Category Archives: Landscape

WARREN, CONNECTICUT – We spent the long weekend in Connecticut catching up on our various neglects resulting from the Africa trip, and in my case reconnecting with the soft, warm light and deciduous hardwood landscape of the rural Northeast. There was a autumnal nip in the air and the early evening light foreshadows fall.

Warren Connecticut sunset

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – More infrared, from the IBM building across 57th Street.

57th Street

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – On my way to some meetings I stopped at one of my favorite spots in New York, Lever House, which has a varying selection of provocative art. Lever House had a new installation of the work of Mike Bidlo, a conceptual artist who “appropriates” the work of other artists, in this case Andy Warhol’s 1984 work “Brillo Boxes”. Bidlo calls this work “Not Warhol”.

What follows is not a photograph. It’s a piece of conceptual art that I’m calling “Neither Bidlo Nor Warhol”.

Neither Bidlow Nor Warhol

HEATHROW AIRPORT, UK – We left Sunday night for the trip home, via London – over 20 hours including a three hour layover at Heathrow. This was one of those days where even taking one photograph was a burden. The insides of aircraft don’t have that much to say to me, and the world in general seems colorless after East Africa. I take a few listless shots at Heathrow. We are indeed out of Africa.

Out of Africa

NAIROBI, KENYA – Here we are – out last day in Kenya. We went on a “food safari” in local markets with Hubert des Marais (an American from the Carolinas), a prominent chef who has become Fairmont’s executive chef in Kenya (or maybe East Africa). Our first stop was a large covered farmers’ market where local residents bring vegetables grown on plots in Nairobi.

Food Market

Cell phones are the primary means of communications; many residents lack electric power so business that offer the charge cell phones, like this one in the market, are common.

A cell phone charging service in the market

There’s a food court in the food market where it possible to buy lunch. The word “hotel” on the sign means “restaurant” in this context.

The largest foreign food influence is Indian. The Indians were brought in by the English to build the railroad from Mombasa to Lake Victoria. Indians also came to the region as traders, merchants and professionals. Here we see an Indian pastry shop.

An indian pastry shop

This is a former aircraft hanger, from the era when the airstrip was in the middle of Nairobi, converted to a mall for small merchants.

Shops

Hubert des Marais at lunch at Chowpaty, a terrific Indian dive. In terms of Indian regional cuisines, what we appeared to see was everything pretty much mixed together.

Hubert des Marais

Finally before packing for our flight back to New York we managed a few hours in the Nairobi National Museum. It focuses on primarily on natural history, ethnography and geology, geared roughly to a high school student. Here is a group of high school students lined up for admission:

Nairobi National Museum

NAIROBI, KENYA – We spent the morning visiting another remarkable charity: AmericaShare, which is sponsored by our safari organizer. It right in the middle of an extensive shantytown – a favella if it were in Brazil – and it provides a variety of services (including education) to badly at risk children in the area.

AmericaShare

AmericaShare

One of the needs identified by this program is reusable sanitary napkins which facilitate school attendance by teenage girls. They are manufactured on the spot.

AmericaShare

In a study in cultural contrast we had lunch at home with Anna Trzebinski and her father, Michael Cunningham-Reed. Anna was married to a noted artist, Tonio Trzebinski, whose 2002 murder in Nairobi remains unsolved. Here’s a link to a piece in Vanity Fair: Tonio Trzebinski Anna is a talented fashion designer, her father a remarkable raconteur.

Anna Trzebinski

Anna Trzebinski

NAIROBI, KENYA – Sadly, here we are loading our bush plane to return to Nairobi where we have planned a busy day

Bush plane

In Nairobi we visited the David Sheldrick Animal Orphanage, one of the two remarkable charities on our itinerary. Founded by Dame Daphnne Sheldrick the orphanage rescues orphan elephants (the most come cause of the mothers’ death is ivory poachers). The animals are cared for intensively for five years, and then reintroduced into the wild. You can walk among them at their feeding time.

Elephants

Our constant companion on the trip, Patrick, playing soccer with an elephant.

SINGITA GRUMETI RESERVES, TANZANIA – We made a short trip by air to another spot on the Mara River (in Tanzania) known for its crossings. The wildebeest didn’t cooperate so there was little drama in the excursion. We did see a lot of hippos – managed to capture some of my best hippo images.

Hippos

We visited Singita Sasakwa Lodge for lunch and a ride on trail bikes. Singiti Sasakwa is the lodge built by Paul Tudor Jones that I mentioned in an earlier post. Here’s a link: Sasakwa Lodge.

Here’s an image of a burned our area from our bicycle ride:

Controlled burn

Finally, a sunset back at our tented camp – our last in the bush as we return to Nairobi tomorrow.

