Photographic trip to Kenya: the west

During the month of march 2012, we visited again Kenya for another photo-trip in search of new and beautiful species of it´s rich wildlife. This time we concentrated more on the southern and specially western nature areas and National Parks which were so far unknown to us.


The project was again tailor-made organized by Chalkoko Birding and Wildlife Safaris and personally planned by it's owner, manager and senior guide Geoffrey David Kore. Geoffrey again proofed his capacity to resolve challenging tasks and the whole travel went smoothly, without any problems and resulted in valuable photographic material from which I will show some sample pictures. We have to highlight that the trip led us to areas which are normally excluded from the main tourist routes and this meant additional difficulties: unknown roads, improvised accommodation and necessarily relying on Geoffrey's contacts on local guides which by the way turned out as excellent professionals.

The trip started from Tsavo West National Park, a park which we specially like because of it's hilly landscape and excellent possibilities for spotting leopards. There we didn't miss a short visit to Mzima Springs which in former visits with Geoffrey Kore had shown to be a good place for Giant Kingfisher and other waterbirds.

A happy Hippo family enjoys the water of the Tsavo river.

At Tsavo it is common to spot huge Monitor Lizards, here  a Rock Monitor

 From there we headed to the very famous Masai Mara, well known among nature lovers for the impressive september migrations of mainly Wildebeest and Zebra, crossing the Mara River under the shocking attacks of huge Nile Crocodiles. By the time of our visit there was no migration activity, of course, but Masai Mara revealed itself as an excellent birding area, unexpected even by Geoffrey who had warned me beforehand not to expect much birdlife here. Not only birds supplied excellent photography but also the numerous termite hills which were  often used by different species of antelopes as an elevated watching point to avoid being surprised by predators, provided a surprisingly  aesthetic point of interest which added drama to otherwise maybe rather boring images.

Two Topis keep a watchful eye 

From Masai Mara we left to Lake Naiwasha, which proved to be an excellent place  for waterbirds and specially the Lesser Flamingo. This species appears in huge numbers along the shore and even the deeper waters of the lake, allowing for different types of photography, resting, flying and even bathing flamingos. At Lake Naiwasha we met with a local guide, Robert Kiambati, a friendly and most experienced birder which allowed for the identification of even quite difficult specimens as well as for an easy boat travel around the lake with the additional difficulty of having to avoid the extensive and thick layers of waterlilies  which are invading the surface of the lake, causing both problems to the local fishermen and the visiting tourists.

After spending a whole day at Naiwasha we headed further north in direction to Kisumu, a big city which would be our base camp to visit The famous Kakamega Forest, one of the last places in Kenya were the original rainforest can be admired and home to numerous bird, mammal and reptile species which are adapted to this unique habitat. We spend the  night at a hotel which was nicely located on the shores of Lake Victoria. The next morning I discovered that the place was surprisingly good for different bird species (quite used to people) and the favorite grazing ground of the lakes' Hippos was the well taken green grass between the bungalows of the Hotel. Kakamega Forest actually did not give any good photographic results but as most wildlife photographers know, taking pictures in a rainforest is quite tough as animals stay well hidden and even when spotted too often the photo comes out badly because there is always that twig, leaf or branch in front of the animal's face. I have also to admit that we began our visit to the forest too late, early morning hours are always coincident with maximum wildlife's activity. As we had stayed in Kisumu for the night  we had more than two hours drive to begin with the actual visit, there is a christian lodge in the forest which could be adequate to stay near-by.

Blue Monkey at Kakamega Forest.

The next morning saw us heading even further north in the direction to Kitale. From two years ago I had wished to visit a tiny national park called Saiwa Swamps.   (under construction)

3 days Wildlife Photography in Doñana with Paco Chiclana

The National Park of Doñana is the most important protected area of Spain and one of the most outstanding wetlands in Europe. It has a surface of 290.162 ha, that is, bigger than Luxembourg. 
It consists mainly of flatland with dunes, forests and marshes. 
Around 360 species of birds (127 of them reproducing regularly in Doñana), 37 species of non marine mammals, 20 species of freshwater fishes, 11 species of amphibians and 21 species of reptiles may be found in this national park of southern Spain.
From the 23rd to the 25th of november I was able to visit this place (a heaven for birders) under the expert guidance of Paco Chiclana, a native nature guide who knows this vast area perfectly well. He is not only a biologist and extreme expert birder but also a wildlife photographer and all of us who deal with nature photography know how important it is that your guide understands your needs as a "wildlife shooter", quite different from those of a bird observer.
Having said this, I have to stress that it is actually not possible to visit the National Park itself by your own means. A specialized enterprise organizes excursions with adapted vehicles for groups in different numbers. However, I was told that it is quite difficult to spot any wildlife during those excursions, the main highlight remaining in admiring the different characteristic landscapes and habitats of the Park.
Around the official main entrances of Doñana National Park, numerous hides are ready for the visitors who want to observe and photography birds and other wildlife: the problem is that the park is so vast that the animals don´t have any reason to stay around the hides. We visited several of them but couldn´t see hardly anything interesting and this seems to be the rule. 
However, luckily, the surrounding areas to the National Park which are free to visit, appear more than crowded with species, the handicap is that you have to know where to search in this huge and vast plains of marshes, rice fields and dunes, and there you understand the importance of counting on a reliable guide like Paco.


