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East Africa - Drought Conditions
It looks like east Africa is finally receiving a decent amount of rain
which is long overdue. The immediate effect of the rain may cuase some problems as flooding will impact and already desperate situation. Here's an update on the rains for April 2006: http://wwww.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF...Q?OpenDocument Monthly updates from USAID: http://www.fews.net/centers/?f=ke News on the crisis in Kenya: http://www.fao.org/newsroom/en/news/...284/index.html http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org...03-13-2006.cfm **** There are extreme problems all over Africa which will need time and money to improve. I hope that anyone who is willing to spend thousands of dollars to visit these places will also be willing to donate a small amount to aid organizations which are trying to help these people. I understand that tourism itself helps in these countries but tourism does not always reach the worst hit areas. I personally donate to Doctors Without Borders as they are one of the most efficient aid organizations in terms of maximing the impact of every dollar contributed (84% of each dollar is used for support.) http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/ Whichever charity you prefer, please make a donation to help these people... -Alan |
#2
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East Africa - Drought Conditions
writes ...
It looks like east Africa is finally receiving a decent amount of rain which is long overdue. We were in Tanzania in late January and they were suffering from a three year drought, with little rain during the "short wet" season ... we went back in early April for 10 days (just returned a week ago) and it was a different place entirely as they had a great deal of rain starting in March ... we had some rain every day and had a couple of real tropical downpours while staying in the Serengeti. So at least for now the weather patterns are back to 'normal'. Very beautiful to see all the greenery. Here are some pics from the April trip, mostly birds (nothing like 37 billion tsetse flies, mosquitos, flying termites and other flies to invigorate the bird life) ... the lions trying to kill each other and the cheetah jumping on the roof were pretty cool too ... http://members.aol.com/bhilton665/ta...06/cheetah.htm Bill |
#3
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East Africa - Drought Conditions
In message .com
"Bill" wrote: [big snip] Great pics, Bill. Glad you enjoyed your trip. I could see the flies in your pics, at first I was surprised you hadn't 'spotted' your images, then I realised! The tsetses are a real nuisance. Were you totally free of them in Jan? Slainte Liz -- |
#4
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East Africa - Drought Conditions
Liz writes ...
The tsetses are a real nuisance. Were you totally free of them in Jan? We had them at Manyara but not at Tarangire, the crater or Serengeti in Jan ... but it was a very dry year to that point so perhaps they were fewer than usual. In April Manyara actually seemed to have fewer insects than in January but Serengeti had several orders of magnitude more flies, tsetses and, after torrential rains two nights, hatching flying termites. We didn't go to Tarangire or Crater in April. We didn't see any mosquitos in April but I assume they will hatch in force later since there were thousands of puddles. Bill |
#5
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East Africa - Drought Conditions
In message .com
"Bill" wrote: Liz writes ... The tsetses are a real nuisance. Were you totally free of them in Jan? We had them at Manyara but not at Tarangire, the crater or Serengeti in Jan ... but it was a very dry year to that point so perhaps they were fewer than usual. Ah, right. I had forgotten that although I was there in July, usually the dry season, things were much wetter than usual that year because of El Nino. In April Manyara actually seemed to have fewer insects than in January but Serengeti had several orders of magnitude more flies, tsetses and, after torrential rains two nights, hatching flying termites. We didn't go to Tarangire or Crater in April. We didn't see any mosquitos in April but I assume they will hatch in force later since there were thousands of puddles. There's always something. :-((( Tx for the info. Slainte Liz -- |
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East Africa - Drought Conditions
Bill wrote: http://members.aol.com/bhilton665/ta...06/cheetah.htm Good writeup and photos again, Bill. That cheetah on the roof must have been a very enjoyable experience! A question - what is that support which you are using for your Arca Swiss and Sidekick? I am still trying to find a good, flexible mount for vehicles which doesnt involve clamping to a window. Vandit |
#7
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East Africa - Drought Conditions
