Capturing the Moment

  An action shot of a large crocodile tearing off a piece of zebra meet and sending it down its gullet. What a day! It was sad saying goodbye to all our new friends and fond memories at Kichwa Tembo in the Masai Mara, but after 4 nights there, it was time to move on to our next spot in Tanzania's famed Serengeti National Park. We took a couple of small bush planes and a quick transfer by van across the border into Tanzania. We were pleasantly surprised to have the entire 12 seater plane to ourselves as we entered the Serengeti. Our new guide from andBeyond Serengeti Under Canvas was there at the airport, ready to meet us, and he even had a table of drinks and cookies set up in the shade of an acacia tree for us. Enoch, our guide, knew we only had two nights here to explore the Serengeti, so he wasted no time in packing the safari vehicle up for a game drive on our way to camp. First stop... the Mara River.

Taking a Game Drive into the famous Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania, Africa Sunrise over the crater   One of the highlights of any visit to East Africa is a chance to explore the Ngorongoro Crater Conservation Area. It is the world's largest inactive, unfilled volcanic craters at around 2,000ft deep and 100sq miles in area. It was voted as one of the seven natural wonders of the world, not in small part to the fact that the huge crater is packed with wild game. Dubbed a UNESCO world heritage site in 1979, everything from prides of lions to herds of buffalo can be seen living down in the crater year round.   We started out from the Crater Lodge at 6:15am, determined to get down into the crater before the rest of the dawdling safari goers. This worked out in our favor, especially since it was New Years Day and most people were still sleeping off the big night before. On our way a couple of our cars had a brief encounter with a serval. It was hunting next to the road and ...

Pattern of a Cape Giraffe   It is spring time here in Kruger National Park in South Africa which means it's a busy time, for both animals and tourists. However with all the back roads and sheer size of the park you can stay and watch an animal for a while without seeing anyone else. However, when you do see a few cars stopped along the road up ahead of you there is a good chance that there may be something special lurking close by. Sheer power of a young male lion It is their road first and foremost    Even though you have to stay in your car for obvious safety reasons, and you have to stay on the roads (it is more strict here than Kenya), there are so many animals here in Kruger that close encounters still happen naturally. Take a look at these close encounters that happened in one 24hr period spent in the park a few days ago. Smallest baby ever Rough skin of an African elephant   We had a pride of lions pop out of the river valley a few fe...

 A couple hundred yard kick out from Wailea beach yields an expansive reef filled with graceful sea turtles, different coral formations, juvenile fish, and lots of hiding places for moray eels. Today the turtles were plentiful as I had the reef all to myself. No boats tied up and only the occasional fly over from a stand up paddle board which are become a hugely popular option with beach combers here in Maui. A couple of turtles were fast asleep in their caves, out of sight of any would-be predators in the area. And then I came across a couple of young turtles set atop the reef, covered with hovering colorful fish cleaning the algae off its shell. Surgeonfish, potters angelfish, and yellow tangs were all in on the feast, sharing the buffet of algae on the turtles shell.    Wailea Point is also one my of favorite nudibranch hunting reefs. Today was a bit light with only two Vericose phillydias, but while searching the nooks and crannies for slugs I came across ...