To contact Francisco (Paco) Chiclana:
email: pchiclana04@yahoo.es


or to meet him at facebook:    http://www.facebook.com/paco.chiclana


some lodging tips: a place I can recommend for your stay during your birding (or non-birding) trip, is the Al-Andalus Palace Hotel in Sevilla (I promise, I am not getting any commission from those guys!). The reason for my recommendation is that this hotel´s location is in the south of Sevilla, good to head out for the Doñana N.P. , apart, Paco Chiclana lives near the hotel which is suitable for a smooth pick-up of the client and last not least they have fair prices: in november around 80 euro for a double room in a **** star hotel. Besides, a visit is already worth while to enjoy the incredible, delicious and abundant breakfast buffet, forget about lunch.. Of course, in Sevilla itself there are plenty of lodging possibilities. Last advice about the street address of the Al Andalus: it is not at the Avenida de las Palmeras, it is at Paraná Street. 
 http://www.hoteles-silken.com/hotel-al-andalus-palace-sevilla
for any information you may require please feel free to contact me at info@joanegert.com








List of the bird species I managed to picture during those three days, quite a lot more of them were seen and identified but are not included.

Ansar común, Greylag Goose, Anser anser

Cerceta pardilla, Marbled Duck, Marmaronetta angustirostris

Martinete, Night Heron, Nycticorax nycticorax

Garcilla bueyera, Cattle Egret, Bubulcus ibis

Garcilla cangrejera, Squacco Heron, Ardeola ralloides

Garceta grande, Great Egret, Casmerodius albus

Cigueña negra, Black Stork, Ciconia nigra

Morito, Glossy Ibis, Plegadis falcinellus

Aguila pescadora, Osprey, Pandion haliaetus

Aguila culebrera, Short-toed Eagle, Circaetus gallicus

Aguila calzada, Booted Eagle, Aquila pennata

Aguilucho lagunero, Mars Harrier, Circus aeroginosus

Aguilucho pálido, Hen Harrier, Circus cyaneus

Ratonero común, Common Buzzard, Buteo buteo

Halcón peregrine, Peregrine Falcon, Falco peregrinus

Esmerejón, Merlin, Falco columbarius

Calamón, Purple Swamphen, Porphyrio porphyrio

 Grulla, Crane, Grus grus

Alcaraván, Stone Curlew, Burhinus oedicnemus

Avefría, Lapwing, Vanellus vanellus

Zarapito real, Eurasian Curlew, Numenius arquata

Abubilla, Hoopoe, Upupa epops

Bisbita alpino, Water Pipit, Anthus spinoletta

Bisbita común, Meadow Pipit, Anthus pratensis

Acentor, Dunnock, Prunella modularis

Pechiazul, Bluethroat, Luscinia svecica

Colirrojo tizón, Black Redstart, Phoenicurus ochruros

Tarabilla, Stonechat, Saxicola torquatus

Curruca rabilarga, Dartford Warbler, Sylvia undata

Buitrón, Zitting Cisticola, Cisticola juncidis

Mosquitero común, Chiffchaff, Phylloscopus collybita

Chochín, Wren, Troglodytes troglodytes

Herrerillo  capuchino, Crested Tit, Lophophanes cristatus

Mito, Long-tailed Tit, Aegithalos caudatus

Agateador común, Short-toed  Treecreeper,  Certhia brachydactyla

Rabilargo, Azure-winged Magpie, Cyanopica cyanus

Urraca, Magpie, Pica pica

Estornino vulgar, Spotless Starling, Sturnus unicolor

Gorrión común, House Sparrow, Passer domesticus

Gorrión moruno, Spanish Sparrow, Passer hispaniolensis

Jilguero, Goldfinch, Carduelis carduelis

Triguero, Corn Bunting, Miliaria calandra

Tejedor cabecinegro, Black-headed Weaver, Ploceus melanocephalus (exótico)

Tejedor Amarillo, Yellow-crowned Bishop, Euplectes afer (exótico)

Zarapito Trinador, Whimbrel , Numenius phaeopus

Areas which were visited during the three day stay:

Day 23: Dehesa de Abajo, arrozales de Cantarita y de Isla Mayor, tramo sur del Corredor Verde del Guadiamar, muro de la FAO.

