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Niyam's African Adventure (August 2013)


africapurohit

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that golden light was special. I've made an edit to the post and added a note at the end regarding the concert during the night. In one word - spectacular! What were your experiences of the sounds during a Katavi night?

 

@@Game Warden - all yours :)

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Did you record those ambient sounds? I'd love to record a night's safari sounds and play them at the HQ with a glass of wine as I wind down. Thanks, keep an eye out :)

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There was nothing ambient about the sounds during the night in Katavi. It was like a full-scale war going on! We even had animals running past the bandas at speed, crashing into things - not for the faint hearted! At night, Katavi Wildlife Camp became the animals' playground - in the mornings you weren't allow to leave your banda until Nick knocked on the canvas to give you the all-clear. Sometimes the animals extended playtime into the morning!

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It would be amazing if a film crew had permission to do a night-time documentary in Katavi!

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That would be great, although when we were there the sounds regularly began from 8pm onwards.

 

@@Game Warden you'll have to make a call to your contacts in TANAPA :D. I volunteer to do the teas and coffees for the film crew :)

Edited by wilddog
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You Italians know nothing about coffee. It has to be a Portuguese bica or nothing ;)

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@@africapurohit

Great to see the report continuing. Lovely light in those photos - and the long grass does make for interesting lion photos.

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africapurohit

@@TonyQ it was a very warm and unique light in Katisunga - no trees, escarpments or mountains to obscure it and reflecting off the yellow grass.

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africapurohit

Following a 6am wake-up call by lions, a crisis unfolded during our first breakfast at Katavi Wildlife Camp - they had no cereal :o and Niyam was distraught! Because the camp doesn't use fresh milk (they use powdered milk instead), they don't keep breakfast cereals. Thankfully, I had brought a couple of boxes of cereal bars with us, so a full scale crisis was avoided. The look on Niyam's face must have affected Nick because he arranged to have corn flakes and UHT milk delivered on the next flight in :D. But with flights scheduled for twice a week, Niyam had to make do with cereal bars for his first three breakfasts in Katavi. On our way out of the camp, we stopped to view one of the resident African Fish Eagles perched on the top of a tree. I had my camera focussed on the bird, hoping to capture a "take-off" shot, but captured something unexpected first before it decided to take off.......

 

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On leaving the private track from the camp, we found the Katuma Pride where we had left them the evening before but they had been joined by the pride's dominant male. There were now seven lions and it looked as though they had an unsuccessful night of hunting. So we stayed with them to see if they might try to find a solution to their hunger.

 

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After about 15 minutes the dominant male got up and one of females repositioned herself to reveal three hidden small cubs (2 months old). Seven had become ten.

 

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More cub photos next......

Edited by africapurohit
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There have been some interesting Fish Eagle sequences recently posted to Safaritalk, this on is something different :) Lightening the load for take off?

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africapurohit

After some initial apprehension the cubs soon relaxed and were quite playful before settling down for a drink. Originally, there were four cubs but one was killed by hyenas only a few days previously.

 

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Wonderful sighting and photo series. Warm colours. Am really drawn into the cub's eyes in photo # 6.

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africapurohit

Wonderful sighting and photo series. Warm colours. Am really drawn into the cubs eyes in photo # 6.

Thanks @@Game Warden - in that shot I focussed on the mother's serious stare. Also, one of the other cubs (hidden) has its tail on the mother's back.

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What lovely cub photos, very appealing.

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Also had to look really hard for the 3 lionesses on the tree. Finally deciphered them, ha!

 

Enjoying it all so very much, AP. We also met the Katuma pride in 2008 (at least I think it was 2008!) - nice to see that the pride still exists. Don't recall any such night symphonies, though.

 

Niyam is an extraordinary child (touch wood!).

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Katavi looks wonderful in August. Grass is pretty long, but such an attractive colour - lion colour almost.

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Brilliant series of photos of the cubs - great to see the interaction

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africapurohit

Thank you all :). All of those lion photos were taken around 8:30am, but we still had a very warm light. This was partly due to the later sunrise and the cloudless clear skies in Katavi. In terms of warm lighting in the mornings and evenings, Mkomazi, Tarangire and Serengeti were no competition for Katavi. You could have a lie-in or a leisurely breakfast and still enjoy the light for photography :D.

 

@@Sangeeta what time of year did you travel?

 

@@TonyQ the Katavi lions were very relaxed around vehicles, even approaching within a metre or two of the vehicles and were regularly right next to the tracks - I found that surprising but it provided good photographic opportunities.

 

@@pault yes it was very beautiful in August 2013 but this was mainly due to the abundant rainfall this year. The grass on the Katavi plains was attractive during our time there. Visitors in 2012 would have had a different experience, as that was a dry year. Nick explained that the conditions we experienced in mid-August 2013 were what 2012 visitors experienced at the beginning of July; a 6-week difference. But 2012 visitors would have experienced more wildlife traffic heading towards the Katuma River.

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i only have one word for the photos of the lioness and cubs - awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww. my favourite one is the cub hiding behind mum, with half its head - and its tail - peeking out.

 

and love the earthy tone of the photos.

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africapurohit

The cubs settling down for their feed, was our cue to move on and head towards the Ikuu hippo pool and follow the Katuma River. Within a kilometre of where we left the lions, we came across a small group of male buffalos. Katavi is very famous for its large herds of buffalos but all guides in Katavi were told to be on high alert and take extreme caution when approaching small groups of males positioned close to the tracks - and Whiteman followed the rules! The reason was a recent upsurge in aggression towards vehicles. The most notable incident involved a male buffalo charging a TANAPA vehicle at full speed. The vehicle sustained significant damage but the aggression demonstrated was so great that the buffalo broke its neck on impact and died instantly - I still struggle to comprehend the amount of force required to instantly break a cape buffalo's neck! These boys were not pleased to see us.....

 

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We soon moved on and headed towards the river. Here are some of the highlights of the remainder of the morning, before we headed back to camp for lunch.......

 

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Speckled Pigeon

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Impala ram in the Katisunga plains

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At the river a large herd of impala were spooked by the movement of a crocodile on the bank, causing them to flee before regrouping a safe distance away from the water

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Hadada Ibis

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Immature Yellow-billed Stork

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One of Katavi's giants at four metres plus

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It was delightful watching this young mother with this very young calf and their interaction with the rest of the breeding herd. It was almost as though this tuskless mother had a constant smile on her face.

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"Toothbrush flower"

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A good sign that the desperate times for hippos were still some way off

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Bohor Reedbucks

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African Fish Eagle viewing was amazing along the banks of the river

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Leeds isn't far from Liverpool and I have Sturridge in my fantasy team.... Just saying.

 

Still a great TR!

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Love Love the ellie and child....well, all the others as well...

 

GREAT TR .. Niyam will have to make a book for
"show and tell"!

 

How many 5 year olds get this incredible experience, You are a fantastic dad!

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