OT (off topic) .......African Safari pics

[Shawna & Davidson (GA)]

Morning............okay, found the link for pics and posting a few here so you can see what I saw in Kenya & Tanzania.

If this thread needs to be moved, let me know and I'll post else where.......

Thanks,
Shawna

 

[Judy and Boomer]

Awesome images; would love to see more!

 

[Shawna & Davidson (GA)]

few more..........I took over 4000, of which deleted 1000 and left with tons, lol. Weeded them down to over 2500, then about 300 great shots or ones I liked into a folder for friends to see.

 

[Judy and Boomer]

Love them!

 

[Amanda & Shmee]

Beautiful!!
I swear I left my heart in Africa. I went to Zimbabwe in 2014 for a volunteer lion rehabilitation program for two weeks, and to Botswana for safari. It was such an amazing experience!

 

[Shawna & Davidson (GA)]

I created a thread in the COMMUNITY AND OFF TOPIC forum so not to distract anyone from here in the Lantus area.............I'll post the various animals over the next while.

I'll go again and want to do Botswana as well!! Love to see the Silver Back Apes, but very expensive..............one day

 

[Wendy&Neko]

Off topic cat pictures are totally Ok. Just call it OT (off topic) in the heading or Loose Lips.

Love the pics Shawna. Sounds like a great time.

 

[Shawna & Davidson (GA)]

Massive termite mounds, sunset over the horizon, Mt. Kilimanjaro

 

[Shawna & Davidson (GA)]

Can't tell if these are all crystal clear and I see them as thumbnails, should be okay........elephant babies were having a riot in the mud!

 

[Idjit's mom]

Oh my!!! Fantastic pics, what a trip! I'm so glad you could experience this. And thank you so much for sharing.

 

[Shawna & Davidson (GA)]

TY...........a few more, baby baboon was approx. 4 days old. Tree climbing lions were amazing - 8 in the tree, all hanging around and sleeping.

 

[Tracey&Jones (GA)]

Wow, those pictures are amazing to go with that amazing trip!

 

[Phoebes (GA)]

Omgosh those are fantastic. Very brave taking those lion pics! How close were you??

 

[Shawna & Davidson (GA)]

Many of the pics didn’t need a zoom, but for herbal close ups I used it...the ones with the lions in the tree or the leopard were about 50-75’ away. Surprising how close all the animals get to the jeeps, many walk within 3-10 feet....you’re not sticking your head out the window, thats for sure

 

[Noah & me (GA)]

All fantastic! Reminds me of one of my childhood heroes Richard Leakey who shot poachers on sight, asked questions later. My kind of guy.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Leakey

 

[Shawna & Davidson (GA)]

Hey Noah, they still do that....all game drives have to be out of the parks or reserves by 6:30pm, if you’re late you have to radio in....after 7pm rangers shoot to kill as anything in the areas are poachers.....ask questions later! We didn’t hear of anything, nor see it...but the only shooting should be with cameras imo. They say some areas are painting the tusks or horns pink, but didn’t see that......

 

[Chubba (GA)]

Wow ... just amazing. What an awesome experience!

 

[Shawna & Davidson (GA)]

The elephant leg bone is massive! See the baboon face in the hill? I saw it right away, even the guide missed it. Don't get excited over the lions mating, they do it every 15 min. and takes 7 seconds - ha, really! LOL. Some drivers get stuck, we didn't but it's all part of the fun........

 

[Shawna & Davidson (GA)]

Pics on the way to Serengetti

 

[Noah & me (GA)]

rangers shoot to kill

As it should be.
I know beautiful photos don't happen all by themselves, especially anything outdoors. I don't know anything about public domain law but it's a creep-fest that anyone can right-click and copy your work or any of our avatars etc. Years ago I had a roommate who worked in a pre-digital photo lab and at the front desk they had huge backlit photos that were changed weekly. One guy came in to pick up a roll and saw his lion had been put up for the world to see, he was not very happy. Only members can come into Off Topic and I think you can only copy to JPEG but it's still not nice. I don't want to see Nigel on a bag of cat food one day and I don't want the show to end. Oh well

 

[Shawna & Davidson (GA)]

it wont bother me if someone copies my pics....I’m just a women with a good eye and love nature. None of these have been photoshopped, or touched up = glad I have the time to sort thru thousands and try to pic the ones I like best. We all appreciated the shoot to kill motive, and we should.

