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.
A summary of the program:
1 night in Kathmandu in 3*** hotel
2 nights in Pokhara in 3*** hotel
1 night in Lumbinī in 2** hotel
6 nights in Bardia in 3*** hotel
1 night in Kathmandu in 3*** hotel
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.
The Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) is a bird of prey found in North America that is most recognizable as the national bird and symbol of the United States of America.
A friend of mine recently bought a copy of a Japanese wood engraving. While reading this article from BibliOdyssey, about the wood engravings of Kitagawa Utamaro, I thought I should share some of the pictures of this artist.
And now, you and me can fly, really fly. Breath-taking! Boarding a plane became so down-to-Earth. I now want to have wings, I want to fly like an eagle…
Thanks to BibliOdyssey again, we can see magnificent reproductions of XIXth Century engravings of parrots, maccaws and other Psittacidae birds.
Macrocercus ararauna - Blue and yellow maccaw
But there are also interesting modern parrots. Go and watch the videos and photos from the Perroquet project from fashion photographer Sølve Sundsbø. Did I say impressive?
You should think that most cattle birds never heard about this injunction. They use African Buffalos as landing strips and these big cows as as source of food while they remove the parasites from their skin.
African Buffalos (nearly) without birds
African Buffalo - Copyright 2008 Y.Roumazeilles
African Buffalo - Copyright 2008 Y.Roumazeilles
Buffalos and birds
Here, we see a fast airplane in final approach, or is it in attack phase?
Splendid representant of the guineafowl bird family, Numididae, a brightly colored bird with a bare head, can be found all around the Masai Mara National Park. Unfortunately, it is always running out of the path of the photographer.
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.
Are you looking for information and news about digital
photogaphy and digital SLR cameras?
They are now grouped again in my new web site YLovePhoto.com.
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