Day 24: pinares de Hinojos, marismas del Rocío, arroyo y algaidas de La Rocina, lagunas y monte blanco del Acebuche.

Day 25: Brazo del Este y arrozales de Isla Menor.

Some sample photographies: 

a juvenile Black Stork was just trying to swallow a huge fish (not very fresh indeed), but did not manage.

Night Heron at it´s roosting place

Azure-winged Magpies having a feast at a picnic area: the best place to see and picture them

The Black-headed Weaver is an invasive african weaver species, it is doing fine in Doñana but nobody knows about the possible consequences for native bird species.

Nature-Photography in Almería, southern Spain

During the month of november 2011 we traveled for five days to Almería, one of the andalusian provinces in southern Spain. For most spanish people Almería is well known because of it´s tradition as a preferred film-making  area, many wild west movies have been recorded here and even more recent movies like Schwarzenegger´s "Conan the Barbarian" got it´s backgrounds in this wild landscape. Almería surprises the visitor with strong contrasts: dry, harsh and unfriendly hills with hardly any vegetation hide green and lush valleys with nearly any square meter planted with wine yards, fig and almond trees as well as any type of vegetable. Specially in the beautiful Alpujarra this contrasts mean an appealing attraction to the visitor´s eyes. 
On the other hand the Cabo de Gata bay boasts incredible blue skies only overpassed by the turquoise mediterranean sea and the wild rock formations of this breathtaking places.

But Almería offers much more: the ancient berber culture with it´s white houses attached to the mountains, former mosques with the christian cross on top and over all enchanting people offering you their best hospitality. 
Our visit was, however, aiming specially to the photography of the wildlife of Almería. For that purpose we had contacted a local guide, Jesus Contreras who has dedicated it´s life to explore it´s beloved homeland: fauna, flora, culture, landscapes and people - there is probably hardly a square kilometer which Jesus has not visited!  His warm and well coming ways complement with a vast knowledge of animals, plants, sites and cultural aspects of his Almería home.. Besides that Jesus is an enthusiastic and dedicated outdoor photographer as well so that you run sure that he will be able to understand and meet your needs from a photographic point of view.

Much as the weather refused to show itself from the best side, thanks to our guide, 

we were able to capture multiple scenes and plenty of the local bird-life, leaving however enough "would like to´s" for a future visit! 

To contact Jesus Contreras you may email him to: indalodeoz@indalodeoz.com or meet him at facebook: http://www.facebook.com/oznature

A Herring Gull attacks a female Mallard

During our last visit to the Aiguamolls del Emporda nature reserve, a beautiful swampy natural area with dozens of bird, mammal and reptile species in northeastern Spain, my wife called my attention to something unusual happening near to us:
 a Herring Gull (Larus argentatus) had seized an adult female Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) by one of its wings and was trying hard to pull her back onto a stone bank where she was resting. The duck was fighting hard to get free but the strength of the gull was impressive as she was able to lift the whole mallard. The fight went one for about half a minute till the Mallard managed to get away unharmed. 
We were not able to guess what had provoked the attack of the Herring Gull.

Wildlife Photography Book

Under Cover by Joan Egert | Make Your Own Book

Hunting technique of the White-throated or European Dipper (Cinclus cinclus)

During the month of July 2011, I visited the area of the Ligurian Alps (Maritime Alps) in Italy.
Looking for Viperine Watersnakes (Natrix maura) we observed European Dippers (Cinclus cinclus) at a river in the pre-alpine area. The birds were quite shy and did not allow us to come closer than around 50 meters. After two days we came back and set up a hide which allowed us to photograph the birds within close range. They displayed all their interesting fishing or hunting behavior like standing in the fast flowing waters, diving and searching for water-insects above or under the water.

looking under the surface!

holding with one leg to a rock!

diving!

keeping balance!

Grey Heron captures an eel

In Agost I visited the Aiguamolls del Empordá nature reserve near Roses, close to the french border (that´s north-east Spain-Catalunya). Most of the lagoons had dried up completely and only one of the swamps which has a hide had still plenty of water so that there was quite an activity around (both wildlife and people..). I observed a Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea) while hunting with the hope to get a good shot if he would manage to spear a fish. The Heron failed several times and just when I was not alert he got a nice eel. The eel struggled to get free and after more than 15 min. it succeeded and managed to come out of the heron´s grip, the Heron chased it but it was too late to get the eel back in the muddy ground of the lagoon.

