Tanzanian Cheetahs

Shot in Ngorongoro:

1)

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wow great capture,
The third one is sharp and really nice.
I guess there should have been a eye contact in third to get more effect.

#3 is part of a series. It's just the first I've processed that depicts some "emotion" that goes with a story. We found the 3 brothers early in the morning lying up in some long grass. A herd of hartebeest approached and the 3 cats locked in on a calf near the back. They were waiting for the herd to come closer. Unfortunately a small group of Topi came in and spotted the cats. They raised the alarm and frightened the Hartebeest into changing course. The brothers gave up and walked away, one at a time. This is a photo of the 3rd as he left. He climbed on a Termite mound to check things out, looked down, licked his lips, and strolled right in front of our jeep. The "looking down" kind of gave me the impression of being disappointed with missing on an easy meal.

I've got 2000 photos from 13 days in country. Based on the rate I'm processing (half a days photos each week), I should get to the rest of this series in .... say .... October!

Amazing shots. I like number 2 the best. It is somewhat typical of alot of these kinds of shots but you executed it real well. I so want to go over there.

WOW! A true wild cheetah. Nice job capturing it.

These are all superb Joe,great captures.

Nice shots Joe, looks like you had a good couple of weeks.
Let's see some more please.

Two weeks and I'll be there....."drool"

nice shots of a big cat

To cool... Some day I will make it there... Some day

Very nice shots.You seldom see the Cheetahs in Ngorongoro. Where were you in the crater?

All good shots! I like the 3rd one best.

Zip

Thanks for the comments folks.

lev wrote:
Nice shots Joe, looks like you had a good couple of weeks.
Let's see some more please.

Two weeks and I'll be there....."drool"

You will love it. The rains are supposed to have started but there is a bad drought in East Africa at the moment .... that can make the tracks pretty fun to navigate.

Are you going to Tanzania or Kenya? If you have any control (or can exert some) over the party in the truck then try to arrange breakfast boxes instead of eating in the lodge/campsite. That gets you out on the road earlier and you have a better chance of finding Lions with a kill. You've got much better light too for photographing the eyes.... very important and difficult with a wild Cheetah. Your best chance of a Cheetah shot is around 10:00-12:00. They're lying up in long grass until Hyneas and Lions are gone to hide from the hot sun.

If you are in Tanzania then some Serengeti advice: try to stick to South West (Meru Kopjes and Simba Kopjes) and Seronora Valley along by the river. That's where most of the action is at the moment. There's a Leopard hanging out around the largest of the Masai Kopjes in the south part of the valley. There is a Lion Pride that feeds on Buffalo in the Meru Kopjes - their diet means they come out once every 3 or 4 days. The pride that hangs out in the dunes SE of the Simba Kopjes is very easy to find. There's a river east fo there with another pride and a young nomad male who provided me with my best action pictures (but I really needed 600+ mm with AF for those (which I don't have). There is a female Cheetah near Simba and a coalition of 3 brothers near simba. For Cheetah: follow the Thompsons Gazelles (small fellas with horizontal b/w strips along their flanks.

Check my website for my contact details if you have any questions.

We stayed in the Sopa.. the best for getting to/from the crater floor. We travelled north orginally (and found a pride of Lions feeeding on a Wildebeest). We then went south towards the picnic site with the manic Black Kites. We went west from there (I think - hard to tell with no view of the outside world) and found the Cheetah in the short grass plains near the lake.

I've loads more photos and a diary (80% finished) of the trip on http://www.highwaycsl.​com/Travel/Tanzania/Ta​nzania.htm.

I've 2000+ photos and have barely started to process. I don't think I'm going to be out for a large shoot for another 6 months !!!!

Hey Joe,

I'm going to Tanzania, and thanks for the tips.

I will be staying at different sites, moving on to the next every couple of days or so but will spend 3 days at the crater ( with lunch to go ).

Now give us some more pics


Great diary by the way