Egyptian Geese
March 28, 2009
Egyptian geese are very common in this area and are great photographic subjects. They are extremely boisterous and noisy, making their presence felt all along the river. The males make a raspy hissing sound while the females produce a loud cackling noise. Some shots from the last few days…
Content Copyright Patrick Bentley Photography
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March 27, 2009
I thought this image might be of interest to those readers who have visited this part of the park before. It is an aerial photograph of Lion Camp. My wife Sarah and I live in the backwards L shaped building on the bottom right. You can make out the chalets of the camp lining the oxbow lagoon or ‘Wafwa’ which is the old river course of the Luangwa. At this time of year it fills with water but come the safari season it dries out and becomes a grazing area for a whole host of different animal species – which in turn attracts lots of lions!. It is certainly one of the best areas in the whole of the Luangwa for game-viewing and photography. As you can see from the photo we are pretty much in the middle of nowhere – it really is a magical place.
Content Copyright Patrick Bentley Photography
Leopard portrait
March 19, 2009
I have been taking advantage of the bad weather and slowly wading my way through last season’s images. As usual I have deleted a huge number and am now onto processing the remainder for prints, stock etc. The last few days has been leopards – here is a portrait shot of a beautiful female from today’s files.
Content Copyright Patrick Bentley Photography
Rain, rain and more rain
March 19, 2009
It has been raining incessantly for the last week which hasn’t been very good for photography. I have been able to get out on the river a couple times when there has been a gap in the weather – I even managed a microlight flight with John on Monday. As you can see from the photo the river is full to bursting again which is unusual for this time of year.
Content Copyright Patrick Bentley Photography
Elegant grasshopper
March 9, 2009
Zonocerus elegans – by far the most handsome grasshopper in the area. It has incredible colouration but as is often the case with brightly coloured creatures it is warning you not to touch or eat it. It’s diet consists of a wide variety of poisonous plants and it stores these toxins to use as a defense against predators. If touched it produces a yellowish liquid which stinks – apparently they don’t taste too good either and most animals avoid them.
Content Copyright Patrick Bentley Photography
Lion action!
March 3, 2009
It was quite a surprise to wake up around midnight last night to the sound of a pride of lions killing a buffalo right outside our house. The buffalo was madly crashing around in the bush and bellowing at the top of its lungs. The racket was unbelievable. Although the lions for the most part were silent I could hear one panting loudly as it caught its breath outside our bedroom window. A couple of hyaenas turned up as well and added their excited whooping to the cacophony!
After a good twenty minutes the buffalo seemed to manage to break away from them and the pandemonium moved down the road and eventually out of earshot. As soon as it was light I went out to have a look but there was no kill in the area so maybe the buffalo got lucky this time..
This photo is of a lioness I came across a couple days ago. Although it looks like she is snarling she is actually just finishing off a big yawn.
Content Copyright Patrick Bentley Photography
Elephant crossing
March 2, 2009
We’ve had a lot of elephants around recently with a herd of more than twenty filing slowly by in front of camp yesterday evening. Here a couple cross a lagoon near here.
Content Copyright Patrick Bentley Photography