Glad you are all enjoying my pics.....a few more to come and the trip ends.......

 

[Susan&Felix(GA)]

Stunning. Thank you for sharing these beauties.

 

[Shawna & Davidson (GA)]

This Croc was huge, three times the size of the little one shown in this thread...........we came across the leopard in the tree, then her cub came out - amazing to see!

 

[Shawna & Davidson (GA)]

The hippos were massive - the ones in the sludge were playing in their poop and rolling around. Stunk like crap, but had to watch for a while. The others were in cleaner water and waited for them to open wide - not easy to get.

 

[Shawna & Davidson (GA)]

Sunsets..............one night

 

[Shawna & Davidson (GA)]

Sunrise..........driving to the hot air balloon site at 4:30am, watched the sun rise then saw it from the air.............unreal!

 

[Shawna & Davidson (GA)]

Taken from the air...........the table setting is where we ate our Breakfast with Champagne in the Serengeti.

 

[Shawna & Davidson (GA)]

Yummy!! Maasai Village and signs of the parks we entered

 

[Shawna & Davidson (GA)]

some views of the Ngorongoro crater

 

[Kako & Tux]

What beautiful photos! Thank you for sharing!

 

[HWright]

Wow and thank you for sharing, Shawna.

 

[Judy and Boomer]

Those are beautiful! Thanks for sharing them!

 

[Noah & me (GA)]

You think you're having a hard time sorting Shawna???
Sometimes I call my wife over to have a look at something but she has to sit down for this. More thanks.

 

[Olive & Paula]

Beautiful pictures.

 

[Shawna & Davidson (GA)]

Thanks everyone............I'm happy to share them with my L&L family. It was a really great trip, not just for the animals but also the education you get from our drivers who were also our guides. Seeing pictures on TV or National Geographic magazines is nothing compared to real life, the fascination the animals have with us is no different then ours with them. Too bad as Noah mentioned, there are some people that needlessly kill these animals who were here long before we were............I understand many of you won't ever get to Africa, so it was my pleasure to bring a bit of Africa to you.............I have thousands more if you want to see them, hahaha

 

[Noah & me (GA)]

Well now I really need that mondo-huge-ginourmus monitor.

 

[carfurby (GA)]

Great pictures. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Wendy&Neko]

Amazing trip! What did you use to take the pictures?

 

[Shawna & Davidson (GA)]

Sony DSC400HX...........bridge camera, basically and point & shoot (can change to manual settings) with a 50x zoom that's equivalent to a 35mm with a 1200 zoom lens

 

[Becky & Baby Girl GA]

How wonderful to experience this! Love lions! Wow, beautiful & thanks for letting us see!

 

[Ella & Rusty & Stu(GA)]

These pictures are just amazing. What a great trip! Thanks for taking us to Africa!

 

[Noah & me (GA)]

bumpety-boo

 

[Shoeskitty-GA]

Absolutely breathtaking!!!! Was the snow-covered mountain photo Mt. Kilimanjaro?

 

[Carol & Murphy (GA)]

I used to work in Botswana and went on many safaris in the Okavango Delta. Wilderness Safaris has some great camps up there if you are looking at sites- totally isolated from everyone so it is just you and the animals. Love your cheetah pic. Last year, I worked with a wildlife vet dehorning rhinos and tagging lions near Kruger in South Africa - that was amazing. The teeth and paws on the lions - whoa!!

 

[Shawna & Davidson (GA)]

Absolutely breathtaking!!!! Was the snow-covered mountain photo Mt. Kilimanjaro?

yes, it hadn't been seen for 7 weeks until that morning, then within a couple of hours it was back in the clouds. I took about 15 pics, some zoomed in - truly majestic.

 

[Shawna & Davidson (GA)]

I used to work in Botswana and went on many safaris in the Okavango Delta. Wilderness Safaris has some great camps up there if you are looking at sites- totally isolated from everyone so it is just you and the animals. Love your cheetah pic. Last year, I worked with a wildlife vet dehorning rhinos and tagging lions near Kruger in South Africa - that was amazing. The teeth and paws on the lions - whoa!!

Wow, great!!! I'm going back to Africa next year and I want to go to Botswana and some other countries around there. I'd love to volunteer with something like that down the road when I no longer have pets........go for a few months, loved it there!