On a photographical safari with children

Trip report on our April 2013 Kenya trip

Thu, 02 May 2013 13:50:15 +0200

Trip report on our April 2013 Kenya trip:

I finally finished the photo trip report of our fantastic 11 day trip in April 2013 to Kenya. It can be found on the photography blog on my website www.withinafrica.com or by clicking on the title above.

On more than one occasion of my African portrait photography I...

Sun, 03 Mar 2013 16:24:00 +0100

On more than one occasion of my African portrait photography I violated the standard rule about being (not) close enough to my subjects. Yes, I have been too often dependent on my long lens in my case a Sigma 50-500 zoom. In Ethiopia we spent on average several hours a day on the road to get to our destination and I hardly could ask our guide every five minutes to stop whenever I saw an opportunity to take a picture. As Ethiopia is such an amazingly beautiful country, there were so many photo opportunities. It is a photographer’s heaven. I had my Nikon D3S camera in my hands in on-mode with a standard manual pre-setting of a fast shutter speed (generally 1/1600 and F 6.3 and auto ISO to compensate for the exposure) . Yes, you may rightfully criticize that some of those images lack intimacy but I am surprised about many that came out quite good. There was no other option as my kids would have revolted if we had stopped more frequently so my choice was between not getting the shot at all or learning how to take shots out of a moving vehicle at a speed between 50-100km/hour.

If you are interested in seeing more of my African images, I kindly in invite you to my website www.withinafrica.com

Kenya :The Planning for Day 1: From Nairobi to Ol Pejeta Conservancy

Sun, 20 Jan 2013 14:10:00 +0100

On our first dray we will be driving approximately 220 km north from Nairobi towards the Ol Pejeta Conservency. We should be able to do this trip in about three hours. We will be only 14 km away from the Equator.

Ol Pejeta conservancy hosts since December 2009 four of the worldwide only seven remaining northern white rhinos. They are constantly protected by armed guards as can be seen in the link of my previous post.

Only two cars a day are allowed into the rhino sanctuary. Ol Pejeta is also the only place in Kenya where chimpanzees can be seen. Many of the 42 chimpanzees in the sanctuary were rescued from traumatic situations and are nursed back to health.

In Ol Pejeta there is also a chance to spot the very rare wild dog or Africa painted wolf. A group of 14 wild dogs is living in the conservancy. So far we failed to spot them in Zambia and Botswana so we do not have very high hopes of actually seeing them in Kenya. The wild dog would be nr 1 on my tick list if I were to have one but as I indicated in my previous post this is not the case.

We plan on staying overnight in a tented camp in the centre of the conservancy.

In the streets of Addis Ababa © 2012 Nicole...

Sun, 20 Jan 2013 12:10:42 +0100

In the streets of Addis Ababa

www.withinafrica.com

Portrait of a monk in Lalibela, Ethiopia © 2012 Nicole...

Sat, 19 Jan 2013 21:58:51 +0100

Portrait of a monk in Lalibela, Ethiopia

www.withinafrica.com

Kenya in the wet season

Thu, 17 Jan 2013 15:23:00 +0100

Why would we want to go to Kenya during April in middle of the long rains season? We can expect heavy downpours of rain that time of the year and the grass is high so it is not going to be that easy to spot animals.

It may well be because I am not a very social person and a lion in the Masai Mara in July or August with twenty+ cars surrounding it may not fit my definition of a true wildlife wilderness experience. Masai Mara is not even included into our itinerary for this upcoming trip. Do not get me wrong the Masai Mara is a great national park and during our first Kenya trip in 2011 we saw the big five in a single day. We were also very lucky to be there on the first day when the wildebeest actually started crossing the Mara river.

On our third day ever in sub-Saharan Africa the highlights on any safari tick list (big five, cheetahs, the big migration) had been completed. Not that we had such a list in the first place but after having crossed off the obligatory “must see” we were ready to move to the next stage of “want do’s” to explore Africa in more depth and at its own pace.

Ethiopia is such a beautiful country and as we are going back to Ethiopia in August 2013 to visit the tribes of the Omo valley I would have loved to cross the Ethiopia-Kenya border and travel through northern-Kenya but we skipped that idea as we felt that the area on the Kenyan side around lake Turkana was not safe enough especially as we travel with children.

With having been only five days in Kenya so far there is so much more to explore. We will still travel up north and cross the Equator but only as far north as Samburu game reserve which will be the main focus of this trip. Perhaps we get the opportunity to visit some villages in the area to get a glimpse of the culture of the Samburu and Turkana tribes.

So why Kenya in the wet season? I do have a passion for photography and while a sleeping lion under a clear blue sky remains nice to see, photographing animals in the rain or under clouds may add an additional element of drama.