Sunset

SINGITA GRUMETI RESERVES, TANZANIA – More images of the moon-like landscape

Zebras

We had a dramatic moment in the late afternoon. A hyena ran down a young wildebeest. As noted elsewhere hyenas eat their prey without killing it first. Here the hyena eats the wildebeest starting with its hind quarters as we hear the wildebeest’s continuing screams. That night in our tent I imagined that every sound that I heard outside of our tent was a hyena.

wildebeest kill

MAASAI MARA, KENYA – Ride back from the crossing and late afternoon bush walk. Here’s a heard of Maasai cattle. As noted in an earlier post the Maasai are semi-nomadic cattle herders. They prefer large horn cattle in white with small black markings. The Maasai believe that all the cattle in the world belong to Maasai, leading to behavior that is considered cattle theft by others. Historically their diet consisted primarily of milk mixed with cow’s blood drawn from an artery – they patch up the wound after drawing the blood. They supplement it with sheep and goats. Cows are to valuable as a measure of wealth to slaughter for food.

Maasai cattle

This gives some idea of just how ugly the spotted hyena is:

Spotted hyenas

We took a late afternoon bush walk. This is Maria with our Maasai guide, Ping, inspecting a termite hill. Ping is an amazing story teller; he’s the fellow who spent six month’s in Orlando advising on the safari ride.

Bush walk

Maasai Mara sunset

MAASAI MARA, KENYA – We have been extraordinarily lucky to witness a major crossing of the Mara River by the wildebeest migration. The crossing is popular with both animals and photographers. The guides refer to it at the “BBC crossing” – its where BBC send a camera crew if they need shots of wildlife crossing a river.

Crossing Mara River

River crossing

A four shot sequence of a croc killing a zebra:

Zebra kill

Zebra kill

Zebra kill

Zebra kill

Zebra audience

Wildebeest and Zebras massed at the crossing.

Crossing the Mara River

Wildebeest diving competition:

Wildebeest diving

MAASAI MARA, KENYA – Part I is our morning game drive.

Giraffe at sunrise

The Maasai who guard our camp at night (from from animals) walking 12 miles back to their village.

Maasai walking

Wildebeest:

Wildebeest

Setting up for breakfast in the bush:

Setting up for breakfast in the bush

Relaxing after breakfast

Lion up close:

Lion up close

Cape buffalo. These large, tough animals are considered dangerous if you’re on foot.

Cape buffalo

Here’s a Thomson gazelle with a group of impala. The guides refer to Thompson gazelles as “cheetah snacks”.

Impala and Thompson Gazelle

MAASAI MARA – In the late afternoon, under dull skies, we visited a Maasai village. The Maasai are nomads – they tend cattle which are their primary index of wealth. We find the Maasai friendly and welcoming. Their culture is sufficiently binding that they tend to return to their roots after being educated, and even after travel to the US. Our Maasai guide in the Maasai Mara, Ping, had spent six months in Orlando as a consultant to the Safari feature at Disney World. They are under severe pressure to change some of their ways, For example it was a coming of age rite for a young Maasai man to kill a lion. The Maasai population is East Africa is around 400,000, the lion population is around 25,000 so the numbers no longer support this practice. The Maasai also historically practiced female circumcision, a practice that has appropriately been banned by the governments of Kenya and Tanzania. Here’s a link the the Wikipedia entry on the Maasai: The Maasai

One interesting theory on the origin of the Maasai that we heard from several guides: A Roman legion was sent to explore the sources of the Nile and vanished. The theory is that legion trained a local tribe as legionnaires and that the Maasai descended from them. The Maasai wear red cloaks (colour reserved for soldiers in the Roman army) draped like togas and use spears which resemble the Roman Pilum and short swords which resemble the Roman Gladius.

Maasai

Nancy and Maasai:

Nancy and Maasai

Maasai chickens:

Massai chickens

Maasai child at play:

Maasai child at play

We were taken into a Maasai house – they are constructed of acacia branches driven into the ground and covered with cow dung. There is one very small window – 6 cm or so in diameter.

Inside a Maasai home

Maasai children in the door of a Maasai house.

Maasai boys

MAASAI MARA, KENYA – On our two-hour drive back from our balloon landing site we again encountered plentiful game. Here’s a cheetah, the worlds fasted land animal. This specimen in injured – see the red spot on its thigh – probably a spotted hyena bite. Here’s info on the cheetah: Cheetah.

Cheetah

Cheetah

Here’s a giraffe confronting a spotted hyena. The hyena is the nastiest predator in the bush. It jumps on its prey, clings to it with it claws and simply starts eating it, crunching flesh and bone with its powerful jaws. It’s no match for a healthy adult giraffe though, so the hyena in this picture is making a respectful circle around the giraffe. Here’s a link to the Wikipedia entry on hyenas: Hyenas.

Giraffe confronts a spotted hyena

Crocodile. Rivers and streams are infested with them. Some look like they are about the size of nuclear submarines.

Crocodile

Vultures on a termite mound:

Vultures on a termite mound

Male ostrich looking for a date. The males have black bodies; the females are gray. The red neck and legs are a courtship display.

Ostrich

MAASAI MARA, KENYA – Another huge game day, so I’m dividing the day into multiple parts. We started at 4:00 am, driving to a hot air balloon launch site and making an hour-long balloon trip across the bush. Zebras from on high.