Wildlife Photo Trip to southern Peru: Manu National Park

From the 20th of May to the 8th of June we visited the Manu national park in South Perú. This huge national park is world famous for it´s incredible biodiversity which however does not mean that it´s wildlife is easy to see or, even worse, to get decent pictures of the more than thousand of bird species which inhabit it´s rainforests, from the cloudforests of the andean highland to the lowland jungle along the Madre de Dios river. 

                          First "shooting" in the Andes: Viscachas (Lagidium peruanum)


After spending a day in the former capital of the Inka-Empire, "Cosqo" ("Cusco" means actually "little stray dog" in Quechua) to get some rest from the long Barcelona-Madrid-Lima-Cuzco trip, we began the itinerary beginning with the andean Highlands some hours four-wheel drive after Cuzco. Resting in  this beautiful and interesting city is not really easy because it´s height, around 4000 m above sea level, makes breathing difficult, moving around the busy streets should be made at snail speed, specially climbing stairs ! 

After seeing some Viscachas and vultures gradually the treeless Andes Mountains gave way to the first montane rainforest or cloud forest. The first hummingbirds and tangares appeared. The temperatures were quite low, around 5 degrees Celsius in the morning climbing to 20 degrees at midday.

The Hooded Mountain tanager (Buthraupis montana)

Soon it became evident that photography in the cloud forest was going to be quite complicated, light conditions are very poor and the dense vegetation hides most of the specimens or shows them half covered with twigs and branches as you can see on the picture above.

We moved slowly downwards on a terrific mud road which connects Cuzco with the rest of the Madre de Dios river area, incredibly enough even big trucks and busses managed to pass defying deep abysses and wild mountain rivers. Every time the rainforest was changing, as we were leaving behind the cloud forest the trees became bigger and the mosses and lichens scarcer, also the species changed as many tanagers species are restricted to live in a relatively narrow band of height of around less than 500-600 meters.

At the first lodge were we stayed for two days, "Cock-of-the-Rock Lodge", an Agouti (genus Dasyprocta) passed in front of the dining room looking for food allowing easy photography.  (upper photo)

After descending during several days we reached the Madre de Dios river were we had to say good-bye to our driver and take a boat with our guide. The first lodge, "Amazonia Lodge" was quite near and it took us hardly 30 minutes to arrive. The lodges we used in Peru are quite basic if you compare them, for example, to the Kenyan Lodges. Even at Cock-of-the-Rock Lodge, one considered to be of higher level, the generator was switched on during hardly one and a half hours,  we didn´t have any problem as there were hardly any guests during our stay but with a booked out place, charging the batteries could have been quite a problem. One aspect we appreciated very much was the ambient of safety we experienced throughout our trip: the lodges´rooms had no locks and some of them not even proper closing doors, "who would steal anything here?" asked me an old indian woman after I tried to find out   about any key..

"shooting" hummingbirds in the lodges´gardens

The Madre de Dios river is a quite dangerous one, hidden logs stay underwater difficult to see for the front boat-skipper, who has to stay always alert for any sandbank which might cause the boat to get stuck. As our guides boatsmen explained to us, this river may rise 2 or 3 meters in one hour but it´s water level can also fall the same meters in the same time. Specially during heavy rainfall this men are not able to sleep during a whole night, always checking for the safety of their boat which might either be carried away by the water ore remain stranded on the beach where it could be impossible to bring it back to the water again.

During the next days we moved downriver stopping at two more lodges, two or three days at each of them. The facilities were similar: no locks, no closing doors and no thief! 

We made different excursions both during the day and also night, always in search of anything alive. Nighttime was good for frog photography much as we were disappointed not to find any "poisonous frogs" Dendrobates or Phyllobates, just some beautiful orange and brown Hylas.  The Pitviper pictured above had stayed at Manu Lodge for more than one week, nicely resting in the branches of a mango tree in the lodges´garden, it was cooperative enough to wait till we arrived and were able to make some pictures.

Finally, our way back brought us upriver on the Madre de Dios, this time the water-level had dropped and we experienced some difficulties having to leave the boat walking on the shore and even helping to push. The weather also began to worsen: the last day on our trip back it was pouring cats and dogs. The last trip back to Cuzco with our pick-up went on a non-stop basis this time leaving hardly any time for photography or observation.

All in all the trip was very interesting, photography quite difficult with lots of useless photos because of the mentioned difficult light conditions burt the percentage of rare species was quite high making the whole thing a challenge! 

if you would like to make such a trip you make check the following web page: Illapa Peru

..make sure you make the trip with Steve Sanchez, an enthusiastic and very expert and capable guide who will accompany you on the whole travel through this beautiful land..