Even some clouds may be sufficient as evidenced by the world press photo in the link included below. Not that I have any such far reaching ambitions and if the sun shines during the entire trip we won’t be unhappy either. Nothing is predictible on any African trip and that is just the beauty of it.

http://www.worldpressphoto.org/photo/2012-brent-stirton-nas1-kl#.UPgDQxFEnqk.tumblr

Thu, 17 Jan 2013 15:22:51 +0100

http://www.worldpressphoto.org/photo/2012-brent-stirton-nas1-kl#.UPgDQxFEnqk.tumblr

Zambian portrait © 2012 Nicole Cambré www.withinafrica.com

Sun, 02 Dec 2012 14:16:44 +0100

Zambian portrait

www.withinafrica.com

© Nicole Cambréwww.withinafrica.com

Mon, 29 Oct 2012 22:45:38 +0100

…..in need of a pair of new glasses? © Nicole Cambré...

Thu, 25 Oct 2012 11:12:40 +0200

…..in need of a pair of new glasses?

© Nicole Cambré Photography

www.withinafrica.com

San Bushmen, Kalahari desert, Botswana © Nicole...

Wed, 24 Oct 2012 11:38:45 +0200

San Bushmen, Kalahari desert, Botswana

© Nicole Cambré

www.withinafrica.com

Lens Sigma 50-500
Focal Length 500mm
Shutter Speed 1/200 sec
Aperture f/7.1
ISO/Film 200

Zambian Portrait Focal Length 140mm Shutter Speed 1/160...

Tue, 16 Oct 2012 14:51:14 +0200

Zambian Portrait

Focal Length 140mm
Shutter Speed 1/160 sec
Aperture f/6.3
ISO/Film 200

Portrait of a San Woman - Kalahari desert Botswana (c) Nicole...

Mon, 08 Oct 2012 13:02:50 +0200

Portrait of a San Woman - Kalahari desert Botswana

Ethiopian portraits by Nicole Cambre in Issue 6

Mon, 08 Oct 2012 13:00:00 +0200

Ethiopian portraits by Nicole Cambre in Issue 6 :

Four of my Ethiopian portraits were published in the most recent issue of Stark magazine.

theanimalblog: by Florian Haid

Thu, 12 Jul 2012 12:43:41 +0200

theanimalblog:

by Florian Haid

Bungee cord snaps but tourist survives plunge into Zambezi river – video

Wed, 11 Jul 2012 12:18:00 +0200

Bungee cord snaps but tourist survives plunge into Zambezi river – video:

We picked up our visum at the Zambian embassy in Brussels this morning. I have so far no ambition in doing any of the crazy stuff like bungee jumping or the Devil’s pool. I would be happy to take the pictures though. If you click on the title you can see the video of the guardian on the bungee accident where a tourist survived a plunge in the Zambezi river filled with crocodiles after the cord had snapped.

Julien Cabon and Alan Le Tressoler, two French explorers were...

Mon, 02 Jul 2012 13:07:00 +0200

Julien Cabon and Alan Le Tressoler, two French explorers were preparing in Greenland in April 2011 their expedition to the north pole in 2012. A few hours after we met them they were attacked by two polar bears. Luckily they survived unharmed.

For more information on their trip to the north pole see http://www.polenord2012.fr/

Polar bear attack in Greenland

Mon, 02 Jul 2012 13:01:00 +0200

Polar bear attack in Greenland:

The pictures above of the two French explorers preparing in Greenland for an expedition to the north pole in 2012 were taken only a few hours before they were attacked by two polar bears. We were about 3km from the place when it happened. Luckily they were unharmed but had to kill the bears out of self defense

The French news reported on the attack see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDfYiqMk6FM

As the polar bear is an endangered species and thus a protected animal any polar bear killing needs to be reported to the police.

As the sea is frozen in that part of Greenland during 9 months per year there are no other possibilities for fresh meat other than hunting seal or polar bears.

The village had in 2011 a quota to shoot 35 polar bears a year with a strict registration system.

The two bears killed by the French explorers out of self defense were included in this number.

The inuït eat the meat and hang the skin outside their house to dry and it will be used for clothing.

I am well aware of the controversy that there is around this practice but when judging please bear also in mind that in this part of the world it is not trophy hunting but hunting for survival.

Hunters in Ittoqqortoormiit, the most northern settlement on the...

Mon, 02 Jul 2012 12:55:00 +0200

Hunters in Ittoqqortoormiit, the most northern settlement on the Greenlandic East-coast.

Sun Bathing the Greenlandic way It may be hard to believe but...

Wed, 27 Jun 2012 00:13:50 +0200

Sun Bathing the Greenlandic way

It may be hard to believe but snow is a good insulator. It keeps the dogs warm and protects them against the cold and the wind.