Archive for the ‘Trips’ Category

Mountain Gorillas of Rwanda

Posted on October 31, 2009 at 3:30 pm

Deep in the heart of Africa lies the small, landlocked nation of Rwanda. Known locally as “The Land of a Thousand Hills”, the entire country is covered with deep valleys and steep volcanic foothills. The Volcanoes National Park, in the north of the country, is home to an estimated 250 of the world’s 700 remaining mountain gorillas, and is part of a larger volcanic region known as the Virunga Massif. Since no mountain gorilla has ever survived in captivity (unlike lowland gorillas), the World’s entire population can be found at the convergence of three countries; Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The Virunga Massif is blanketed by a thick, impenetrable jungle. The gorillas utilise the great diversity of flora found in this region by consuming up to 70 different plant species, including the thistles and giant stinging nettles that force anyone visiting the park to wear gloves and thick jackets! The gorillas inhabit the slopes of the volcanoes up to an altitude exceeding 4,000m. Temperatures here can drop as low as 0 degrees Celsius meaning that mountain gorillas are generally bigger, and have much longer hair than other gorilla subspecies. Adult males can be twice the size of females, with an arm span of 2.25m and a weight of 204–227 kg! They are known as silverbacks because of the saddle of grey hair that adorns their backs.

Gorillas are social animals and tend to live in groups of varying size. In all, there are upwards of 10 habituated groups that live on the Rwandan side of the Virunga Massif. At the start of each day, the park authorities allocate a maximum of 8 visitors to a professional guide who is responsible for leading the trek to the gorillas. On our first day, we visited the Umubano group, a relatively small family of 8 gorillas. They seemed to be quite shy, hiding behind the leaves and never looking towards our cameras. Naturally this made it difficult to take photographs. On the subsequent days we visited the Sabinyo, Hirwa and Group 13 families. Out of these, our favourite was Group 13.

Group 13 has around 25 individuals, all led by a dominant male silverback called “Agashya”, meaning “special one”. As alpha male, he has sole breeding rights over the twelve females in his group. The other half of his group consists entirely of baby gorillas under 3 years of age. It was a wonderful experience to watch these young gorillas play fighting and tumbling around in the foliage! For an hour, we followed the family through the jungle, photographing them as they snacked on bamboo shoots. Due to the alcohol content of the bamboo, the young gorillas became progressively more rowdy in their play (even the massive silverback was noticeably tipsy!). They would climb up the trees and swing from the vines, and on a number of occasions they fell to the ground in a heap of leaves and fur!

It was a constant struggle to try and photograph all the action without getting distracting branches or vines in the frame. The dense foliage eliminated most of the ambient light, forcing us to use wide-apertures and high ISO speeds. One of the most valuable tips to remember when photographing gorillas (or any animal that has black fur) is to set your camera’s exposure compensation to around -2/3 or -1. This is because your camera is tricked by the black fur into thinking the conditions are darker than they actually are.

Rwanda is a densely populated country, and almost every inch of the uninhabited or unprotected land has been transformed into a patchwork of fields and terraces. Farms and settlements push right up against the stone wall boundary of the National Park. The pressure on the gorillas’ habitat is clearly visible. However, Rwanda has a stable tourist infrastructure in place and puts much emphasis on the conservation of the gorillas and the preservation of their habitat. Ecotourism provides the necessary funding to initiate conservation and much of the money generated from the purchase of park permits goes into paying for guides, guards, trackers and also local community projects. Ultimately, if the local people benefit from gorilla tourism, there is less incentive for them to poach.

Rwanda is a beautiful country that has experienced a troubled past, but the kindness and willingness of its people to accept visitors to their country does not go unnoticed. We came away from this trip feeling privileged and humbled that we had seen both Rwanda and the incredible mountain gorillas.

The Pantanal Revisited

Posted on September 23, 2009 at 1:00 am

Last year we visited the Pantanal in Brazil – one of our favourite wildlife photography destinations. We returned with some fantastic images and couldn’t wait to revisit this unique wetland paradise. Earlier in the year we set off on a follow-up trip, visiting three new locations that provided opportunities to photograph a wide range of species.

The Pantanal is a tropical wetland area approximately eighteen times the size of the Florida Everglades. What makes it special is that you can observe wildlife that is almost impossible to see anywhere else in South America. The Pantanal ecosystem relies on a yearly flood cycle – during the dry season, the landscape consists of open savannah, patches of forest and isolated brackish lakes. However, when the rain arrives later in the year, up to 80% of the Pantanal is transformed into a saturated expanse of flooded land.

