No trip to east Africa is complete without a visit to the magnificent Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania. It is the largest unfilled, inactive volcanic caldera in the world. Various hominids have lived here for 3 million years and currently about 25000 large mammals from rhinos to hippos to zebras make this area home.
Yellowstone National Park is spectacular in the winter. We stayed at the Old Faithful Snow Lodge, one of the few lodges open in the winter. From there we explored the Norris Geyser Basin via snowcoach, passed all the while by snowmobilers, who now are restricted to roads and use significantly quieter engines. As always the wildlife is varied and accessible, but what I liked photographing were the landscapes, especially the pine forests that burned back in the late 1980s. Their regimented geometry was softened by the falling snow.
Nothing is more exciting than flying for 8 hours above herds of wildebeest and other critters of the Serengeti, above Lake Natron’s spectacular mineral deposits and lesser flamingos, and finally around the summit of “Ol Doinyo Lengai” volcano the Maasais call the home of the gods. The surface of Natron is surreal, colorful, and geometric, seemingly made for me. In some of the flamingo images you will see both reflections and shadows from the same birds resulting in beautifully complex compositions.
See the First and Second videos in the series of East Africa Video Journals.
While the Serengeti always offers its share of fine wildlife sightings, I was quite excited by seeing the 120,000 year old Engaresero Footprints. These are among the oldest modern human tracks in the world.
I’m traveling in Africa with friends. We’ve been trekking at the base of the mighty Virunga Mountains looking for a troop of Mountain Gorillas and were not disappointed! Do note it’s up to the gorillas to get this close, we’ll approach the troop from a respectable distance but their curiosity can occasionally have them close the distance to check us out as well.
I hope to have more to share soon!
It already seems long ago, but last month I headed off to Ushuaia, the jumping off point for Antarctica and the remote islands of the southern Atlantic.
The Falklands are home to huge colonies of albatross and the rockhopper penguins.
South Georgia is my favorite place to shoot on the planet.
I guess I can’t get enough of Antarctica! I’ll be heading back there in late January-early February and there were a couple last-minute openings- more information HERE.
In spite of the weather we managed to get so much in such a short time in Iceland. The aurora borealis is always a stunner! Also, I can’t resist the adorable and affectionate Icelandic horse anytime I visit the country. In their full winter coats they were probably warmer than I was in my down jacket!
After only a day in Seattle from Antarctica, I flew off to Iceland to photograph the Bárðarbunga Volcano. We were so lucky in our timing! The only flyable four hours in the last seven days was when we were up. It has been unflyable since. According to our guide Iurie it was his best view since it started erupting in August. The weather has been so bad with 135 mph winds that they closed the road to the Jökulsárlón ice lagoon. We are hiding out in Reykjavik. No ice caves this trip, but it’s not bad spending time in the snow with hardy little Icelandic horses.
Now is the time of year for the Pushkar Camel Fair and here is a look back when I was filming there for my TV show Travels to the Edge. I did an audio postcard for PRI’s The World, which they used as an answer to the Geo Quiz.
A few of the images from that trip are featured in Earth Is My Witness.
I make my office staff very happy when I photograph in a new location. For the last few days of this journey in Africa, we traveled in the Simien Mountains in the Ethiopian Highlands, filming the highly endangered gelada or bleeding-heart baboon. They live in an extraordinary landscape with other fabled creatures such as the lammergeier or bearded vulture.
