Diversion: David Attenborough's 'Africa'

Last night the first episode of 'Africa' was shown on BBC1. Africa's wildlife have always fascinated me, and Attenborough is a lifelong hero of mine (even more so since I have discovered more about his incredible career, reading his autobiograhpy 'Life on Air') so I was very excited to see his new series.

It will be absolutely no surprise to anybody who has seen any of Attenborough's series before that the program held me enthralled. I enjoyed this episode particularly because it was almost entirely set in Namibia- often in places I have mentioned in previous posts, such as Etosha, the Namib Desert and Spitzkoppe.

Besides being rather stunning, the camerawork was also innovative, showing newly discovered behaviour- in particular, the cantankerous rhino is revealed, by means of night-time footage of delightful clarity, to posess a playful and sociable character. Meanwhile the gentle desert giraffe is exposed as brutally territorial, and a miniscule wasp and spider battle in extraordinary detail. And of course explaining every act of the performance is Attenborough himself, his voice synonymous with the wildlife documentary genre.

If you missed it, watch it now on iPlayer and don't dare miss the next!

Reflections

Here is a vaguely New-Year-appropriate post...i.e, the title is 'Reflections', which tends to be a New Year theme - and that is just about where the New Year associations end.

However, here are some nice pictures of reflections on water.

The scrubland, or veldt, on which Okonjima is based is, like most of Namibia, very dry. Therefore the areas in the park that see the most activity are those around the large dams which hold all the available water. The comparatively lush vegetation and glass-like lakes provide beautiful vistas, especially when the water mirrors the often dramatic sky.

 

This is the image I have used for my backgournd:

Spitzkoppe, January 2010

The rolling red rock formations at Spitzkoppe are ethereally beautiful, especially when surrounded by creeping morning mist, as in the picture below. This is the view I saw after sleeping under the stars for a night; the diurnal range is relatively large and the temperature after dark can sink below freezing (although on this occasion it only dropped to about ten degrees). On this trip, the the temperature during the hottest part of the day was as high as thirty two to thirty five degrees.

As Namibia is in the Southern hemisphere, January is the height of summer. It was at this time that I made my second visit to Deadvlei, in the desert. I found the salt pan rather warm during August, and therefore winter, 2008; however in January 2010, the heat was almost unbearable after a long walk around the dunes, reaching forty five degrees Celsius.

Lions, Etosha 2008

These two lions, along with another young male in their group, are the only individuals I have ever seen in the wild. As lions are in fact my favourite animal, the moment they emerged from the scrub near a waterhole in Etosha was very exciting for me.

There are no wild lions at Okonjima itself, although a few occupy large enclosures near main camp; at night, their 'coughing' call sounds alarmingly close.

Diversion: Wildlife Photographer of the Year

My recent small hiatus was due to my staying in London for a couple of nights; whilst I was there, I visited the Natural History Museum to see the Veolia Environment Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2012 exhibition. I cannot reccomend the exhibition enough, having attended it eagerly for the last few years.

To my eyes, it is a cumulation of excellence from many areas. Those interested in photography will appreciate the technical skill and patience of the award winners; those drawn in by wildlife and wild places will enjoy the range of species and landscapes on show. If like me, you are concerned about conservation, the 'World in our hands' category is, as always, poignant, and the rest of the images will remind you of the beauty you feel the need to conserve. I also think that for anybody interested in art, design or aesthetics generally, visiting an uniquely stunning building to see this incredible display is well worthwhile.

I always find it hard to choose favourites, but was particularly impressed by the 'Nature in black and white' category and the impossibly perfect composition of two cheetah mirroring each other atop a rock. The dynamic photos of penguins swimming (one of which is the overall winning shot of the competition) is fascinating in light of the recent discovery of the use of bubbles on the feathers to give the penguins speed.

As this is something I look forward to each year, held in a building I could easily lose myself in for the rest of the day, I thought I should share it so that if you haven't already enjoyed a visit of your own, you now know that you must go!

Here is a pick of the best, from the BBC website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/19978529

Leopard at Okonjima, August 2008

 

These pictures were taken of Wahoo, a permanent resident at Africat. Wahoo could not be released because he was too 'tame'- that is, as tame as a powerful male leopard can get! He was raised by people as a cub, but became too dangerous when he reached maturity. His name comes from the call mother leopards make to their cubs.

 

The picture below is one of my favourites, because it is just so impressively frightening. For once, I think the red-eye really adds to the photo!

Etosha Salt Pan

 



A few ostriches on the edge of the Etosha salt pan. A massive five thousand square kilometres, after the rains a shallow lake is formed, about one metre deep throughout.
I found that the marshy areas around the edge, as seen below, look remarkably similar to the salt marshes around Lymington, on the Hampshire coast.