One of the creatures we were keen to photograph was the Giant Anteater. These animals are notoriously hard to come across in the dense rainforest that covers much of South America, however, in the Pantanal they can be found in the fields that line the roadside! We soon found that photographing anteaters wasn’t as easy as locating them… their long bodies made it hard to find a pleasing composition and focusing on their eyes as they waved their heads around took some skill! By far the biggest challenge though, was locating and removing the ticks that had swarmed over us as we crawled around in the dry grass. Even as we write this our bodies are still covered in purple tick bites.

The highlight of any trip to the Pantanal is seeing the beautiful Hyacinth Macaw. These birds became critically endangered due to the illegal pet trade and the destruction of suitable nesting trees. However, there has been a successful breeding program in the Pantanal and they are making a strong comeback. We were lucky enough to find a pair of nesting Macaws and one morning we set up our gear on the roof of a truck to photograph them. We managed to get some lovely shots of these characterful birds.

One downside of visiting an enormous swamp such as the Pantanal is the mosquitoes! Often we had to make the difficult decision… swat the mossies that were carpeting our bodies or keep our cameras up to our eyes, ready to photograph the animal we were watching. For some reason, coatis seemed to particularly enjoy mossified areas and whenever we tried to photograph them we ended up getting completely obliterated by the Pantanal Air Force!

The second location that we visited, a Fazenda called “Barranco Alto”, turned out to be an incredible place to see tapirs. In total we saw five individuals which is quite amazing considering how shy and elusive these animals are. On one occasion, we came across a young tapir sleeping in the middle of brackish lake. Initially, we didn’t even consider photographing it as 100m of waist-high, gungy green mud lay between us and the tapir. However, Matthew decided to brave the toxic swamp and began to wade. We really didn’t think that it would work… how close could you possibly get to a wild tapir? The answer is very close… close enough to use a wide angle lens!

An essential item in any wildlife photographer’s toolbox is the camera trap. This consists of an infrared beam which triggers a camera when broken. Day or night, whenever we had a spare moment, we would traipse off into the bush looking for suitable spots to set up. Unfortunately we were not lucky enough to catch a shot of a jaguar, but we did manage to photograph some crab eating foxes and a curious peccary!

Chimpanzees of Mahale

Posted on September 18, 2009 at 1:00 am

In 2004, we travelled to a remote region of Tanzania – the Mahale Mountains National Park. Sandwiched between the shores of Lake Tanganyika and the 2,000m high peaks of the Mahale Mountains, the park is known as one of the few places where it is possible to see chimpanzees in the wild. It is difficult to describe the sense of mystery and excitement that we felt upon arriving at the Park as the hoots and screams of chimpanzees and other primates echoed through the dark forest. We had an incredible experience watching and photographing the chimps in their natural environment. Some of our photographs from this first expedition proved to be very successful, one of them even earning me a win in Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2005. As a result, Mahale has always been a special place for us and we have wanted to return ever since.

In August 2009 we had the opportunity to visit Mahale for a second time. On this occasion our cameras and lenses were better suited to the low light conditions of the jungle and we both had much more photographic experience.

The region is currently home to around 800 chimpanzees though only one troupe consisting of roughly 60 animals is habituated to people. This is known as the “M” group. This group was first habituated back in 1965 by Toshisada Nishida, a Japanese researcher. During our stay we where fortunate enough to meet Professor Nishida who happened to be in Mahale on holiday… his wealth of knowledge and stories about the chimps made for some fascinating conversations.

Chimpanzees are very social creatures and it is amazing to observe the complex hierarchies and relationships that exist within the troupe. At the top of this hierarchy is an alpha male chimpanzee – he can be recognised as all the other chimps show him great respect.

M group is currently under the tyrannical reign of Pimu, a very aggressive chimp. His violence has generated an unsettled atmosphere throughout the troupe, and we witnessed a number of impressive displays of strength and aggression from the big males. It was noticeable that the atmosphere was much more tense than in 2005 when Alofu was the alpha male.

One of the main concerns for the safety of the chimpanzees is disease transmission from humans. In recent years, 12 chimpanzees have died from the flu virus that would have been caught from visitors or researchers. Consequently, everyone who observes the chimps must wear face masks. The downside is that they caused our viewfinders to constantly fog up, so we had to try and hold our breath when taking photos – not an easy thing to do after a tough trek! At all times, we had to keep a distance of at least 10m from the chimps.

It was great to catch up on the stories of all the chimpanzees that we remembered from 2005. Once again we were very sad to leave Mahale and the chimps who have almost begun to feel like old friends.

Katavi, Tanzania

Posted on September 11, 2009 at 12:44 am

We have recently returned from an incredibly productive trip to southern Tanzania. Our primary destination was Katavi national park, a small and very remote area which receives less than 650 visitors per year. In Katavi, game such as hippo, buffalo, zebra and elephant congregates in huge herds. This abundance of animals attracts predators, and prides of lions patrol the flood plains. The wildlife is much shier than in other places we have been due to the low volume of visitors. This made photographing the animals challenging but ultimately more rewarding.

