Exploring Iceland - REI Presentation

Brimilvelir Kirkja

Imagine a "Land of Fire and Ice"-glacier-clad volcanoes, geysers, lava fields, lush pastureland, magnificent fjords, and waterfalls This is Iceland, a country of extraordinary beauty, though less than 40,000 square miles in size. Join photographers Mark and Cathy Pemberton for a digital presentation of their 10-day adventure, circling the main island in a rented four-wheel-drive SUV and staying in farmers' cottages and small fishing villages along the way. Come experience the grandeur of this geologically-rich country, and learn about its fascinating Norse Viking heritage. If you register for this free presentation at www.rei.com/stores, we will hold a seat for you until the scheduled start time. Seating may be available at the door, even if registration is closed.

March 13, 7 – 8:30 pm
43962 Fremont Blvd, Fremont, CA 94538
Register here

March 15, 7 – 8:30 pm
REI Berkeley, 1338 San Pablo Ave.  Berkeley, CA 94702
Register here

March 21, 7 – 8:30 pm
REI Concord, 1975 Diamond Blvd.  Suite B-100, Concord, CA 94520
Register here

Kenyan Adventure – Epilogue

It’s February 9th and I can’t believe that Cathy and I have been home for two weeks already. Our experiences in Africa are so fresh it seems as though we were just there. I’ve enjoyed blogging about our experiences over the past 10 days, hoping to share with you just a tiny flavor of what it was like. It truly was a powerful experience and we hope to go back some day. Perhaps to Botswana or Namibia.

There are many things that made this a wonderful experience. At the top of the list are Dan and Tanya Cox. We have taken two tours now with Dan and Tanya and both were extremely enjoyable. Tanya is a magnificent organizer and makes sure that all of our needs are met. The tours are designed to place you in the best locations and give you the best opportunities for capturing great photographs and having great experiences. These tours are not highly structured photography teaching sessions but more informal learning opportunities. To learn more about Dan and the Natural Exposures tours see his website at http://www.naturalexposures.com/.

Daniel and Tanya Cox - Photo by Daniel Cox

If you are planning your own trip to Africa I cannot recommend the people at Origins Safaris highly enough. The professionalism of their staff and the expertise of our guides was awesome. See their website at http://www.originsafaris.info/

In a week or so I hope to have a slide show up on our website so check in at: http://mcfineartphoto.com/

We had a very congenial group to travel with and wish everyone well in their future travels. Perhaps we will cross paths again. Until then…

The Group - Photo by Daniel Cox

Best wishes,
Mark and Cathy

Kenyan Adventure - Day 11 - The Maasai

As I mentioned in my post 2 days ago, we were blessed with the good fortune of visiting our guide Henry's village on the last day of our safari. I posted a video of the welcoming dance but there was so much more that we wanted to share. The following is a slide show that captures the village, people and the environment. They showed us how they live without electricity or running water. They even took us into their homes to show us how they live. The women are responsible for building and maintaining the homes, which are made of tree branches and cow dung.

We had a wonderful time with these warm people. It is definitely an experience that we will always remember.

This ends the blog on our Kenyan adventure. Tomorrow we'll return with a short epilog to tie up a few loose ends. We hope you've enjoyed reading about our adventures and seeing a few of our many photographs. Keep your eye on this blog and our website at: http://mcfineartphoto.com/. We will be posting more photos in the future as well as a photo book about our trip. Until then...

Happy Travels,
Mark and Cathy

Kenyan Adventure – Day 11 Wildlife

Day 11.  Our last day for photographing the wildlife of Kenya has arrived. It will be a full day. We’ll start with our morning game drive, followed by a visit to the Maasai village here in the Mara. We’ll then have lunch followed by an afternoon game drive and then finally a bush dinner.

Once again we are out at sun up and witness a spectacularly colorful sunrise. We take this as a sign of good things to come. As we drive around we come across another jackal. I am always amazed at how sleek and beautiful these animals are. Then we come across a herd of hartebeest. We had seen several of these individuals before but never a herd. They are very unique. Despite the “beest” designation, they are related to the antelope and not the wildebeest.

