Archive for the 'Big cats' category

Back from a few days of photo trip to Nepal, I feel it is time to share with you some of this astonishing experience organized by Amawanda and guided by Alain Pons.

I am more or less a wildlife photographer attracted to the African wide-open spaces. But I had been attracted mostly by the presence of a seasoned pro photographer (Alain Pons) assisted by a very serious organization (I had been able to appreciate them in a previous trip to Kenya in 2008). I had also noticed that costs were relatively moderate (taking into account that this is a wildlife trip – which is often very expensive) including -we could check this later on location- a significant share reserved for local actions for development and nature protection in full coordination with the local structures and the local wildlife organizations.

The flight to Kathmandu was without surprise on Qatar, despite the long night stop in Doha airport where the only Duty Free shop cannot be considered as a commendable tourist spot (but they have a nice stock of alcohol or cigarettes for those who prefer to prepare themselves for later needs).

The Kathmandu-Bardia journey requires about 20 hours of bus or car. The stops provided in the program are a good way to break the inevitable monotony. A faster plane journey would be possible (it is included on the way back) but it would be a pity to avoid the view in the valleys and from the mountain roads out of Pokhara.

All along this journey, I will try to make a few recommendations about what a photographer might find more interesting to stop for.

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I am leaving France for a photo trip to Nepal. Why did my colleagues pay a part of that trip?

I’m just out of eBay where I bought a second-hand Minolta 1.4x lens converter to extend a little my tele-lenses when I put them on my Sony Alpha 700 and the old faithful Konica-Minolta Dynax Maxxum 7D.

I think it is going to support me when I go to Nepal (Bardia National Park) in next October. With Alain Pons and Amawanda.

I have been publishing some photos from my travel to Kenya last October, but it became apparent to me that I had forgotten to present the photos I took during a short encounter with a serval (Leptailurus serval, previously Felis serval, pronounced /ˈsÉœrvÉ™l/) which is a relatively large-size African wild cat. Amazingly beautiful, it is quite difficult to observe by day. Actually, it’s Alain Pons (our guide and famous wildlife photographer) who called “Stop!” after seeing a pair of ears just a couple of inches above the grass of the Masai Mara. Even, after braking hard, it took us some time to find it again.

Serval - Copyright (C) 2008 - Yves Roumazeilles	Serval - Copyright (C) 2008 - Yves Roumazeilles
Serval - Copyright (C) 2008 - Yves Roumazeilles	Serval - Copyright (C) 2008 - Yves Roumazeilles
Serval - Copyright (C) 2008 - Yves Roumazeilles
Click on the image to enlarge thumbnails

On the last picture, you can notice the black and white pattern of the back of the serval ears. They are considered as a beacon to help kittens follow their mother, giving them very visible indicators that stay invisible from the point of view of their preys.

Masque

An advanced civilisation if there was one, Aztecs lived in Central America from IXth Century to XVth Century (when their decline was essentially precipitated by their encounter with the Spanish conquistadores). Many facets of this civilisation stay unknown principally because they were wiped out wy the first European colonizers.

But one aspect stayed deep in the minds because it was an immediate shock to those who were meeting it for the first time: Aztecs practiced extensive human sacrifice when Cortés arrived in America. Rare are the Europeans who observed it first-hand, because it stopped quickly then, but many traces are left for the historian.

Generally, religious reasons (”gods are asking for peace brought to them through human bloodshed in their honor”) are shown as the main driving factor. I found a group of articles quite intersting because they discuss the vertus and weaknesses of another theory: That Aztecs needed to enrich their meals with meat that could only be obtained from cannibalism.

• The Enigma of Aztec Sacrifice, by Michael Harner (April 1977)
• Aztec Cannibalism: An Ecological Necessity? by Bernard R. Ortiz de Montellano (May 1978)

I can’t guarantee the quality of the scientific arguments by myself, but -for the reader with a strong heart- the LatinAmericanStudies.org web site contains historical data about the Aztecs grouped in a quite enthralling scientific package.

Additional references:

1. Wikipedia article on the Aztecs.
2. Photos about the Jaguar and Ocelotl, the jaguar Aztec god.

Leopard is a big cat special because it protects its largest preys (those which will make more than a single lunch) by dragging them away and up into a tree. It can take its own weight (or a little more) up to a high branch where no hyena would be able to steal it.

It takes the carcass, usually by the collar.

Leopard - Copyright (C) 2008 Yves Roumazeilles

Then, it will choose the right branch, look and find the right climbing path.