Bill wrote: Hi Vandit, you're going in October, right? Hi Bill - yes, the big trip is planned for October (may or may not happen due to some business expansion stuff going on). However, I am most likely also taking a trip in July with my parents to Masai Mara (present to my dad, after he recovers from some minor surgery), and figured I'd get some shooting in . Btw, I wrote my post to you on seeing the first cheetah page only - didnt see the lion pages until later. Spec-f'ing-tacular. It must have been amazing to witness something like that. I've seen a big male putting the smackdown on his pride female for getting too close to a *huge* giraffe carcass (see: http://www.photosafariindia.com/arti...3/page015.html), but this was pretty intense stuff. Incidentally, I've never thought that pride females would hang around so close to nomads, without the pride males having anything to say about it. Great bird photos as well... your photos, and also the commentary, are a genuine treat to read. are always vibrating loose. I did a write-up on what worked and didn't work on the January trip describing the T-mount base we used ... http://members.aol.com/bhilton665/ta...i.htm#vehicles and scroll down about half a page to "Vehicle camera supports" ... in that write-up I was bitching about how these aren't level on the Toyota Land Cruisers we used (they were designed for the British Land Rovers with three pop-off roof sections) so on this trip we took 10"x4"x4" blocks of wood, which you can see in the first and last cheetah pics, and these leveled it off quite nicely. Ah, I see it now - that diagram in the above page helped a lot. Correct me if I am wrong, but it seems as if this T-base just forms a base (supported on the 3 ends) for screwing in the head. Is that right? If so, I'll see if I can get one made locally... What did you do if the action was on the other side, btw? Just move your rig over, I assume? We also took small knapsacks and bought 5 kilo bags of rice in Arusha and used these as 'bean-bags' for the shorter lenses up to 300 mm f/4, which worked very well ... then gave the rice bags away at the end of the trip. Yeah, I like beanbags as well. For static subjects, they are great, arent they? I just took a few tiger photos taken at ISO 1600 and a shutter speed of 1/10 at an effective focal length of 900mm But they leave a lot to be desired when it comes to action.... Regards, Vandit |
#8
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East Africa - Drought Conditions
On 2 May 2006 09:25:56 -0700, VK wrote:
Incidentally, I've never thought that pride females would hang around so close to nomads, without the pride males having anything to say about it. VK, where did you read that? Pride males never tolerate any stranger males within their territory. Hans-Georg -- No mail, please. |
#9
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East Africa - Drought Conditions
Hans-Georg Michna wrote: where did you read that? Pride males never tolerate any stranger males within their territory. Hans-Georg, that's what I thought Bill had mentioned in his article (link in his first post in this thread) - that the pride males had abandoned the kill and the 2 nomads had taken it over. Given that 2 females and a sub-adult were hanging around, I was quite surprised as well. If I misunderstood/misread, mea culpa. Cheers, Vandit |
#10
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East Africa - Drought Conditions
VK writes ...
Btw, I wrote my post to you on seeing the first cheetah page only - didnt see the lion pages until later. Spec-f'ing-tacular Before our first trip a friend told us we'd be bored with the lions because they sleep 20-22 hours a day, but we've photographed them strutting in great early morning golden light, with playful cubs, on various zebra and wildebeest kills, stalking buffalo, squabbling with hyenas, copulating repeatedly and here fighting each other ... we've been really lucky with the lions Ah, I see it now - that diagram in the above page helped a lot. Correct me if I am wrong, but it seems as if this T-base just forms a base (supported on the 3 ends) for screwing in the head. Is that right? If so, I'll see if I can get one made locally Yes, with three small 1/2" wide pipe extensions with rubber caps for 'feet' ... make sure you don't build the top of the T too short or it won't fit ... one guy on our first trip had built his own but it wouldn't span the well of the vehicle and was worthless ... if you use the dimensions in the photo you should be OK for the two types of vehicles I mentioned. What did you do if the action was on the other side, btw? Just move your rig over, I assume? Yes, about 50 times a day you just lift it and move to either the other side or, if the animal moves behind you, to the spacer bar behind you .... the 500 mm with a Mark II weighs about 15 lbs with the Wimberley head and it's tough moving it when the vehicle is moving in bumpy areas but often you need to be setup (especially for birds) as soon as he stops or you miss the shot. Yeah, I like beanbags as well. For static subjects, they are great, arent they? I'm glad I wasn't using the beanbags when the cheetah was on the roof though, the T-mount was much more stable ... Bill |
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