Kalahari Plains Day 2: Deception Valley

The plan for the day was to leave the camp and venture out to Deception Valley for the day. That meant we'd have lunch brought to us out in the valley.



We managed to see plenty of oryx and parades of ostriches. We came across a goofy-looking yellow-billed hornbill with a serious demeanor. We tracked a leopard for a while. She annoyed a pair of jackals by walking through their territory. They complained; she ignored them. We watched a cheetah zip by. I snapped 30 shot of her; one of them turned out.

I was getting to enjoy the view from my cabin.



When night fell, I thought I'd give another try at a Milky Way time-lapse. This time I set the rig out in the back of my cabin so as to get a tree in the foreground. You have to relax about setting a $3k camera with a $3k lens on a $1k tripod out in the desert sand for an unattended 4-hour exposure.

Here's what I got.

Kalahari Night 2


My keepers from
Kalahari Day 2.

Okavango Machaba Day 5 and Kalahari Plains Day 1

ODP Blog - Okavango Machaba: Wild Dogs vs Hippo and Elephants vs Lechwe

I departed from Machaba Camp following the morning game drive. The photo highlight of the drive was a bee eater who wasn't shy about being photographed, and whose favorite stick was close to the road.



We had a larger aircraft for the flight to Maun, and a slightly larger plane for the flight from Maun to the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR), where Wilderness' Kalahari Plains camp was situated.
Wilderness Kalahari Plains Camp Website

Some snaps of my digs at Kalahari Plains Camp.

a. Exterior ground floor


b. Interior (bedding and table), the washroom is through the door to the right


c. Up top!


I was "on my own" at Kalahari; this was not an ODP photo tour. After settling in, we went out for an afternoon game drive. During our sundownder, a jackal came in for close inspection. We followed the guide's instructions to remain silent and still, and the jackal moved on. Curious, but not sociable.

The skies were clear and the star were bright. Kalahari Plains Camp's lodgings have sleep-out roofs. Mind you, it was winter here south of the equator. The cold nights in the Okavango Delta (Machaba) necessitated the use of hot water bottles ("bush babies"). The bush babies were even more critical here in the desert. Since I wear corrective lenses, keeping under the stars (in temperatures that approached freezing) did not appeal to me.

But nighttime time lapses certainly did. So I mounted the wide angle lens and set the tripod up on the sleep-out roof, pointed south. I set the camera for time-lapse mode and let it go until the battery ran out. Two 25-second exposures were made per minute, and the frame-rate compresses about 4 hours to about 15 seconds.

Kalahari Night I [All videos look best full screen and full resolution]


My keepers from
Machaba Camp Day 5



My keepers from
Kalahari Plains Day 1.

Okavango Machaba Day 4: Tracking the leopard

ODP Blog - Okavango Machaba: Hunting With a Leopard in the Dark

The bees were intense as the wind had died down. Having been stung by one the previous day, I allowed a few to drown themselves in my mango juice. But ODP's guide, Andrew, came to their rescue. He scooped them out and rinsed them off with water. He won The Spirit of John Muir award in my mind. Muir might not have done so well in Africa with his practice to giving freely of himself to the mosquitoes. I guess the bees are a seasonal thing, and it was their season. Still, I thought of calling the camp "Machabee".

Large animal skulls are used around Machaba Camp as convenient guideposts ("Head down this path and take a right at the hippo head.")



Today's animal roll call included giraffe, lechwe, yet another African antelope (whose name eludes me), a bird that's headed for extinction, and the beautiful lilac-breasted roller.



After sundown, we got hippopotamus and leopard. My skills on nighttime / spotlight shooting were non-existent: I did my best to guess and check. But I'm sure my colleagues got better results. 

My keepers from 

Machaba Camp Day 4.

Okavango Machaba Day 3: An elly in my yard

ODP Blog - Okavango Machaba: A Leopard Spots us First

We embark on game drives in two separate vehicles and chart independent paths. So the description on the blog doesn't always match my personal experience. And ODP's reporting priorities don't necessarily correspond to mine.

In any case, I awoke from my afternoon nap to find an elephant munching the grass across the Khwai out in my front yard. In my dazed excitement, I recorded a vertical video. Please don't judge my parents harshly.

Elly Selfie! (The camera has a wireless cable release attached, controlled by the iPhone.) And yes, that is a Camera Sutra shirt I'm wearing.



There was some pretty serious zebrage in my set from the afternoon drive. But we also spotted a leopard, so to speak.

After dinner, we went out for some night sky photography. Suddenly I was in my element as wide angle lenses and tripods were called for. Our merry band of wildlife photographers were rich with long glass; I'm not sure how many traveled to the bush with a Zeiss Distagon T*2.8/15, a Gitzo GT3541L and a cable release because… why would you? We did a bit of light painting on a random snag, and one wee (5-minute) star trail shot before heading back to camp.



