Butterfly wing
January 24, 2008
This is a close up photograph of the beautiful Green-veined Emperor butterfly. My photography is still in macro mode at the moment as the river is too low to get around by boat.
There is still plenty game around with some nice big herds of elephant feeding fairly regularly in front of camp. The antelope disappear in the long grass though with often only the tips of their horns showing! I haven’t seen any lions for at least a month now although we do hear them most nights…..
Content Copyright Patrick Bentley Photography
Mating fire bugs
January 23, 2008
I’ve seen a lot of these guys around the camp recently (although this photo was taken a while back). They are also known as “cotton stainers” and are a major pest in the mfuwe area where there is a lot of cotton farming. They damage the seeds and transmit a fungus that stains the cotton yellow. They are pretty cool looking though!
Content Copyright Patrick Bentley Photography
Unidentified moth
January 21, 2008
The Luangwa river has unfortunately dropped right down again in the last week. We are still able to get around by boat but it is a little hair-raising as the river is stiff with hippos (when the water gets deeper they will move off into the tributaries). As a consequence I still haven’t been able to do much photography from the boat and have to stick to anything I can find in and around camp.
I have been using my macro lens quite a lot as there are plenty of interesting insects around at this time of year. This is just one of the beautiful moths that I haven’t seen before. It has some very distinct markings but I am unable to identify it from any of my books. So if anyone knows what it is please let me know.
Update 26/01/09 : The moth is a member of the Sphingidae family and is an Arrow sphinx hawk moth (Lophostethus dumolinii) – thank you very much to Jasper from the Netherlands for identifying it for me.
Content Copyright Patrick Bentley Photography
