Baobab Valley Camp

After crossing back to the mainland we headed up into the highlands and camped in Baobab Valley next to a river. Great camp, if you started a fire under the 55 gal drum, you could have a great hot shower. We found a lot of the camp spots in Africa had similar set ups. You learned to look for a fire burning by the restrooms or what passed for rest rooms.
At the Baobab Camp, as like a lot of place, you never set anything down while out taking photos as the monkeys would grab anything you set down. Same thing in camp but there it was jackals and hyenas trying to grab food. After dark they would really get bold, sitting by the fire as it was burning low it would be common to have one run by your chair to grab something from the table in the dark.

More Doors in Stone Town

Doors, Stone Town

Stone town is a maze of look alike concrete structures but the doors had a lot of character and added a lot of visual interest.

Stone Town, Zanzabar

This imposing building was down at the waterfront in Stone Town.

Stone Town, Zanzabar

Before leaving the island we spent a few days in Stone Town. It was never a challenge to get lost there with the narrow passages that twisted through the town.

Retired

Low Tide, Calm before the Storm

These fishing boats are built right on the beach nearby. It takes five men over forty days to build one and they cost about 8,000 US dollars plus the cost of the motor.

Approaching Storm

Low tide on the beach on Zanzabar with an approaching storm. The next morning there were several swamped boats washed up on the beach and lots of activity trying to save them.

Beach on Zanzabar

Zanzabar

Our restaurant and grocery on the north shore of Zanzabar. A fishing boat pulls up on the beach in front of the restaurant and delivers fresh fish for dinner.

Colorful Turtles

Down the beach from the resort was a lagoon where they raise these endangered sea turtles.

Zanzabar

The first few nights in Zanzabar we stayed at a resort on the north side of the island. These boat were just down the beach along with a boat yard where larger wood fishing were being built with just hand tools.

Corkscrew Palm, Zanzabar

It was a two hour boat ride in rough seas to the island of Zanzabar so this palm tree fit the mood.

Elephants of the Serengeti

Inside the Ngorongoro Crater

Someone forgot their makeup this morning.

Inside the Ngorongoro Crater

The Ngorongoro Crater

What an impressive place with thousands of animals of all kinds. On one of the drives in the crater saw a cheetah stalk then chase down a small antelope. They can go from stopped to 75 mph in about 3 seconds.

Serengeti

A rare spotting of the Arizona Cape Buffalo in the Serengeti. You can identify them by their hat.

Birds in Africa

The number and variety of animals in Africa was a surprise. I knew there were a lot of animals there, especially in the parks, but had no idea we would see so many virtually every day. At times we saw hundreds of zebras going past camp before we had breakfast on the way to the waterhole and there were times we couldn't walk into town because of elephants just outside camp. This happened several times at Victoria Falls, once a couple of us took a taxis to photograph some ruins before sunrise then had to hole up in the ruins until the taxis come back as we surprised a bunch of elephants already there. Actually they surprised us and they are very territorial. I guess that's why Festus, our driver, asked if we wanted him to wait for us.

The other surprise was the number of colorful birds. There was one the guides called the Spectacular Starling that was one of the most colorful birds you will ever see. These guys sat on top of the jeep watching us eat lunch. You really had to be careful as there were some birds called Kites that would dive down and take food while you were eating and they were big birds with sharp talons.

Africa

This guy has some blood on him as he was fighting over what was left of a zebra that the lions had killed the night before right near camp. The same lions that woke us at 2 am.

Kids in Kenya

Lions

During the day lions will usually be sleeping, on night drives you will see them out hunting. A couple of times they woke us up in the middle of the night with their roaring which could go on for a couple hours. Actually, it was interesting to just listen to the night sounds in what was now your neighborhood.

Hippos

This is normally where you will see hippos during the day

Africa, yawning hippo

With the new printer and projects to do in the darkroom traveling is over for awhile. Luckily Lake Havasu is a great place to live so I won't suffer. I remember living in Phoenix years ago and hating to come home from vacation. Now when I come back to town and see the lake driving in, it's great to be home. However I would like to plan a trip to Iceland, in summer the days last forever with long periods of twilight and dawn for photography. A friend who was there on a photo trip told me of leaving a 8 PM wake up call so he could go out to photograph. Also its been months since I have been in Turkey and need to get back again.

