He's baaaack ... The Tale of the Last Safari for 2015

I got home yesterday from the dark continent. Many TIA (This is Africa) moments with airports, etc. but all equipment and clothes made it back to my surprise. I'm hoping to run a day by day story on the trip starting later this week, but thought I'd share one image as a tease I call Hippo Charge! This is UNCROPPED. Yeah, the hippo popped up quite close to the boat and I was lucky enough to get a quick in focus shot.

Sometimes I get lucky. I'm really glad I didn't clip part of this big fellow as I shot. Here is the backstory:

In early Sept, 2015, I was leading a group for Magnum Excursions along the Chobe River in one of the Pangolin Photo Safaris boats. I was at the rear of the boat as we passed a small pod of hippos. One charged the fast moving boat. This was an impossible opportunity as we were moving fast and the boat is very large and stable, but like dogs chasing a car, this fellow gave chase.

I grabbed my camera and snapped a series. This is an uncropped shot at 188mm using a Canon 7D MkII with at 100-400mm ver II zoom lens. 1/1250 sec. at f/5.6 and ISO 400. I doubt I would have locked focus nor been as sharp if using my older 5D MkIII and version 1 copy of the 100-400. I'm still a big fan of my 5D MkIII in low light/high ISO and many other situations, but this 7D MkII does have a great ability to focus quick. BTW, I used Case 5, Aperture priority and the focus system was set on the 'Wide Zone' setting, which I've found to be pretty good when you are in a wide open area like the Chobe River. Once again a large reminder that when shooting wildlife, always keep the camera ready

Nice!

That's a life-time shot.

Very best,

That's a really, really nice shot! Great advice, also.

Isn't this in the wrong forum? Shouldn't this be in the macro section?
Good grief, what an image. Totally unique. Great shot.

Very impressive. The amount of detail you captured and the sense of motion make this a great image.

Cannot wait to hear & see everything from your new adventures of your Africa safaris! Bring it on!

Outstanding!

Nice shot. it must have been quite close to fill the frame like that.

If he's going to get up we'll have to get a "Bigger Boat"..!!

Wow, stunning shot. Just at early planning stage of my next African trip and would be very happy to come back with a shot like this. Look forward to the rest of this story.

Wow, great shot! And congratulations for making it into the "Best Of Gallery" so quickly!

Well done! What an image!

Beautiful Image Buddy.....Fantastic work

It begins with all guests have landed in Jo’burg. I’m always nervous until everyone is in our overnight lodge, but judging from the energy that first evening, the participants are eager for that morning flight to Kasane and our entrance into Chobe National Park. Booking the flights to Chobe (flying into Kasane, Botswana [BBK]), is always easy. There are only two flights from JNB, one on Air Botswana and the other on South Africa Airways commuter flight. The SAA flight is preferred as my clients can get Star Alliance points and, more importantly, it lands the earliest, allowing for a game drive on the arrival day.

This trip will be quite different than my June/July trip. The stay in 5 nights and then the group will move to Cape Town area for 5 nights. The group is 6 travelers and none have much photo experience but seem quite eager. For game drives, we will do approximately 60% from a special photo boat and 40% from a land vehicle. The first afternoon and following morning will be on the boat and then we will mix things up depending on what I’m hearing from reports in the field (guides talk).

The Kasane airport is going through BIG changes. It’s currently a small airport with a small one room arrivals/immigration/b​aggage claim /customs room and the process is quick and easy. Unfortunately, I’m worried they will be ruining the ‘into the bush’ feel you currently get as they are now building a very large looking terminal. Worse yet, the exterior doesn’t have the ‘Africa’ feel I get flying in now or into locations like Hoedspruit … but I should be open minded until I see how they’ve decorated the new place. Anyway, back to our tale.
All the bags came through without a hitch and as I waited for the last guest to clear customs, in walked Derek and Beverly Joubert (Google “The Last Lion”). I introduced myself to the couple, when upon my surprise, Derek noted he’s seen a few of my images. Wow, my guests were impressed and I was stunned. Nice meet and greet. Outside, our transfer was ready. We quickly checked in at the lodge and immediately grabbed our gear for the first afternoon game drive. The plane touched down at 1:25 pm and were on the boat photographing by 3 p.m., not bad!

The overall theme for the safari is “Chobe always delivers”. In August, there is always wildlife in sight and the only question is which subject we want to photograph next. Starting out, we immediately spot a small group (really too few to call a herd) of Cape buffalo at the water’s edge. One of the big 5 checked off and we are only 300 meters into the park! I was lucky enough to spot one with an ox pecker bird on his snout.