Africa: home again

Day 16 was a wonderful day of relaxation. We spent the day spread between working on our photographs of the trip (we had a big table set up under cover near the pool and overlooking the beach where we could work with our laptops while the tropical weather swung between bright sunshine and torrential rain) and just winding down. It was a great opportunity to review our experiences and creations of the preceding weeks.

The next morning we packed up, travelled back to the airport at Stone Town, got onto our Cessna Caravan (single-engined plane) for the flight over to Dar Es Salaam and from there split up for travel home (some people are continuing on to Europe, some are having stop-overs on the way home, and some of us are home in Australia already).

It was a great adventure, and I'd like to thank everyone for sharing it with me! Thank you to the new clients, and to the repeat adventurers! Before we'd even left Africa, discussions had already started about where the next adventure will be to (we're looking at another African photo odyssey for 2013, for example).

Stay tuned!

Africa Day 15: Zanzibar

August 30, 2011

Today we left the hustle and bustle of Stone Town, and travelled north-east to a spice farm. We spent quite a long time on a guided exploration of the farm (we had the same local guide as our Stone Town city tour yesterday, so he was getting used to the crazy photographers stopping all the time to take photos!). By lunch time we'd arrived at Blue Bay Resort on the east coast of the island, our home for the next two days. Sprawled along the beach, and quite luxurious compared to some of the places we've stayed in, it will provide us a nice environment to relax and continue working on our images, putting off the eventual return to every-day life.

Having been treated to tours of actual Samburu and Maasai villages in Kenya, it was interesting to see the pool-side Maasai dances put on for the tourists after dinner! 

 

 

Africa Day 14: Stone Town

August 29, 2011

Today we did "the tourist thing", starting the day with a guided walking tour. We covered much of the same areas we explored yesterday, but learnt a lot about the history and stories behind it. After lunch we had more time to explore the streets and to relax.

As expected, we're generating a lot less data away from the wildlife. In my own case, only several hundred exposures per day. Partly because we're in wind-down mode, but mainly because the lions aren't chasing the buffalo in front of us!

 

 

Africa Day 13: travel to Zanzibar

August 28, 2011

After fighting our way through the crowds and madness of Nairobi airport, we made it to Stone Town on the island of Zanzibar (Tanzania) by lunch time. After weeks out in the wilds, the manic pressure of town is a bit oppressive (e.g. almost everybody's got their hand out for a tip).

We're staying here for two nights, then moving out of town to "the countryside". In the afternoon we went for a stroll through the narrow lanes of the old city, and everyone was certainly getting excited at the opportunities!

 

Africa Day 12: travel

This morning was taken up with a drive back to Nairobi where we farewelled Joseph and Charles, our trusty drivers and guides for the past 12 days. We get to wind down for the afternoon and evening, and re-pack our bags in preparation for our morning flight to the ancient spice island of Zanzibar!

Incidentally, one expedition participant took the opportunity to buy an extra 500 GB drive this afternoon. With the massive diversity of active wildlife we've been encountering, it's very easy to take over a thousand photos per day (for some of us this has meant >40 GB, especially when you mix in some video). Shooting landscapes and street scenes is usually a much "slower" process. Even after deleting the obvious crud at the end of a busy day, a lot of great images can be left over. I know I've generated almost 290 GB so far this trip, and while the peak shooting activity is probably over, we've got our Zanzibar adventure to come (and the person who bought the extra drive is just at the start of a round-the-world trip!). Keep in mind that to be safe, every file should be stored on at least two drives, so I've actually generated 580 GB of data so far.

Some of our participants on this trip have been surprised at how much data they've been generating, but I don't think anyone's thinking it's a waste! I've only been showing you a small number of my own shots so far: it's been a very productive trip for everyone.

Tomorrow, Tanzania!