Zebras from the air

Ditto impalas:

Impalas

Here we are, eye-to-eye with the giraffes:

Giraffes at eye level

Bush:

Bush

Dry watering hole:

Dry watering hole

Hot air balloon landing:

Hot air balloon landing

MAASAI MARA – More game. The Mara Plains Camp generously lent me a Canon 50D (a so-so camera) and a Canon 500 mm telephoto (a helluva lens). The camera has a relatively small sensor and a 1.6x focal multiplier (producing the equivalent of 800mm with the telephoto) but was entirely adequate. Our vehicles were provided with platforms and bean bags in lieu of tripods – this worked very well. The 800mm focal length demands seriously good technique, but when mastered yielded terrific results.

Leopard mother and cub

More leopard.

Leopards

So here are three wildebeest. It’s an odd-looking animal – it looks like it was assembled from the spare parts bin. It looks a bit like a bison, but smaller. Since the Serengeti plain looks a lot like the North American Great Plains (except for the acacias) the large herds of wildebeest give a sense of what the North American Plains must have been like before they were settled.

Wildebeest and acacia

Our only jackal of the trip. Here’s a link to info about the jackal: Jackal

Jackal

MAASAI MARA, KENYA – Here’s where this gets intense. In the Maasai Mara we find ourselves in the middle of the Wildebeest migration. Here’s some info on the Wildebeest (also known as the Gnu): jWildebeest entry. Quoting from the Wikipedia entry:

“Wildebeest are known for their annual migration to new pastures. Many documentaries feature wildebeest crossing rivers, or being eaten by crocodiles or drowning in the attempt. Although it is assumed that this migration is a frenzy and that the wildebeest cross blindly, recent research has shown that a herd of gnu possesses what is known as a “swarm intelligence”, whereby the animals systematically explore and overcome the obstacle as one.”

Official estimates place the wildebeest population on the greater Serengeti at 2 million; knowledgeable NGOs suggest that its more like 1.2 million. The migration brings with it teaming game of all species. I’m breaking today’s entry into two parts because of the wealth of images.

Dirt airstrip at Chyulu Hills as we prepare to depart for the Maasai Mara.

Airstrip at Chyulu Hills

Our greeting when we arrive at Maasai Mara. Poaching is a serious problem throughout Kenya and Tanzania – these animals are killed for their ivory.

An elephant gives us the full Monte

On our drive from the airstrip to the Mara Plains Camp (a fairly simple tented camp where we will spend three days) we pass these hippos. Hippos are nocturnal herbavors, grazing on the plains at night. In the daytime the stay in the water as a strategy to regulate their body heat and as protection from the sun. A large group of hippos have found this watering hole. The crud on the surface is hippo excrement – they aren’t too selective about where they hang out. They are noted for their bad tempers and can move surprisingly quickly.

Hippos

A lion killing a wildebeest.

Another take on the lion and the wildebeest.

Lion and Wildebeest

Lion cubs join the feast.

Mealtime for a pride of lions

A lion cub.

Lion Cub

CHYULU HILLS, KENYA – Most of the images in the trip are taken with a Nikon D700 and various combinations of long lenses. There is a 15 kilogram baggage weight limit on chartered bush plains, so my photo gear severely limited luxury items like clothing and toiletries. Our typical day started with coffee in camp before sunrise (6:30) followed by a game drive in a Land Rover to catch sunrise, then breakfast in the bush. Here are some impalas from our morning game drive.

Impalas

I also traveled with my Leica M9, which is not useful for game, but in the places where it can be used produces images that actually do stand out as having an intangible quality.

Abandoned Maasai village

Acacias from our morning game drive. The Chyulu Hills are part of the vast Serengeti ecosystem, which looks heart-breakingly like Out of Africa.

Acacias

This from an afternoon bush walk.

Maria and Nancy do a bush walk

Here we are at sunset at the end of a bush walk. The man in red is a Maasai tracker; the man in green is armed in case of an unfortunate encounter with wildlife. In Ol Donyo Wuas’ experience this hasn’t been an issue but their view is better safe than sorry.

Sunset in the bush

Hmm . . . let’s see here . . . Why did the elephant cross the road?

Elephant

OL DONYO WUAS CAMP, CHYULU HILLS, KENYA – We spent the morning connecting with our charter aircraft and flying to the Chyulu Hills, where we stayed at Ol Donyo Wuas, the only camp that we are staying at with permanent structures (as opposed to tents). We did a game drive from the dirt airstrip to the camp, and cycled later in the afternoon. Game was fairly scarce – this area has suffered three years of drought.

Kilimanjaro from the air – to the south of us on the other side of the Tanzanian boarder.

Kilimanjaro from the air

Ol Donyo Wuas has built a watering hole fed by the camp’s “gray” water. It’s very popular. Here’s a giraffe getting a drink – the giraffe is vulnerable to predators when it drinks because it can’t give defensive in this position.

Giraffe at watering hole

Bicycling in the bush.

Bicycling in the Chyulu Hills

Tea time.

Tea time

Sunset.

Sunset Chyulu Hills

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – Another dull day compounded by a light drizzle. This is waiting for Maria outside of the uptown, westside theatre where Bachelorette is playing.

Theatre

Nikon D700