Hartebeest

I think that we have come across new species of birds every day that we have been in Africa and today was no different. While not as colorful as many others, the white browed coucal that we sighted was quite striking.

White Browed Coucal

We then spotted a hyena and followed it back to its den. We parked for a while and waited. Sure enough, before long a young hyena pup came out to greet us. Cute little bugger!

Hyena Pup

As we continued to explore the Mara we came across even more birds. There was a spar winged goose, another lilac breasted roller and up in the top of a tree a very large black chested snake eagle. He was very impressive looking up there surveying the savannah for his next meal.

Black Chested Snake Eagle

Our final sighting for the morning was a group of warthogs. These little fellows are really funny. They are always running around with their tails straight up in the air. We found a family with mom, dad and two young ones who were content to allow us to photograph them before they took off.

Warthog Family

The rest of our morning and early afternoon would be spent at Henry’s Maasai village. That was such an incredible experience that I will devote tomorrow’s blog solely to that topic.

As we returned to camp we passed the local airstrip where we observed a Douglas DC-3. While the DC-3 is rare in the US it is still in use for transportation in many parts of Africa.

Douglas DC-3

We took off on our afternoon game drive at 4 pm as usual. This would be our last opportunity to spot a leopard. Alas, that would not happen, but what we did see was just as interesting.

First up, we came across a troop of baboons. These guys are always fascinating to watch as they push through the tall grass and into the trees. There were a couple dozen animals including several very large males and numerous young baboons.

Our guide then spotted a large male lion sleeping in the shade of some shrubs. His Highness emerged briefly to check out the Range Rovers surrounding him and then plopped down in the shade of one of them to continue his nap. Since he didn’t seem to be interested in much of anything other than sleeping we left.

However, we shortly found out why he was resting. Not far away we discovered a cape buffalo that had been killed. And we just as quickly spotted about 5 lions arrayed around the kill, protecting it from other predators. According to our guide, the females would remain on guard until the male returned for his fill, and then they would devour the rest.

We explored a bit more, finding another large herd of 50 to 60 impala. What was impressive was the fact that the herd was ruled by a single male! He certainly had his work cut out for him.

A bit later we returned to the site of the buffalo kill. The male had returned and had his meal and now it was time for the others. We watched as two lions, a female and a young male tore into the carcass, and continued to watch them tear at the kill until it was time to return to camp. By then the carcass was little more than a rib cage, skull and leg bones. We could also see in a nearby tree that vultures had gathered and were awaiting their turn at whatever remained.

Thus ended our safari. We enjoyed a delicious bush dinner that evening and the next day we would fly to Nairobi and then back to the US. However, our tale is not yet over. Come back tomorrow for a slide show of images from our visit with the Maasai.

Kenyan Adventure - Day 11 - The Maasai

On the final day of our trip to Africa we visited our guide Henry's Maasai village. They met us and showed us all about the Maasai way of life. The following is a video of a dance that they greeted us with.

Monday afternoon we will post the remaining wildlife photos from the last day and on Tuesday we hope to publish some photos from our visit to the Maasai village.

Best Wishes,
Mark and Cathy

Kenyan Adventure – Day 10

A few days earlier a special opportunity presented itself to the group. We had the chance to sign up for a hot air balloon ride across the Mara. For years Cathy has been trying to convince me to take a hot air balloon ride. However, due to the fact that I am terrified by heights I have always politely declined. Now, declining to take a ride over Napa Valley is one thing, but drifting across the African savannah is another. The opportunity was too good to pass up and we signed up immediately.

The bad news was that the take off point was quite a ways from the Mara Intrepids where we were staying. We were forced to get up at 4 am for the drive to the launch site. It was pitch dark outside as the two gentlemen from the balloon company picked us up. We drove for an hour over the roughest roads that I have ever been on, in complete darkness. I have no idea how they found their way, but they did.

