KBev Photography : Animals

Animals Galleries

Big 5 in South Africa (Dec 12) : I had three chances to see some of the "Big 5" during the trip. Here are some of my favorite shots. A far as the places we went? I'd rank them: Pilanesberg, Lion Park, Aquila. Here's a bit more info if helpful:

We visited the Aquila Game Reserve, about 2 hours from Capetown. This was my first "safari" and the weather didn't cooperate. Despite the time of year (December), it was cold, windy and rainy during the game drive. I wasn't prepared for that, especially with one of my kids being sick. Mercifully, the drive was cut short. That said, the reserve felt more like a "Safari Drive through" like we had at Six Flags. The lions were actually in a relatively small, fenced-in area by themselves. It was like being at the zoo. Even if the weather was nicer, the park still felt "small".

The visit to Pilanesberg, near Capetown, was awesome. In fact, I could have spent a day riding through the park. The trick is to ask the other guides and visitors (you can drive your own car, and many people did - benzes and beamers on safari? Yes). for the current location of the animals. Spending a day in your own car would be great, especially if you are already in the vicinity, visiting Sun City. This park has animals that are largely "on their own" to find their food (unlike Aquila). It also felt much, much larger.

Lastly, we visited the Lion Park, near JoBurg. I wasn't sure if this would be good or really tacky, but actually thought it was well done. The drive starts with the basic, boring antelopes and other animals. Then, it quickly becomes an array of different lions. The White Lions were especially amazing to see. The first group of lions we saw was "led" by a large male lion that was "having his way" with a female lion. His facial expression made the sight memorable (see photo). After the drive, you can go visit the lion cub enclosure to interact with the cubs. Sadly, some of the "cubs" were not so little. We were next in line when a "cub" attacked a toddler that was in the arms of her father. In the end, the lion ripped off her pants/ diaper while latching onto her with both claws and its jaws. The child was left with at least one huge a gash in her leg from the tug-of-war between dad and lion. Amazingly, after they emptied the enclosure and the dad ran off to get help, the attendant calmly said: "OK, who's next in line?" Amazing.

Big 5 in South Africa (Dec 12)

Animals of South Africa (Dec 12) : In addition to Aquila, Pilanesberg, and the Lion Park. We had a chance to see some animals on our Capetown drive. In addition to a bird park, we saw hundreds of penguins at the beach. The funny thing is that every time we came across zerba, they'd look at us as if they were wondering why we were in their space. I always looked at them, and just kept thinking: "Lion food".

At the end of our trip to Pilanesberg, we saw a huge antelope limping across the road. it was hopping on 3 legs and we could see that the lower part of one leg was broken. Actually, it was more than broken. It was dangling. The guide said that when they see stuff like that, they don't intervene. He said that the lions "would take care of it" when they found it. Sad but true.

Animals of South Africa (Dec 12)

Galapagos Islands/ Ecuador (Jun 09) : Normally, I try to keep the size of my galleries to 2-3 screens of photos max (45 or less). After 6 days in the Galapagos, it was clear that was just not going to happen. Here is a fairly large set of my favorite photos from the trip. The best ones are on the first page. After that, they are all shots that I felt "made the cut"... These are 100 of the 1000+ that I took during the trip. Enjoy.

Galapagos Islands/ Ecuador (Jun 09)

Monte Verde Cloud Reserve, Costa Rica (Aug 07) : The Monte Verde Could Forest Reserve was our first stop in Costa Rica. We spent a day and a half touring the area. Here are some of my favorite photos. It rains a lot in the cloud forest, depite the weather, this was one of my favorite stops during the trip. I put it in "Animals" but it includes a lot of bugs, too!

Monte Verde Cloud Reserve, Costa Rica (Aug 07)

Anhinga Trail (Mar 07) : Yet another Miami meeting, and yet another trip to the Everglades. This time I went to the Anhinga Trail. Of the 180 photos from that day, here are ~29 of my favorites (none are edited or retouched - sorry). Funny thing is that I wanted to go back to Shark Valley, but ignored the concierge and listened to the NeverLost system - which took me to the wrong place. Oh well. Last point: one of these days, I'll buy a nature guide so I know what animals I'm capturing in my photos...

Anhinga Trail (Mar 07)

Barbados Wildlife Reserve (Jun 07) : The Barbados Wildlife Reserve is known for the the large population of Green Monkeys. They are notoriously hard to see for some visitors. I didn't have that problem. In fact, at one point I was surrounded by them (while one played with my tripod). What did I do? I kept taking photos. Here are a few.

Barbados Wildlife Reserve (Jun 07)

Shark Valley (0603) : During another work meeting in Miami, I took the free afternoon to head to the Everglades. It was my first day of trying to shoot birds and animals. I often found myself sitting there thinking: "C'mon bird... DO SOMETHING!" I was tempted to throw some stuff around to get some action. Shark Valley was 45 mins away and well worth the trip. The light would have been much better in the AM - since most of these were shot into the sun in late afternoon. The animals were all in the canal on the West side of the trail.

D70 and 70-300mm Nikkor got the nod that day.

Shark Valley (0603)

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