Capturing the Moment

     Best Place to find Cheetah in the Wild Cheetah cub walking close by Africa Photos Cheetahs are the rarest of all the big cats in Africa. According the the Cheetah Outreach in South Africa, there are an estimated 7,100 cheetahs left in the wild. Even more disturbing is that this beautiful cat is now restricted to a meager 9% of its historic range. So as you can imagine tracking one down while on a safari in Africa can be one of the major highlights of the trip. Mother and cubs on the hunt Cheetah carcass in a tree   These beautiful cats are built for speed. They are capable of reaching speeds of 100km (68mph), over short distances. Because of this it is often referred to as the greyhound of cats. It uses this speed and acceleration to hunt in the open grasslands and woodlands for small gazelles. However some times cheetahs will work together to take down bigger game like a wildebeest. Cheetah brothers with a fresh kill Wildebe...

Bird Watching in Kenya   With over 1,000 species of birds East Africa can be a birders dream trip. You can find them in all sizes from the tiny ruby breasted sunbird to the heaviest flying bird, the kory bustard. They come in every color imaginable and some you have probably never imagined before. The experienced birder will be in birding heaven, but what I also see happen here time and time again is novice birders get hooked on bird watching and gain a lifelong passion. Bateleur Eagle Combing birding and photography is also a wonderful challenge in a place like Kenya. You may end up seeing six different species of eagles on one game drive. The birds-of-prey are often out hunting over the plains and perched up in the acacia trees. The brightly colored bateleur eagle ( Terathopius ecaudatus ) is always a favorite with its orange and yellow beak contrasting its dark body feathers. Lilac Breasted Roller European Roller   My ultimate Kenyan bird species to ...

  From Glimmer in our Eyes to Baby in our Arms Catalina at 6 days old   What an amazing thing to witness, the birth of your first child. There are so many unknowns and it seems like no matter what people tell you before hand you will still be shocked at the super power of mom to go through labor and give birth, and then again with just how much you are going to love your child. I finally realized all of this at 10:04pm, on the night of January 19th, 2008. That is the moment that our daughter came into this world. 8 months pregnant   It doesn't seem that long ago that Heidi was sharing this ultrasound picture with me. This was nine weeks in and our first visual of our future child. However, at least for me, the reality of the situation doesn't really settle in until you see a crying, breathing human come out of mom. It was also the moment we found out it was a girl.  We named her Catalina Blinn Tamarack. 'Catalina' after the island Heidi and...

She is just the cutest What a change! After the hot African plains, and the tropical Spice Islands, I've returned to the wintry countryside of Vermont. I got my first go around with sub-zero temperatures and some quality snow time with Neka the puppy. You may remember her from such post as Puppy in Vermont , and Back in Vermont .   She has grown a bit now and seems to be enjoying her first Vermont winter. And she really enjoys her yellow softball. She tumbles around in the snow, loves going on snowshoes, and I'm pretty sure she could stay our all day if we let her.

As i sit here watching the snow come down in Vermont, I can't help but think back on our amazing trip to East Africa. There were so many highlights, so before the new year really gets rolling I thought I would write them down so we can always look back and remember. Nairobi : Everyone makes their flights and finds me waiting for them right outside the arrivals gate of Jomo Kenyatta Airport. We kick back our first night in a quiet part of Nairobi at the historic Norfolk hotel , with everyone reuniting at breakfast the next morning in the Lord Delamere Terrace. Then we jump on our first of many small safari plane rides. We are able to see the slums, Nairobi National Park, the Abedares, and Mt. Kenya before landing at Samburu. Samburu National Reserve : We find the Samburu 5 almost before our first game drive. We visited Gabriel's village to dance with the Samburu warriors. We worked hard to see a leopard, and a lion, although the ostrich may have been an even bigger hit...

Walking the markets of Zanzibar Welcome to the Spice Island   While walking through the open air bazaars and ancient Persian architecture of Zanzibar's Stone Town we couldn't feel farther away from the dancing Maasai and hunting lions of East Africa. It is like walking through a different continent. Monument to the slaves  Known as possibly the most famous of the Spice Islands, Zanzibar's main hub is Stone Town. For years it was the haunt of the ruling Omani class. In 1840 the Sultan of Oman moved his seat from Muscat, Oman to Stone Town. This is when much of the stone work was begun.  In the late 1800's it was also the site of one of the most prolific slave markets in the Indian Ocean. A lot of Americans think that the slave trade was limited to the Atlantic Ocean, so the group was surprised to hear about a second major trade from the East coast of Africa sending slaves up to the Middle East. However, once the British outlawed slavery the fortunes o...

Heading to the boat After our first day of diving in the warm, beautiful waters around Mnemba Island the group woke up ready for more today. We decided to head out as a united front today, scuba diving in one large group so everyone could share in the experience. Emperor Anglefish Fire dartfish ( Nemateleotris magnifica )   I wasn't able to bring my big camera setup this trip due to the weight limitations of all the small safari planes, but I did bring Heidi's compact camera, a Canon PowerShot S110 in an underwater housing to record some of the underwater action out here off the coast. All of these pictures were taken with that, and you can see the underwater video capabilities in the previous post . Clear blue waters of the Indian Ocean Fi in her element   We saw many of the same fish and nudibranchs from yesterdays dives, although the schools were even bigger and denser today. A couple of beautiful angelfish showed up as well as a sleeping green sea ...