The quest for the spotted ghost of the dark

[Peter Connan]

More stunning shots!

[The_Norwegian]

23 hours ago, Peter Connan said:

More stunning shots!

 

Thx a lot Peter! :-) 

[janzin]

Fantastic photos of the leopards and everything else as well! Love the hyena pups and the Wild Dogs! Looks like an amazing trip and makes me wonder why I've not gone back to Sabi Sands, as leopard is my favorite cat too

[amybatt]

Wow you did extremely well.  Excellent leopard photos and everything else too!  I’d be quite happy to come home with just one photo as good as any of your leopard photos.  I can see why you have them all on your walls now!

[Hads]

@The_Norwegian - your photography is amazing. What gear do you use if you don't mind me asking?

Edited March 3, 2019 by Hads

[The_Norwegian]

8 hours ago, Hads said:

@The_Norwegian - your photography is amang. What gear do you use if you don't mind me asking?

 

 

Thank you all for you kind words, I appreciate it very much :-D I am currently using a Nikon D500 and a D7200 camerahouses. Lenswise nothing over the top big and heavy, so I use a sigma 50-500os and i bought a tamron 70-210 f4 for this trip, a really really great lightweight and sharp lens that i highly recommend! 

[The_Norwegian]

Tiyani, the female leopard that was lounging on my deck the morning, with I sadly didn't get a picture of, I did however, get a picture of her the next day, not on my deck but.. Well, the next morning I skipped going to the lodge restaurant/dining area for morning coffee, and got up a little earlier than usual and made coffee in my room. I had a proper look out the windows to check that she wasn't out there, maybe out of sight in a corner. After making sure the deck was "safe", I went outside with my coffee and was enjoying the early morning view, some elephants drinking from the waterhole adjacent to the lodge, and a couple of bushbucks foraging on a tree just to the left of my deck, almost close enough that I could reach out and touch them. My eyes wandered a bit over the great view I had when all of sudden the bushbucks bellowed out their alarm calls like crazy. "Tiyani" I thought to myself, and scanned in between the trees and shrubs when suddenly her head popped up from the little ridge where these chalets are located. Eyecontact! I think my heart skipped a beat. There I was standing with my coffee, not more then 5 meters away from this totally amazing leopardess. She looked at me nonchalant , and my initial thought was to go inside, but I decided to just stand quiet and observe what her next move would be. She then came closer and walked under my deck alongside the wall of my chalet and turned the corner heading into camp, so I texted our guide to let him now that Tiyani was in camp. I grabbed my camera and went out the door, and already had she been observed by some of the others. She had went to lay down under the deck of the gym/conference-building just in the other side of my chalet, not seem to mind at all people walking on the boardwalk between the rooms and the main-building. With the help of a flashlight I managed to get a picture of her under the deck on the way to the morning game drive. Needless to say we didn't go search for this girl that morning :-D 

[The_Norwegian]

Here`s a little something about Tiyani for those of you interested, and perhaps why she seems very relaxed in camps :-) https://www.outdoorphoto.co.za/blog/the-most-relaxed-leopard-cub-in-the-sabi-sands/

[Hads]

Wow what a beautiful leopardess and wonderful experience seeing her close up.

 

Thanks for the camera equipment tips @The_Norwegian

[The_Norwegian]

15 hours ago, janzin said:

Fantastic photos of the leopards and everything else as well! Love the hyena pups and the Wild Dogs! Looks like an amazing trip and makes me wonder why I've not gone back to Sabi Sands, as leopard is my favorite cat too

 

 

Thanks a lot! :-) Well, I think you should go back ;-) I hear some people say that sabi isn't "wild" enough, not the real "Africa-feel", but I totally disagree after having been there. My Namibian guide even says that the animals tagged, because how else can they "show the big 5 in one day". 

[LarsS]

What an amazing photos, really superb! I'm always a bit jealous when I see photos of this high quality. I know I don't take the time to learn and understand how to do it, but still, it would be nice if I could.

 

Sabi is indeed a good place to search (?) for leopard. Your mission to see one turned out to be maybe your best leopard experience ever with one walking by so close.

 

Your other pics are amazing as well. I was in Sabi just a little time before you and was very happy with my visit to the hyena den as well. Could have spend their all day probably. Actually, I think this is the 2nd time we almost crossed each other, weren't you in Namibia around november 2016 as well?

 

Btw, recently on I believe Twitter I saw a picture of a leopard on someone's deck. Can't remember where I saw it, but it could be that it was the same leopard at the same lodge...

[The_Norwegian]

2 hours ago, LarsS said:

What an amazing photos, really superb! I'm always a bit jealous when I see photos of this high quality. I know I don't take the time to learn and understand how to do it, but still, it would be nice if I could.

