Patagonia Photo Tour 2015

Hougaard Malan has just returned back from an unbelievable two weeks safari with clients in Patagonia.

Situated on the outer fringe of the Antarctic Circle, Patagonia remains one of the most remote and unspoilt wilderness destinations of the world. The sheer grandeur of Patagonia’s landscapes is what magnetises photographers towards it as a world class photographic destination. The landscape of  ice-capped mountains towering 3500m above sea level, surrounded by Magellan Beech forests hosting a pallet of autumn colours and not to mention the cascading waterfalls and crystal blue lakes, create a platform for some of the most picturesque landscape images a photographer could ask for.

Our recent Patagonia landscape photo safari,  co-hosted by C4 Photo Safaris and Capture Earth was one of ideal weather conditions that allowed for some amazing images. The beech trees painted the mountains with their thousand colours and the clear crisp evenings and mornings highlighted the clouds and reflections with dashes of pink and orange.

C4 Photo Safaris will be running another Patagonia landscape tour in April 2017. We will keep you posted. Enjoy the beautiful images below with lovely Autumn colours due to the exellent timing of our tour.

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C4 Photo Hide Update

What a start to the photographic season in the C4 Hides at Mashatu Game Reserve. After scoping out a colony of White-fronted Bee-eaters hard at work digging away at the banks of the Majalie River, we rushed back to camp to collect the mobile hide. We gave the birds 2 days to get used to the big green ‘box-like’ object above their colony before setting off before sunrise to capture these beautifully coloured creatures in first light.

Unfortunately the morning was overcast, but this ended up working in our favour as we had more time to spend with the birds before the harsh light of the day kicked in. After 10mins of not one bird in sight and a slightly dampened faith that the colony had taken to us, the first bird arrived. Thereafter the performance continued until our batteries where dead and memory card where full up.

Being co-operative breeders the juvenile birds from the first clutches of the season, where hard at work digging holes and collecting food for their families within the colony. The juveniles make for perfect subjects as they are almost oblivious to the photographers and the tent, allowing the photographers to get close to them.

During the course of our action packed morning we had multiple visitors including, Laughing Dove, Meve’s Starling, African Hoopoe and Carmine Bee-eaters, not to forget mating White-fronted Bee-eaters!

White-fronted Bee-eater

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Brandy the Leopard

Brandy the much publicised female leopard has been the subject of research by the North West Province’s conservation department’s ecologist, John Power, for the last two years. Brandy remains one of the few free roaming leopards in South Africa’s Magaliesberg Mountains, hence the reason for the department’s endeavour to keep her monitored and protected. The findings from such a study can have significant impact on the success of free roaming leopard in other more developed parts of Africa too. Although the project has been predominantly state funded, some aspects have required private funding, owing to a constrained fiscus. C4 Photo Safaris has been a proud sponsor of the leopard project collars, and this has allowed the department to monitor the progress and movement of Brandy on a day to day basis.

In September 2014 John noticed that Brandy’s signal had remained static for a few days, so he and his team set off to investigate why this was so – mindful that this was concerning. Sadly they found that Brandy had been captured in a snare and was severely injured. John and his team snapped straight into action, and found that due to the rugged terrain they could not drive up to her, and it was also too dangerous to approach her on foot, so they opted to dart her from the air via a hovering helicopter. Afterwards, while immobilised, her wounds were flushed, and she was subsequently airlifted to Johannesburg from whence she was stabilised for a fortnight. It is thanks to the satellite collar that this was all possible. After extensive medical attention from at least three veterinarians at the Joburg Zoo, she was released back into the Magaliesberg in a much improved physical condition. This was such that she could have the chance to rear her cubs – as X-rays revealed three cubs!

For a few months afterwards there was no sign of denning behaviour, until the middle of November 2014, when camera traps were placed at a suspected den – and a few days later – one cub was revealed! This was great success in that considering the ordeal that she had been through, she was still able to reproduce, which is the gauge of success for any conservation efforts. The department’s conservation efforts are visible through Brandy’s remarkable comeback. This is a significant addition of genetic material as well as valuable scientific data that is being received firm Brandy and for the somewhat dwindling free roaming leopard population in parts of South Africa. This is one step towards saving the leopards of the Magaliesberg and maintaining the populations of free roaming leopards in Africa as a whole. Well done to the department and the team for their positive impact n wildlife conservation as a whole. C4 Photo Safaris is very happy to help with initiatives that have such a positive conservation result. Since C4 Photo Safaris ultimately benefits from the photographic appeal of leopards in many of Africa’s game reserves, we see his as an opportunity to give back to leopards that are in trouble in the more disturbed parts of the continent – such as the outskirts of the metropolis of Johannesburg, which is where the Magaliesberg is situated.

We look forward to watching the developments of Brandy and her cub over the months and years and also look forward to further sponsoring of more collars for this and other projects.