Leopard in front of the tree - Copyright (C) 2008 Yves Roumazeilles

Unfortunately, this one did not succeed in dragging up the Bohor Reedbuck it had caught late in the afternoon. It’s only during the night that (after reducing the weight by eating more of it) that the leopard brought the prey in its tree. Before light out, it just “visited” the tree.

Leopard in a tree - Copyright (C) 2008 Yves Roumazeilles	Leopard in a tree - Copyright (C) 2008 Yves Roumazeilles
Click on the thumbnails to enlarge them

Leopard (Panthera pardus, Léopard, Leopardo), Masai Mara, Kenya, September 2008.

This lion is also eating a gnu.

Lion - Copyright 2008 Yves Roumazeilles

You will easily notice that flies are a very common insect around big cats. No, these are not black defects on the image.

Lion - Copyright 2008 Yves Roumazeilles

Lion (Panthera leo, Lion, León), Masai Mara, Kenya, September 2008.

Found in the morning, this lionness had just kill a gnu (wildebeest). After eating most of it, she actually tried to hide the carcass in order to avoid seeing it stolen by others (hyenas or vultures, for example).

Lionness - Copyright 2008 Yves Roumazeilles
Lionness - Copyright 2008 Yves Roumazeilles	Lionness - Copyright 2008 Yves Roumazeilles
Click on the thumbnails to enlarge them

Lion (Panthera leo, Lion, León), Masai Mara, Kenya, September 2008.

If you are interested, you can find some of my images about big cats (lions, leopards, cheetahs) on my new web site YLoveBigCats.com. As you certainly have noticed, some of these images come from my recent trip to Kenya (Masai Mara).

Lionness, Kenya (Copyright 2008 Yves Roumazeilles)

Two lions (Copyright 2008 - Yves Roumazeilles)

A few images of lion females on YLoveBigCats.com (Kenya 2008).

If you have the heart of an adventurer, you may be interested to know that Ijust put in beta-test some new websites that I am working on.

• YLovePhoto.com (site specializing in digital photography)
• YLoveBigCats.com (about felines and other big cats)
• YLoveIllusions.com (optical illusions)
• YWantVisits.com (SEO, traffic optimisation and web site revenue maximization)

Your opinion will be welcome, but -remember- this is beta-test. So, it is full of bugs, problems, issues and don’t come back and complain if your significant other dumps you because of it.

Note: Most (if not all) of the photo-related news here will be applied to YLovePhoto.com as soon as I feel free with this new web site.

I published a few shots of lions. Portraits taken in the Masai Mara park (Kenya). My prefered is the following one:

Lionness - Copyright 2008, Yves Roumazeilles

If you click on the thumbnail image, you will enlarge it. And you may notice that the photographer (and its car) are appearing in the eye of the lion.

But there are several other images taken nearly at the same time on the original Big Cats web site. Yes! This is another of my web sites. Actually, YLoveBigCats.com is a separate location to publish information specifically about the big felines of the world (and some of the my photos of them).

After about 10 days out of France, I am back from the Masai Mara National Reserve (in Kenya). I brought back about 30 GB of wildlife photos (around 1700-1800 images) to be sorted out in the coming days. You can expect series of published images here on a regular basis.

You will probably notice a little slow down in publication of posts here in the coming days: I am travelling for a few days to Kenya in order to shoot photos in the Masai Mara National Park during the great migration of herbivores (wildebeests and zebras, mostly).

I will be there with Alain Pons, wildlife photographer, and supported by Amawanda travel agent.

Images later here.

Aube-Nature.com is a web site I tend to track nearly continuously because Cédric Girard tends to write interesting posts about nature photography. But I also caught a few posts with nice images of cats This goes farther than the usual “nice companion” photos.

I recommend heartily to check regularly Aube-Nature.com.

Even better than going to Africa, you can have your own lion pet, cute lion cub at home.

Furry and reacting to its environment, this is really a cool robot toy.

http://www.gizoo.co.uk/Products/ToysGames/RadioControl/WowweeAliveLion.htm

£49.95 (about $100 USD or 75€) in pre-order.

In the spotlight: Sony Alpha 900 Canon EOS 5D Mk II Nikon D700 FX Download Nero for free

Some of our pets can become heroes or -at least- be more unusual than we would think. The Pet Blog collected a series of astonishing histories about cats high moments, like:

• Oscar a.k.a. “Unsinkable Sam”
• Simon, of the Royal Navy
• The Alamo Cat
• Fred, the undercover secret agent
• Tama, train station master

Source: The Pet Blog.