My keepers from
Machaba Camp Day 3.

Okavango Machaba Day 2: Elephant encounters

ODP Blog - Okavango Machaba - Wild Dogs Scrutinise Us – during our Sundowner Break

We have time between morning game drives and evening game drives. Sometimes I nap. Sometimes I watch the Khwai river go by. At night, the river's hippos laugh and the trees' Franklins fight.



We encountered a herd of elephants on our evening game drive.



Later, we encountered a bull along the river road and had ourselves "a moment".



The photo highlight of the day, for me, was a reflection in the gloaming. My fellow travelers were quite energized by an encounter with wild dogs and were discussing it at the sundowner. ODP guide, Andrew, and I were drawn to this scene and stepped away from the festivities to capture it. My landscape tendencies were showing.


My keepers from
Machaba Day 2.

Okavango Machaba Day 1: A trio of lions and a loud but unseen stampede

I had a day to equilibrate before traveling from Johannesburg's OR Tambo Airport to Maun, Botswana, and on to Machaba Camp.

Air Botswana flew me on the modern equivalent of a DC-8 (large passenger propeller plane) from JNB to MUB. The flight from Maun to Machaba's bush airstrip was a bit less spacious.



Machaba Camp opened just last year.
Machaba Camp Website

The main lodge is an open, tented dining and lounge area.



Here's the view from the main lodge. Beyond the idled makoro is the gentle Khwai River. The other side of the river is the Moremi Game Reserve.



The rooms are in tents, which are protected by tents! Here's a shot of my lodgings.



And what it looks like with me on the inside. The window covers come down at night. The tent entrance zips, but there are no locks. Camp protocol is that guest are to be escorted to and from their tents after dark, as we are among the hippos, lions, and wild dogs.



ODP provides a detailed document for what to expect for their Machaba Camp photo tour.
ODP Machaba 2014 - Information and Guidelines

Their host photographers also blog each day's events.
ODP Blog - Okavango Machaba Camp - Three Lions Cause a Wildlife Stampede after a Swim In the Dark

A pano view from the game drive truck (Land Rover with three tiered benches and a canopy):

The focus of the afternoon's game drive was a trio of lions: one male and two females. We arrived near the end of their nap and waited them out. They slowly stirred and rose, making their way to the Khwai River. They swam across and out of range of our cameras. But soon afterr the crossing, a stampede of zebras and who knows what else could be heard from across the river (in the Moremi Game Reserve).

Here are my keepers from
Machaba Day 1.

Twenty four hours to Africa

Getting to Africa required only two flights. Sacramento (SMF) to New York (JFK) and New York to Johannesburg (JNB).

The JetBlue SMF to JFK flight was scheduled to depart Sacramento at 11:53pm on Friday the 13th. Don't worry, since the date was 6/13 and 13 - 6 = 7, the bad luck usually associated with Friday the 13th was undone by the 7 (!). Before my friends, the Meyers, came to drive me to the airport, the flight was delayed an hour—into the 14th.

I was proud of myself for figuring out how to turn off the boob tube LCD in front of me for this overnight flight.



The delay out of SMF shrunk my layover at JFK into near nothingness. The logistics of going from domestic flights to international flights at JFK (or perhaps going from any terminal to another) necessitated going through security again.

The South African Airways flight from JFK to JNB was a 15-hour trans-Atlantic, trans-equatorial affair. And a 15-hour flight is a 15-hour flight; there's nothing you can really do about 15 hours. I guess some folks go with an Ambien, but sleeping pills aren't really my style. I'd need to begin my month+ regimen of the antimalarial, Malarone, soon enough.

You chat with your neighbor (I always opt for window seats), eat a few meals, drink a few drinks, employ your iPhone, iPad, and MacBook Pro (with DVDs), and sleep. Still though, 15 hours is 15 hours.

When I arrived at Johannesburg's OR Tambo, it was Sunday morning. Passport control and luggage collection were no problem. Customs? You's have to seek it out if you were so inclined. I left for Africa on Friday night. Saturday was sacrificed to The Travel Gods.

I was happy to check into City Lodge at OR Tambo. To my surprise and delight, they had a room ready for me. No ground transportation required, and not cripplingly overpriced (like the InterContinental). I walked my luggage to this airport hotel (it's a good, long walk), checked in, and eventually got my nap on.

My room at City Lodge. Not big, but it didn't need to be. Interesting "window" between the bedroom and the bathroom which includes a privacy curtain that can be lowered.



A quick pano of the lobby/restaurant at City Lodge.



The lightly used City Lodge workout room, open 24 hours! I was happy to drip some sweat after sitting for 24 hours.