We arrived and found two 12 passenger hot air balloons ready to be inflated. However, first we had to go through security!!! Apparently the launch site is close to the border of Tanzania and the Tanzanian government is terrified of being attacked by camera toting tourists in hot air balloons. After the security personnel had wanded us, and verified that we were not carrying any air to surface missiles, we were allowed to approach the balloons. Our group of 8 along with 4 others boarded one balloon while another group of 12 took the other. Before I knew it we were floating. For the next 90 minutes we drifted over the savannah. Our altitude varied from 100 ft to over 1000 ft. It was unbelievably quiet (except when the burners were ignited) and peaceful. Thankfully the height did not bother me at all except when I looked straight down. I only did that once.

 

While it was a bit hazy that morning we saw a beautiful sunrise and a fair amount of wildlife. But mostly we just drifted along and enjoyed the view. Landing was very smooth and we disembarked for a champagne breakfast on the Mara. It was certainly an amazing experience.

It was still early, barely 8 am, so we were off in search of more animals. We passed another herd of elephants and continued on. Up in a tree we spotted a pair of very unique birds, saddle billed storks. These were large, colorful birds with a unique yellow “saddle” on the bridge of the beak. Beautiful!

Saddlebilled Stork

As we continued on we once again came across a group of lions. This time there were 5 females and 3 cubs. The cubs were so cute we had to stay and watch them for awhile. It is amazing how many of their behaviors are similar to those of our own house cats.

 

We also spied the largest herd of cape buffalo that we had seen yet. The herd covered most of a hillside. One thing that is common with almost all of the grazing animals (buffalo, zebra, rhinos, giraffe, etc.) is that they are often accompanied by small birds that eat insects and ticks off the animals. In this case you can see a red and yellow billed oxpecker on the back of the cape buffalo. We also came across a herd of our old friend the Topi.

Cape Buffalo Herd

Cape Buffalo with Red and Yellow Billed Oxpecker

Topi

 By now it was late in the morning and we headed back to camp. However, on the way we came across one more unique and colorful bird, the Southern Ground Hornbill.

Southern Ground Hornbill

After lunch, our guide Henry, gave us a talk about the Maasai people and their culture. It was very interesting. The Maasai are polygamous, the men taking up to 3 wives. Henry also talked about the importance of circumcision. Circumcision is a rite of passage from boys when they reach puberty. They are expected to endure circumcision with no anesthetic and without showing the slightest grimace of pain. To do so will result in great dishonor.

Unfortunately for Henry, those of us who had been up since 4 am were having trouble staying awake. It was time for a nap before the second game drive.

Once again we headed out looking for a leopard. It was the only animal that had so far eluded us. And it would continue to do so. However, we visited a small marshy area where a crowned crane had just hatched three chicks the day before. Not only did we get to see the crane but the chicks as well. This was indeed something special.

Crowned Crane with Chicks

We never found our leopard. In yesterday’s post I showed a photo of a tree full of weaver nests. We found an even better example on this afternoon. Here you can see the tree full of nests along with masked weavers and village weavers.

Tree with weaver nests, Masked Weavers and Village Weavers

Thus ended a very long day and we could not wait to get to bed. Tomorrow would be our last day at Masai Mara and it was going to be a very exciting day.

Kenyan Adventure – Day 8 and 9

Four days remain to explore the Masai Mara and we are looking forward to the experience very much. As usual, we are out by 6:15 and looking for animals. Almost immediately we come across a lone hippopotamus wandering through the brush. This was very exciting as it was the first time we had seen a hippo out of the water. And he was a big one too! The bad news was that the sun was not really up yet and it was very dark. We were forced to photograph this beast at ISO 3200 with a shutter speed of 1/60 sec. Despite this handicap we were able to get some good shots.

Not long afterwards we came across a herd of elephants which included several youngsters. Even though we had already seen lots of elephants on the trip we couldn’t help but stop to photograph the moms and young ones. After leaving the elephants we came across another group of bat-eared fox. We stopped and took more photos. (check out yesterday’s blog to see pictures of these animals.)

I was somewhat surprised that we had not yet run across any hyena but that soon changed as we discovered a pair in the tall grass. Initially they were skittish but eventually showed them selves.

Hyena

We took a short stop for breakfast by the river where we saw a least a dozen hippos submerged in the water with only their eyes, ears and noses showing. It was awesome to see so many in one place.

Hippos in River

We also observed a small yellow bird. Joshua identified it as a masked weaver. In Africa, weaver birds build round hanging nests. Trees are often covered with these ornament-like nests.

Masked Weaver

Weaver Tree

After breakfast we came across a pair of lions, a lioness and a young male. It was late in the morning however and for the most part they were just looking for a shady are to lay down.

When we got back to camp we found a whole group of banded mongoose cavorting around the grounds. Although cute, they can cause a lot of mischief if they get into your tent.

Banded Mongoose

The afternoon drive was to be devoted to trying to find a leopard and cheetah. While driving around we came across a beautiful crowned crane. The crowned crane is one of the most beautiful of all the birds I’ve ever seen.

Crowned Crane

We continued to explore for quite some time but without any luck in locating either a leopard or cheetah. Then Joshua got a call on his radio reporting a possible cheetah sighting.  Off we went at high speed, bouncing across the rough savannah roads. Sure enough, we arrived to see a beautiful cheetah walking across the field. Joshua did his usual job of positioning us in the perfect spot. The cheetah came over and very nonchalantly posed for us. The perfect ending to the day.

Cheetah

On the morning of the 9th day the Mara was draped in a low-hanging mist, creating a very moody atmosphere. We could see the sun’s orange orb rising and we quickly raced for the nearest acacia tree to use as a foreground object in a sunrise photo. We got there just in time to catch the sun framed in the trees branches. We moved on a bit farther and I could not resist photographing one of the other Range Rovers backlit against the misty hillside.

The sun was soon out and we were once again off to photograph the wildlife. Our first find of the day was a flock of helmeted guinea fowl. We had observed these back in Samburu but had never gotten a good photo.

Helmeted Guinea Fowl

We came across a couple more hyena but they showed little interest in posing for use so we moved on. We came across a lilac breasted roller in a tree next to the road. After the crowned crane, the lilac breasted roller may be the most beautiful bird that we saw.

Lilac Breasted Roller

During our time on the Mara we had seen many herds of animals. This morning was no exception as we came across a good size herd of impala. With its beautiful markings and large swept horns (males) the impala is striking in its appearance. We stayed for a while just to observe these elegant animals.

Impala

We were also fortunate to spot another jackal. These animals are definitely shy but this one stopped for a brief moment, as if to challenge us.

Jackal

The find of the morning, however, came when we discovered about a dozen lions arrayed across a hillside stalking a group of warthogs below. The lions were quite hard to spot in the tall grass. Every so often one would pop its head up and make itself visible. The warthogs were very aware that they were being stalked and fortunately (for their sake) they were far enough away that the lions were not able to strike. However, watching the lions spread out across the field to surround their prey was impressive.

During our afternoon drive we were once again on the hunt for big cats but the first thing that we came across were a group of Masai giraffes. I am always amazed at how elegant these animals look and how gracefully they move.

Masai Giraffe

Then we hit the jackpot. One of the guides spotted a mating pair of lions and tipped us off. When we arrived at the specified location we saw a large male lion with a beautiful mane and his mate lounging in the sun. Joshua explained to us that lions may mate up to 60 times a day! If that were true we shouldn’t have long to wait before seeing some action. And that was exactly what happened.  A few minutes later the male got up and wandered over to the female. The female submitted and …

After observing a second round with the lions we decided to give them some privacy and moved on. We decided to go back to the river to observe the hippos. My they certainly have large mouths.

Hippo Yawning

That was enough for day nine. Two more days to go.