Sunday, November 18, 2012

A week of learning



The past week in my “office” turned out to be a week of learning for me. I had among my guests Dr. Roberta Bondar (first Canadian lady astronaut) and Mr. Roger Hooper, a professional photographer working with WWF.
As one would expect, i had a lot to learn from Br. Bondar, on matters relating to to astronomy and space shuttles. Very willingly she would give me and the other guests in my vehicle, very informative talks while we had coffee waiting for our leopards, lion, cheetah etc to do something. Since Roberta is not only a former astronaut, but also a medical doctor, she shared with us helpful health tips.
Roberta’s photography is entirely for environmental education. You can see her work environmental and conservation work on her website ( http://www.therobertabondarfoundation.org )
The other guest, Roger is a reknowned photographer, working with WWF to create awareness on endangered species round the world. As a long time guest, Roger has been giving me invaluable training on photography. I attribute my photography improvement to his continuous coaching.
Roger will be exhibiting his work at the OXO gallery in London from 7th December 2012 to 6th January 2013, and is open to the public. You can pay a visit if in the vicinity to see some of the images he has been taking in here in Kenya and other places in the world, including the arctic and antarctic. You can visit his website to see his work on ( http://www.rogerhooper.co.uk )
My “office” provides a continuous learning.
 Dr. Bondar had a great time in Masai Mara

 There were good leopard sightings over the week. This is a new male we found at Olkeju-Rongai

 We had a lion and Hippo drama on the Talek

 Great Rhino sightings

 A young cheetah caught and played with this gazelle fawn

 We spend over an hour watching this secretary bird and its mate build a nest

 We had Malaika, teh famous BBC Big Cat series star on our vehicle

 Here Roger and Roberta utilizes an unusual photo opportunity

 Here she jumps over our heads!

 This is the Rhino Ridge Male leopard, who was  with Olive

 We also had a rare sighting of this Caracal near Rekero camp

Saturday, November 17, 2012

Python drama in the Mara

We had a drama this morning in the Mara when a python got under a friends vehicle. The serpent coiled itself in the engine compartment, I guess because it was warm. We tried to get it out, and ended up taking hours. Eventually someone brought in a steam water pump and it worked though not that quickly. this happened near Matira camp.
A word of caution after this, please drive off when you see the one heading your way!
 someone goes underneath to check where it is

 One of the guests who was using the vehicle got brave enough and tried to pull it out

 The drama attracted so many people as seen here

 Some tries looking underneath

 Some tried taking close shots!

 It surely was drama

 
 Eventually the water pump worked the trick as seen here

Popular Posts