Big Birthday at Namiri (cheetah) Plains; Friends, fun, photography, laughs and giggles, toasts and celebrations - A truly memorable safari that was nothing but epic !!!!

[madaboutcheetah]

Classic Namiri Plains .....

 

Soit Le Motonyi (Bird Rock) 

[madaboutcheetah]

The magic of gol once again .......  This Super Mum put on a spectacle for us!!  We left when a couple of cars from Naabi gate side came to the sighting on what we think was a transfer from Ngorongoro to Seronera ...... Oh well.

[madaboutcheetah]

On a wet morning with rain in the air, we were fortunate to witness a lioness and her sub adult take down a full grown warthog.  I only have video of the takedown and kill (I will have to figure out how to post here...... Probably need to load it to Youtube or something I assume?) anyways, If you so wish to see it now - It's on my Instagram for now.  

 

That Piercing Eye!! 

[Athene]

@madaboutcheetah beautiful pictures, all of them!

[wilddog]

The eyes have it. And yes I use YouTube to upload and post video

[madaboutcheetah]

Thanks a lot @Atheneand @wilddog

 

Next few images ........

 

Bat Eared Fox always nice !!

Edited June 3, 2023 by madaboutcheetah

[TonyQ]

Great photos, beautiful lions and of course Cheetah.

I really like the Bat-eared fox.

Happy Birthday!

[madaboutcheetah]

Thanks a lot @TonyQ

 

 

the editing is going to stall for a couple of weeks again as I’m away for work. Will get back to the report mid June …. To be continued …. 

[Atravelynn]

EVERYthing, including the Bat-eared fox!

[madaboutcheetah]

Thanks a lot @Atravelynn

 

Back to the editing as promised ..........  

[MishMash]

We are visiting Namiri in May! What lens and gear do you shoot with? I'm particularly interested in what focal length is most valuable. Thanks! Your photos are amazing!

[madaboutcheetah]

@MishMash- Most of these photos were with a 400mm f 2.8 ....... You will need a good wide angle lens also for namiri.   I take a 70-200 mm .......... Thank You

[AKR1]

Hari’s prime tele lens is a monster at over 10 lbs but as his pictures show primes, especially ultra- fast ones like his,  are almost always better than zooms. That said I typically carry three zoom lenses on safari. One with a max of 400mm ( 100-400), a 70-200 and a 24-105 ( Canon). This covers almost  all the bases and all three together weigh about the same as a 400mm 2.8. 

[madaboutcheetah]

Next set .......

 

Pleased with the Rosy Throated Long Claw .....

Daytime Serval always welcome .....

 

We followed this mum and two cubs who ran right into a wildebeest herd and whacked a calf in the middle of the pandemonium (alas, no pictures of the take down) ...... 

[madaboutcheetah]

The Secretary bird series deserves its own post .........  

 

I'm still getting the hang of mirrorless - but, it's really easy to track birds in flight ..........  However, tracking cheetah in the grass not as easy.  I also notice that some species are easier to track because of less confusion to the camera's AI eye tracking feature.  Lions are easy, Cheetah are hard.  Etc etc., Zebra extremely hard to track.

[Kitsafari]

brilliant photos as always Hari. love that shot of the two male  lions cheek to cheek on the kopje. 

 

[madaboutcheetah]

Thanks @Kitsafari

 

Tommies don't get a lot of attention ..... However, these battling males got our attention!!! 

 

Another young cheetah trying to figure his way around .... 

 

[madaboutcheetah]

For the second straight year ..... TINY cheetah cubs!!! 

[madaboutcheetah]

 A few more random shots ..... 

[madaboutcheetah]

Lions of the Serengeti ..... 

 

While we saw Plenty of Lion ...... We passed on many sightings daily (sleeping lions are a bore) 

 

The final few images here are the big Gol Kopjes Males before they got up the rocks (which has been already posted) 

 

[madaboutcheetah]

Next bunch ....... 

Giraffe silhouette 

 

And a Mum with a sub adult.

Edited June 23, 2023 by madaboutcheetah

[madaboutcheetah]

Not sure what happened - but, these were meant to have been in the above segment.

 

Anyway, here goes ....

First two images continued from above.

 

Back to the cheetah den for the last 3.

[Kitsafari]

Adorable kittens!

[Atravelynn]

I hope those little baby cheetahs are now big cubs.

[AKR1]

Cheetah babies, male lion portraits, giraffe silhouettes, all excellent. NP delivered for you in spades!