Friday, December 16, 2011

Camera Trap




Its amasing what can turn up in a camera trap, I found a dead zebra high on the bank of the Boteti river in the Xhumaga area of Makgadikgadi Reserve. Lions had killed one zebra down by the river but this one locked to have died from natural causes. But wait, a lion killing a zebra is also a natural cause! Ok a dead zebra not killed by a predator, it was quite intacked and bloated with 20 or so white backed vulture's in attendance. The vultures had taken the eyes and tongue and one was up to its wings in the anus, hey I'm so happy not to be a vulture ! It was then when it exploded, quite a pop and a jet of yellow liquid shot 6 feet out the back of the now deflating carcass and the poor (now yellow headed) vulture was on its back, wow! I'm so so happy not to be a vulture.
Later the same day we passed the carcass and found that the vultures had managed to open it up and consumed most of it, I decided to set up a camera trap and see what would pass by during the night. When downloading a camera trap the results are always a surprise, its a bit like having your film developed in the pre-digital days. So while collecting the camera and downloading the images, the excitement was growing. as flicking through I was seeing some good black backed jackal images at night when the camera is working with IR mode, then as it gets light some vultures return and the jackal was still around,..... Then wow up close, in my face, a banded filmmaker, Adrian!


Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Sunset in Matlapaneng





A beautiful sunset this evening in Matlapaneng, then I spotted a blue dragonfly resting so grabbed a picture ... then got a bit closer with the G10...