the images in post so will put some up here when I get a chance. These here are pretty much as I took them so I have a bit of fun stuff still to come.

[Peter Connan]

Thanks for that comprehensive advise @@twaffle, I certainly need to try this more frequently. My limited experimants with motion blur on an entire image have so far as a rule failed miserably.

 

I am really looking forward to see some more of your magnificent photos, this time coupled with your spectacular editing!

[hubertj]

Hello @@twaffle, it was a real pleasure to read your report and see your magnificent photos (definitely one of the best trip report photo sets I've seen on Safaritalk). At first I thought I will mention which of your photos I liked the most, but it would just be too many of them So, I just want to say that you have a great eye. These days it's so difficult to make a photo which is not a cliché, even if with skills and good gear. But you really have plenty of shots with fresh, personal approach, so different from the shots most of the people (including me) make. Thanks for sharing !

 

We were in Mana for 9 nights up to August 2nd so perhaps we saw each other. We did pass Stretch a number of times as he took guests around and stopped a couple of times for 'guide' chat.

 

I don't know about @@panamaleo, but we were at Mucheni #3 from 1st to 4th August. We may not see each other, but I remember the fire I saw at Mucheni #4 on our first night, so I'm assuming it was you and your last night at Mana. So, it seems that we were nighbours for a short while

[Big_Dog]

Another superb report, with plenty of superb photographs. The snapping, B&W hyaena is perhaps the winner for me, and they seemed to ruling Mana Pools with a devoured lion cubs and docked dog tails. I can't deny a slight smugness over hearing the oft scoffed at 'scavengers' seemingly having an hour of power.

As others have said, a daylight civet too - excellent sighting and capture!

[twaffle]

Thanks @@hubertj, it seems we were neighbours indeed. I hope you had a wonderful time and I look forward to hearing more about it.

 

Thanks @@Big_Dog, the hyenas were stars indeed.

[Caracal]

What a treat spending time reading this wonderful report @@twaffle.

 

Love your descriptive writing eg "Sandy river beds squirrel their way through the landscape......" which combines so well with your captivating photos.

 

Particularly taken with your following comment in #62

 

Dogs are tricky beasts and I knew that we would have trouble given our timing on this trip. To be fair to Doug, we didn't make them a priority because my experience has been that you can get so focussed on one species that you miss some other amazing experiences.

 

I fully agree with you and think it is valuable advice for first time safari goers and a good reminder for all.