 

Sabi is indeed a good place to search (?) for leopard. Your mission to see one turned out to be maybe your best leopard experience ever with one walking by so close.

 

Your other pics are amazing as well. I was in Sabi just a little time before you and was very happy with my visit to the hyena den as well. Could have spend their all day probably. Actually, I think this is the 2nd time we almost crossed each other, weren't you in Namibia around november 2016 as well?

 

Btw, recently on I believe Twitter I saw a picture of a leopard on someone's deck. Can't remember where I saw it, but it could be that it was the same leopard at the same lodge...

 

 

Thank you very much! :-) I'm not very advanced either, so my pictures are fully doable for pretty much everyone I would say :-) 

 

Now that you say it, I believe we almost crossed paths in Namibia, that's true! I think we were on pretty much the same "path" with a day difference or something? can't excactly remember now.

 

There is a video somewhere, I can't find it for the life of me, of someone filming Tiyani when they had her on their deck in the morning, in the next chalet to that I was staying in. If I find it, I`ll post it, they got a decent amount of time before she went on her way. 

[Ritsgaai]

3 hours ago, The_Norwegian said:

Here`s a little something about Tiyani for those of you interested, and perhaps why she seems very relaxed in camps :-) https://www.outdoorphoto.co.za/blog/the-most-relaxed-leopard-cub-in-the-sabi-sands/

Amazing report here and your personal encounter up close with her is very special.

[pault]

Those are some really good sightings and photos. The artificial lighting is very good in some of the shots (not a common comment but it is worth remarking on).

[The_Norwegian]

Here is a video I took of my quarters for the second half of the trip :-) This was their birthday-gift to me. I had payed single-supplement for the second half of the trip, this was a 2x4 days trip I was on. I didn't know single supplement meant a luxury-chalet ;-) Needless to say I was very happy and surprised when I was moved into this room! I`m sure there are even more luxurious rooms in Africa, but I felt like a king! The only drawback with such living quarters when on safari and in a social setting, you don't get to enjoy it enough. But I tried to spend some time there in between everything :-) 

[Alexander33]

It looks like Tusk Photo really helped deliver for you. The spotlit photos are great — it really helps to have someone who knows what they are doing in that situation. I also really like the high-key portrait profile of the wild dog. I haven’t tried that technique yet.  Sorry if I missed it before, but were you with a group or did you organize through Tusk privately?

[The_Norwegian]

43 minutes ago, Alexander33 said:

It looks like Tusk Photo really helped deliver for you. The spotlit photos are great — it really helps to have someone who knows what they are doing in that situation. I also really like the high-key portrait profile of the wild dog. I haven’t tried that technique yet.  Sorry if I missed it before, but were you with a group or did you organize through Tusk privately?

I was indeed with a group ? in fact two groups since i did two trips back to back. Will be doing the same this year. The tusk guys are amazing, the best company i have ever been on phototrip with, no doubt! Thank you for your kind words! ??

[chui71]

On 11/13/2018 at 9:05 AM, The_Norwegian said:

???? I don't know what you mean, teaser shots? ?? ?? Peter Connan, Dawie is hosting this tour, really awesome guy! 

Hi Norvegian. Dawie was my ranger when I visited EP 3 years ago. He was the Ranger who used to guide the Tusk photo Groups.  Now he works for them.  in 2016 he was working at EP since 6 years if I m correct. He knows the reserve very good and we had amazing sightings of leopards. He was also very nice to my daughter  (she was 4 at the time). Your pics are just great. My compliments. Dawie was your photographic tutor I suppose.  Can you remember who was your ranger?

Edited June 4, 2019 by chui71

[The_Norwegian]

On 6/1/2019 at 8:11 AM, chui71 said:

Hi Norvegian. Dawie was my ranger when I visited EP 3 years ago. He was the Ranger who used to guide the Tusk photo Groups.  Now he works for them.  in 2016 he was working at EP since 6 years if I m correct. He knows the reserve very good and we had amazing sightings of leopards. He was also very nice to my daughter  (she was 4 at the time). Your pics are just great. My compliments. Dawie was your photographic tutor I suppose.  Can you remember who was your ranger?

 Thank you very much. Dawie was indeed a guide/ranger at EP before he quit to start work with tusk. I think he was one step under head-ranger when he quit. Mornè was the ranger for us last year, as well as Gert for the last half of the trip when we was driving with two vehicles. 

[chui71]

I think Morne is one of the "oldest" ranger at EP. thank you for the kind answer. now Darryn took the place of Dawie. I experienced a really african tale with him when He was guiding at Nambiti. If you will be back at EP tell me and I will tell you so you can have something to laugh about 😀😀