We set ourselves a gruelling schedule: off looking for wildlife before dawn, backing up photos at lunch, out again in the afternoon and then processing photos late into the night. Our constant companions throughout the day were the tsetse flies – large, almost invincible flies with a ferocious bite. They had a knack of launching coordinated attacks right at the crucial moment of taking a photograph and it wasn’t long before we were covered with angry red bites!

We dedicated many hours to photographing a pride of lions which lived near our camp on the Katisunga floodplain. The pride consisted of four females and six beautiful cubs. The hours we spent with them were rewarded with some stunning photos.

Katavi is also a great place to see a wide range of interesting bird species. One morning we lay beside a croc infested river with a blanket over us to photograph sand grouse as they came down to drink. One of our favourite creatures was a Verreaux’s Eagle Owl which often used a perch overlooking the plain. We spent a long time trying to capture some of its many amusing expressions!

Our ten days in Katavi were a fantastic experience. We have many more photos which we will be sharing in due course. Our next post will be about the Mahale Mountains National Park and the wild chimpanzees that we photographed there.

Indonesia: Orangutans & Volcanoes

Posted on June 22, 2009 at 2:45 pm

I have recently returned from a fantastic ten-day trip to Indonesia. I started in Tanjung Puting National Park on the island of Borneo where I spent several days photographing Orangutans. I then flew on to Java where I explored the ancient Buddhist monument of Borobudur and some spectacular volcanic scenery.

Kalimantan, Borneo

Indonesia is the world’s fourth most populous country and as a result there is tremendous pressure on the land. Large-scale deforestation (much of it illegal) threatens the survival of many endemic species. Tanjung Puting National Park is a large area of protected wilderness in southern Borneo which was established in the 1930s to protect Orangutans and the unique Proboscis monkey. The park is very remote and it took me two days just to reach the village of Kumai on the boundary of the park. The interior of Tanjung Puting can only be accessed by boat and so I spent the next four days sleeping, eating and chugging along on a colourful “klotok” (river boat).

My primary base in the park was Camp Leakey. This research facility was set up in 1971 by Louis Leakey who was mentor for three world famous primatologists; Jane Goodall and Dian Fossey (known for their work with Chimpanzees and Gorillas respectively), and Dr Birute Galdikas, who has been based at Camp Leakey since 1971 and is a leading authority on orangutans.

Over the years, orangutans orphaned by deforestation and the illegal pet trade have been taken to Camp Leakey and returned to a life in the wild. These rehabilitated orangutans live alongside and breed with wild orangutans in the area. I was fortunate enough to photograph both rehabilitated and wild orangutans during my time in the park.

Observing these lively primates was fascinating because their behaviour can be so human; the mothers were tender & caring and the youngsters playful & mischievous! However, the highlight of the trip was when I came face to face with a dominant male orangutan whose size and strength was quite awe-inspiring! Dominant males such as the one shown above can have an arm span of 2.3 m and weigh over 118 kg – females by comparison weigh just 45 kg!

Borobudur, Central Java

Having survived the mosquitoes, leaches and ferocious ants of Borneo’s rainforest, I flew on to Yogyakarta in central Java. Here I got up at the crack of dawn to visit the ancient Buddhist monument of Borobudur at sunrise.

Borobudur was built over 1,000 years ago in the ninth-century AD. The monument comprises six square platforms topped by three circular platforms, and is decorated with 2,672 relief panels and 504 Buddha statues. A main dome, located at the centre of the top platform, is surrounded by 72 Buddha statues seated inside perforated stupa (shown in the first image above). The monument looks out over the twin-volcanoes of Mt. Merapi and Mt. Merbabu.

Mt. Bromo, Eastern Java

The final leg of my Indonesia trip was to Eastern Java, home of the picturesque Mt. Bromo. I first saw pictures of Mt. Bromo a few years ago and I was instantly captivated by the mythical prehistoric nature of the landscape.

Photographing Mt. Bromo at sunrise involved rising at 3.30am and getting into a jeep that looked like it was designed for driving on Mars! I suffered an uncomfortable 45 minute drive along a steep and bumpy track in order to get to the view point before the sun came up. I hastily set up my gear and took some long exposures while the stars were still visible and the landscape was lit by the first hints of dawn.

Later in the day, the light was not good enough for taking photographs, so I decided to capture the steam billowing out of Mt. Bromo by shooting a time-lapse clip. As I shot the sequence, the clouds rolled in overhead and added an extra dimension to the scene. You can view my time-lapse clip here.

