Dik-Dik 1

A very cute little deer-like creature, with gorgeous large eyes.

Painted Dog 1

Painted Dogs are only infrequently seen in the areas we visited, so our guides were excited to discover a small pack of them on our first day of shooting. They were lounging around in the shade, providing poor photo opportunities, but our guides recommended patience, being confident that they would get on the move and provide some great photos. We were actually pretty impatient, as we hadn't really seen or shot anything else yet, and it seemed like we were wasting time. In fact, we did convince them to go elsewhere to see what else we could find, for a little while, but they in turn convinced us to go back and wait a little more.

Painted Dog 2

It turned out that the guides were correct - the Dogs did eventually get up, and we were able to get some photos of these interesting looking dogs. They had a Hyena like appearance, but we were told that they were more closely related to dogs than hyenas.

Warthog

This guys was digging up something with his snout when this picture was taken. We would see them from time to time, and I have another shot toward the end of this gallery.

Banded Mongoose

One of two mongoose species we saw in Tanzania.

Elephant in the Field

We saw many elephants, often quite close-up. Their size is more impressive when seen in the wild than in a Zoo!

Elephant Family

A very social animal, we saw many large groups of adults and young roaming the plains.

Zebra

These were seen all around the National Parks we visited.

Cape Buffalo

These are formidable, often aggressive, creatures!

Agama Lizard

The colors on this lizard were intense! This particular individual had its tail broken up by a previous encounter with some other animal, but fortunately, they do grow back.

Elephant Landscape

A typical scene in Tanzania, with a large herd of Elephants, which had been enjoying some shade under the Acacia Tree.

Giraffe 1

The beauty, size, and elegance of the Giraffe were most impressive!

Dik-Dik 2

This one was resting in the shade, affording the possibility of some close-up shots.

Giraffe 2

I also have some HD Video of this particular Giraffe, as it gracefully walked from one tree to another, but I shot it in Portrait orientation - probably a common mistake of a still photographer dabbling in Video. I hope to eventually produce a YouTube video from this trip, but will have to rotate this segment to make it useable.

Sykes Monkey

This one seemed to be as interested in us as we were in it.

Jackal

This one was shot shortly after dawn, right after we had descended into th Ngorongoro Crater.

Black Rhino

Our guides were hopefuly, but not confident, that we would see the elusive Black Rhino in Ngorongoro. The guides from various safari companies keep in touch with each other, and this is how we learned of a pair of Black Rhinos heading in our general direction. There apparently was a male chasing a female, who was not particularly interested in him at that point, and they went for many miles across the crater. Our guides sped across the bumpy dirt roads, trying to anticipate where they'd be heading, and the result was our seeing the pair, and getting several shots as they crossed our path.

Agama Lizard?

Another colorful lizard, which I think is one of the Agamas, but I have no idea which species. If you happen to know, please email me using the link below.

Hyena

This one was creating a dust trail as it crossed the plains, presumably in search of food.

Wildabeest Herd

The Wildabeest was one of the most plentiful species we saw in Tanzania. This photo is an attempt to capture the feel of experiencing them in the wild.

Cape Buffalo and Oxpecker

The Oxpecker is a beautiful little bird that frequently accompanies a variety of the larger mammals, eating the various bugs and parasites that are so plentiful around them. We were actually parked during a relatively short rainfall, and with nothing else to do, I pointed my 600L at a very nearby Cape Buffalo, to play around with some tight head-shots (it was only about 35 feet away, so it completely filled the frame). Just as I was about to start shooting, this Oxpecker appeared out of nowhere, and landed on its head, giving the shot a much-needed injection of color!

Giraffe 3

Another Giraffe shot, but with a different type of background that I like.

Steinbok

Another antelope species, with narrow, slender horns, also called the Steenbok.

Hartebeest

An unusual looking antelope, rather large, but photogenic. It looks similar to the Topi Antelope, but I think this one here is the Hartebeest.

Klipspringer

A small Antelope, seen here on a rocky outcropping, one of its favorite habitats.

Impala

A magnificent creature with very impressive antlers!

Wildebeest

Headshot, showing the very long eyelashes, which seem to always obscure the eye for photography.

Flap-necked Chameleon?

This gorgeous lizard is easily seen here, with the benefit of a narrow depth of field, but it took us forever to actually spot this animal in the leafy green bush where the guides found it. Its camouflage was working perfectly!

Hyrax

A cute little mammal, this ironically is actually closely related evolutionarily to the elephant.

Dwarf Mongoose

These small animals were scurrying around at a lunch area near the gate of the Serengeti National Park, often literally getting underfoot.

Vervet Monkey

We enjoyed several close encounters with troops of this black-faced Monkey, seen here right after eating.

Vervet Monkey Family

We must have shot several hundred frames of this troop of Vervets over the 20 or 30 minutes that we stayed with them. The young were playing, and nursing, there was plenty of grooming behavior, etc. Here you can see one of the babies latched on to its mother's nipple.

Olive Baboon

We actually had a very up-close encounter with one of these male baboons - we were waiting in the parking area outside one of the National Parks, in our Landcruiser, with the top popped up for shooting, while our guide was inside taking care of the paperwork for our entering the park. The baboon walked right next to our vehicle, and then hopped up on the hood. That was interesting enough, but then it moved forward, and stuck its head just inside, perhaps 3 feet from my head! It was most likely looking for food, but fortunately didn't see any. It stayed there for perhaps 10-15 seconds I'm guessing, and then jumped off and went on its way. For those few seconds, though, I had no idea what I was going to do if it jumped in. It could have gotten nasty! I slowly grabbed one of the sandbags we used to support our cameras, and guessed I might try to push it back if it started coming in, but fortunately I didn't have to put this strategy to the test!

Hippo Pair

There was one popular "Hippo Pool" we visited, where we were able to get out of the Landcruiser to watch and photograph the Hippos. This couple seemed to be in the process of mating while we were there, a clumsy and noisy process at best!

Hippo Yawning

You pretty much have to have at least one shot of a yawning hippo for any African safari!

Vervet Monkey Baby

For some reason, this is one of my favorite shots from the trip, with this pretty small baby Vervet holding on tightly to its mother.

Wildebeest Headshot

Because they were so plentiful, it was a little challenging to get a clear shot of a single Wildebeest!

Warthog Piglets Nursing

On our way out of Serengeti National Park, we came across this family of Warthogs, with several of the young nursing.