Have been going through some photos from a three month trip to Africa so will post some. In Africa I traveled with http://africa-in-focus.com/, we traveled in a truck but a truck with real seats and windows. Slept each night in tents but had a cook, driver, and guide. Wasn't sure I would like Africa but now I want to get back, it was great.

The guide told us a story about why hippos yawn, actually they are not yawning. It seems like when they were made they were told they must stay on land. The hippos wanted to spend there days in the water and asked why they couldn't spend the hot daylight hours in the water. They were told that they had such big mouths and would likely eat the fish. So they promised to eat no fish and that they would raise their heads up periodically and open there mouths wide to show they weren't eating any fish. For most of the day hippos do stay in water but come out to eat grass at night. The first night we camped in the Serengeti I heard chomping outside the tent and when I looked out there was a hippo eating grass a few feet away. Not the only time hippos kept us in our tents as they are very territorial, not to mention big. Nothing will bother the tents but humans in the open are another thing. You always were told to pitch tents far enough apart to allow for animals like hippos and elephants to pass between and to shine your flashlight around before leaving the tent in the dark, if you see eyes in the beam of the light do not go out.

We Got Prints

Last week my Epson 3880 printer came and now we have the first prints. For many years making prints meant black and white silver and platinum prints in the darkroom or Polygravures on the etching press. Now for the first time I have a printer hooked to the computer. The computer acted real surprised when I tried to install the software for a printer, in fact it went on strike. That meant I had to descend into techno-hell, the tech support line. Imagine my surprise when in a few seconds after calling I had a real human on the phone, in addition, he knew all the answers. After restarting the computer a few times and failing to get it to cooperate he talked me through a download of new software which solved the problem. While doing this he taught me everything I needed to make a print dealing with photoshop and Epson software and the needed custom profiles. A few minutes later I had my first print. Now, several prints later, I am real happy with both the 3880 printer and Epson's tech support.

First Light over New York

Took off from NYC in the dark and had sunrise on climb out. When we are flying somewhere in a private plane we always tried to leave early just before sun rise. We call it "dawn patrol", the best time of day to fly.

Somewhere over Eastern USA

Somewhere over the eastern part of the country there were several rivers and fog and low clouds had settled in the river valleys.

Arizona State University

Just left of center this side of the river is ASU where I went to school. Actually it is called town lake,http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tempe_Town_Lake, even though it is in the normally dry river bed. The river is dammed up outside of town forming several lakes. In fact I remember when I came to Arizona in the 60's in was reported that Arizona had the highest percentage of boat ownership in the US. This 224 acre two mile long town lake project was started by some students when I was at school. It was completed in 1999 and consists of a rubber inflatable dam to hold the lake in the dry riverbed.

THe Museum of Modern Art, NYC

These three photos are inside the Museum of Modern Art in NYC. Normally it is very crowded and it would not be possible to get these photos without people in them. Fortunately They let members in an hour early when they have special exhibits, that alone makes membership worthwhile.

Ice Rink Rockefeller Center

New York City Subway at Night

New York at Night, Radio City Music Hall

If you are in NYC in November or December do not miss the Christmas Show at Radio City Music Hall.

New York at Night, Times Square

Reflections NYC

Grocery and Take Out Food

A half block up is this grocery store which has all kinds of take out food. You can get a large selection of salads, soups, sandwiches made to order, and a variety of other hot foods along with a wide selection of drinks. There are many more shops like this one with in a block along with an even larger variety of restaurants. Makes you wonder if anyone in NYC ever cooks at home.

The Neighborhood

For many years I have stayed at a small hotel on 58th street just off 7th avenue. There is always construction in the neighborhood. Next door they are building a new parking garage and this crane is on the street behind the hotel just across from Carnegie Hall.