Kawah Ijen, Eastern Java

The last stop of my trip was Kawah Ijen, a huge volcanic crater with a one-kilometer-wide turquoise-coloured acid crater lake. To one side of the lake is an active vent where gaseous sulphur billows out from the earth. Local people funnel this gas through ceramic pipes in order to cool and condense it. The sulphur drips from the end of these pipes and freezes into solid rock. The miners then hack the sulphur into slabs and carry up to 90kg of it up the treacherous path to the crater rim and a further 4km down the side of the volcano. Each miner will make the trip two or three times a day and will earn a total of around $5 per day. I can safely say it is the hardest job I have ever witnessed!

While trying to photograph the miners at work, I got a first hand taste of what their working conditions are like. On one occasion I got too close and the wind blew the noxious gasses over me. I almost fell over as I was hit by a stinging, burning pain in my nose and throat. Many of the miners had just a flimsy scarf wrapped around their faces and were right next to the active vents – I have no idea how they survive it! Here are a couple of pictures me in action: before being suffocated and while being suffocated! After my “near death” experience, I decided to keep a safe distance from all manner of mining operation!

For a few more photos from my trip to Indonesia, please visit my photoblog.

New Zealand

Posted on April 26, 2009 at 6:21 pm

While Will was exploring the historic sights of Rome, I was the other side of the world experiencing the incredible natural beauty of New Zealand.

I’ve just returned to the UK… I’m exhausted from the jet lag and the 24 hour journey but somehow I’m still finding the energy to write this post. The trip was a milestone for me (though not a very significant one) in that it was the first time that I have managed to fill an 80gb portable hard drive! The main reason for this is that I was shooting almost exclusively with the Canon 1Ds MK III. The 21 megapixel files from this camera munch through megabytes at a disturbing rate!

New Zealand is an amazingly diverse country, famous for its stunning landscapes and unusual wildlife. High levels of rainfall across the whole country lead to a land of verdant hills, snow capped mountains and glaciers that stretch down into temperate rainforest. The downside of this is that when the weather turns nasty, your camera can be rendered unusable. I discovered this during a 3 day spell in which I only managed to take about 20 photos! On the whole, however, the weather was good during my trip and it didn’t hinder me too much. I managed to explore both the North and South Islands and visited a variety of locations that gave me a good flavour of the country. Amongst my favourites from the trip were White Island, the gannet colony at Cape Kidnappers and the Franz Josef glacier.

White Island is recognised as New Zealand’s most active volcano and is located within the Bay of Plenty. People can reach the island either by boat or helicopter. I left from the mainland at sunrise which ensured that I could explore the island without any large groups of people getting in my photographs. The hour long boat journey was choppy, but I was filled with anticipation and suspense. We made landfall on the island at an abandoned sulphur mining factory. The buildings had been destroyed in an eruption in 1914 that killed all 10 of its workers.

Shortly after landing at the dock, a helicopter arrived to take me up and get some unique perspectives of the island’s features. The pilot was absolutely brilliant and he was more than willing to let me have the door taken off to improve my mobility and the quality of my images. Leaning out of a helicopter at 5000 feet with nothing but a harness holding me in was definitely one of the most exhilarating experiences of my life!

Since the only native mammals of New Zealand are a few bat and seal species, most wildlife photographers tend to focus on the country’s birdlife. One of the best parts of my trip was photographing the Australasian gannet colony at Cape Kidnappers. Unfortunately most of the birds had left either for Tasmania (the adults) or the Great Barrier Reef (the chicks) but luckily a few stragglers were left behind for me to photograph. It was great being able to crawl up close to these beautiful birds, despite having to lie down in all the excrement and cemented feathers!

My final stop in NZ was the Franz Josef glacier in the Westland. From here I did another scenic helicopter flight into Mt. Cook (Aoraki) National Park. Just after the sun had risen up above the peaks, we soared along the Franz Josef glacier and into the midst of the highest mountains in the Southern Alps, including the likes of Mt. Tasman and Mt. Cook. Once again I had the door of the chopper removed, but this time the 13,000 foot altitude took its toll on my fingertips – they got so cold that I couldn’t feel the shutter button on my camera. In the end I resorted to deftly forcing my frozen index finger onto the top of my camera in the hope of hitting the right button. This was probably my most painful, but also one of my best photographic experiences to date!

I hope you enjoyed looking at some of my photographs. Will also visited New Zealand a couple of years ago and has a few pictures on his photoblog.

Easter in Rome

Posted on April 19, 2009 at 10:27 pm

Over the Easter weekend, what better place to visit than Rome? I was fortunate enough to spend last weekend exploring some of the historic sights of Rome and the Vatican City.

Although I tend to focus on nature photography, I believe that photographing a broad range of other subjects makes me a better photographer. I therefore spent the weekend snapping travel shots, some of which I have included below.

St Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City:

St Peter’s Square, Vatican City:

Ancient Rome: