Maasai Mara Safari Dairy - Isak Pretorius

Safari Diary - 2 October 2014

Private photo safari, Maasai Mara National Reserve in Kenya

 

We finally arrived in the Maasai Mara and I was pleasantly surprised to see it so green from this week's good rains. This is great news as the wildebeest might return to graze here during the next few days before heading back to the Serengeti. In fact, people at our camp saw a massive crossing close to our camp over lunch time. Our plan was to look for Malaika, the cheetah with the five cubs. We found my favourite cheetah with her cubs and spent the afternoon with them. Our memory cards filled quickly as they finished a meal and went looking for another one, although not successfully. What a great way to start the trip!

Cheetah   |   1/500 sec at f/5.6, ISO 800   |   Canon 1D X + Canon 600mmf/4 lens   |   Aperture priority, 0 ev

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Svalbard Trip Review, September 2014

20 days in one of the last true wildernesses of the world is quite a sensation. When was the last time you travelled out and saw no other person other than your small group for more than 10 days?

This is one of the overwhelming emotions that hit you when you depart to the northern reaches of Svalbard. Here you are on the edge of the world at the mercy of nature, the ocean and the weather in a small vessel. Luckily that small vessel is one of the strongest kinds in the archipelago and can take you almost anywhere.

This is the nature of Svalbard and why we run our voyages here as "expedition style cruising". We go where we want to, exploring the many faces of this wonderful land searching for landscapes, glaciers and of course, polar bears and other wildlife. This was C4's third trip to Svalbard and once again it did not disappoint. Walruses, foxes, bears and magical landscapes all were part of the magic that was lit up by the arctic light. 

Svalbard grips you with a polar bug that is hard to shake off. I will be hosting our 5th voyage to Svalbard in May 2015. Unfortunately there are other clients who also have the polar bear bug; the voyage is already sold out with all berths filled.

 

If you would like to join us on a future voyage to Svalbard please contact us and we will put you on the wait list for 2016.

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Mashatu : Photo Workshop with C4 Images and Safari's - By Astrid and Juerg Bluemel

We were here before, little over a year ago. It was so absolutely fabulous that we had to come again, come and share it with friends. So we booked a photo workshop with C4 images, hoping to learn a little more and improve our photography, and we did ! Plus we made some new friends, had a great time, fantastic wildlife sightings and a very enjoyable stay at Mashatu Tented Camp.

Mashatu Tent Camp Tents
 

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Mashatu workshop in September 2014

We recently hosted a Workshop at Mashatu in the month of September and had some lovely feedback from our clients. Marc & Karin Scheltens joined us on this Workshop and had this to say about their whole experience and sent us some of their photographs, which is shown below:

"We just want to let you know we had a great time at Mashatu. Special thanks to Andre & Kyle, we learned a lot, but still need to practise a lot. We were so lucky seeing lots of lions, leopard and of course the cheetah with her 4 cups. Another great experience was making photos of the stars and a baobab tree.  Hope to get back one day."

 - Kind regards Marc & Karin Scheltens -

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C4 Images and Safari's September Workshop - Mashatu Game Reseve, By Kyle de Nobrega

During our last 4 day photography workshop hosted at Mashatu Game Reserve’s Tent Camp, we were treated to some incredible sightings with our guests that Andre Cloete and I co-hosted.

With the onset of summer, the weather was inconsistent which made it challenging for a few days with very overcast conditions. However, this worked in our favour for the multiple times we spent with the mother Cheetah and her four 3 month old cubs.  Without the worry of harsh light we all spent a number of drives following these 5 Cheetahs as they walked, stalked and played over the dusty baron areas which are so unique to Mashatu.

With our bank of luck being topped to the full, we where fortunate to get a glimpse of the 3 new large male lions that have moved into the area from the Tuli Circle region in Zimbabwe. Clearly life out in their usual territory is not like that for a lion at Mashatu as these 3 boys where not having any vehicle get within 50-60m from them. As if they where never here, the very next morning they somehow disappeared from the property giving us a glimpse of hope that they might one day finally reside in the reserve.

During the course of our 4 day workshop we where spoilt with no fewer than 5 differnet leopard sightings, and in true Mashatu style the sightings were of great quality.

Myself and Andre spent some time scouting out a new ‘star –trail’ site and we where delighted to hear about and discover that the largest Baobab on Mashatu was only within minutes from Tent Camp. With this monster of a tree being very rarely visited we spent a good portion of our last afternoon/evening trying our hand at some Milky Way and star trail shots.

Over the course of the 4 days, it wasn’t just about getting images for the stockpile but rather about enjoying the wilderness and being able to capture the incredible time we had out there together.

A huge thank you to everyone who was on the workshop!

Cheetah mother and her four 3month old cubs

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Private guided photo safari in the Okavango

Trevor Kleyn guided a Private Photo Safari in the Okavango Delta fro C4 Images and Safaris during the start of September. The Trip was timed for the height of the dry season, with animals all focused along the permanent waterways, which maes this photo safari can only be termed as the “ultimate” safari into the Okavango Delta. 

What makes Botswana’s Okavango Delta most remarkable is the fact that it is a wetland paradise located within the arid Kalahari Desert. Each year floodwater flows into the Okavango from its source in the moist central African highlands over 1000km away, creating a unique wetland that supports and sustains a huge diversity of wildlife.

Have look at these great examples photographed by Trevor Kleyn.

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C4 Images & Safari Predator Tour guided by Go Yamagata.

Go Yamagata recently guided clients of C4 Images and Safaris on a privately booked Premier Premier tour at Mashatu and Mala Mala. The combination of Mashatu's open ruggedness- perfect for leopard- and Mala Mala's notoriety on the big cat front gave our clients access to the best there is to offer on a big cat photo experience such as this.

Here are some amazing examples of Go's talent as a photographer and guide and the photography opportunities the group had on their safari!

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