Magaliesberg Biosphere, blue dots indicate Brandy's location

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Maasai Mara Photo Trips 2015

This year marks C4’s 7th consecutive year with Entim Camp in the Maasai Mara. The Mara never comes with disappointment, hence our successive photo trips to this wilderness region of Kenya over the past years.

 

Not only does the Mara provide photographers with an unlimited supply of phenomenal wildlife sightings and suburb lighting conditions, we are also fortunate enough to be guided by some of the Mara’s finest field rangers. Over the years C4’s professional wildlife photographers have provided the field rangers at Entim Camp with photographic training and tutoring, to ensure that our clients are provided with the best possible photographic experience.

 

C4 run two types of safaris to Entim Camp in the Mara, the Classic Photo Safaris and the Premier Photo Safaris. On both safaris, unless designated, you will have a personal, qualified guide that will conduct you through your safari with information and knowledge on the ecology of the habitat. The Classic Safaris can host up to 12 guests per trip with two photographic guide’s hosting the trip. The Premier Safaris are designed to give you the highest possible photographic safari experience; hence we have minimized the group size to no more than 6 guests per trip accompanied by three highly experienced photo guides.

 

Between our professional photographic guides Shem Compion, Greg du Toit, Isak Pretorius, Albie Ventre and Andre Cloete over 20 seasons have been spent in the Mara, giving the guides ample time to map out their favourite spots as well as the most productive game viewing areas on the reserve. Over this period strong working relationships have been built with the local field guides at Entim Camp, making our guided experience seamless.

C4 will be hosting 7 trips to Entim Camp in the Maasai Mara this year, to read more on these trips take a look at our photo calendar for the year here:

http://www.c4images-safaris.co.za/photo-safari-calendar-dates.asp

 

Here are some images taken during our 2014 Maasai Mara photo trips, we look forward to having you join us in this wilderness paradise soon!

 

 

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C4 Photo Tour - Antarctica 2014 (Part 2)

How does one show a destination that's gives the viewer an overall impression of what life is like in a true wildlife heaven? Do you go in close and make your images intimate? Or do you go wide and give the overall impression of the scene, but then remove yourself a bit from the scene?

South Georgia island was part of our recent Antarctica safari and it is the most overwhelming scene a naturalist can ever encounter. Having master photographers art Wolfe and Frans Lanting travelling with us ensured that we were adequately prepared for what the islands were to offer us. They even covered how to use your tripod to defend yourself against the aggressive fur seals as you walk by them!

South Georgia is definitely quite overwhelming but because we were well prepared for what to expect, we were ready to capture the magical scenes in all their glory, and more importantly, we knew what areas to head to.

 

This resulted in images that give an intimate, yet a wonderful overall impression of what life is like on South Georgia island.

 

I can assure you that it is the greatest wildlife experience in the world. Enjoy the images.

 

 

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C4 Valley Hide

It’s been an impressive start to the establishment of our newest hide edition on Mashatu Game Reserve, The Valley Hide.  The hide has been created using the same design principles as the existing Matabole Hide, which has served many photographers in capturing the renowned low angle intimate shots the hide is known for.

The Valley Hide is no different, and in its first few weeks of operation has proved to be a very active little waterhole drawing a variety of species to the hide. The visitors include; multiple visits from the valley’s resident leopard, giraffe, zebra, jackal, hyena, steenbok, impala, eland, warthog and of course a variety of bird species.

We look forward to witnessing the Valley Hides first full year in the bush, and capturing and sharing the cycle of visitors the waterhole attracts to it.



Drinking giraffe close up

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Mashatu Photo Workshop - November 2014, By Trevor Kleyn

Some more great feedback and images from C4’s last Mashatu Photo Workshop of the year. Some incredible moments where shared in the bush during this workshop, despite the ‘far from ideal’ weather conditions.

With a little bit of applied patience and excellent guiding, shots such as these by workshop host Trevor Kleyn where achieved.

Hide activities

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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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Reflection by Heinrich van den Berg

 "This is not just a book of wildlife. It is a book of thoughts, reflection and candid philosophy."

Heinrich van den Berg is a full-time wildlife photographer and has travelled the world photographing wildlife and culture with a uniquely artistic eye. Van den Bergs photographs are known for breaking boundaries and depicting the natural world in a fresh and evocative way, proven by the numerous awards and publications his photographs has received.

Being one of C4 Images & Safaris' most experience guides, it comes to no surprise that some of the Photographs featured in the book Reflection was taken on Safari to places as beautiful as Mashatu and the Underground Hide.

I urge you to take a moment to click on this page and watch the video on his new book. It will expose you to one of South Africa's creative geniuses in the photography book world. Heinrich is currently the only photographer in SA that takes great concepts and turns them into stunning books full of excellent images and worthy words. Some beautiful examples featured in the book Reflection.

 

    

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Recent July Premier Predator Tour

C4 and Shem Compion recently hosted one of their favourite photo safaris in Southern Africa, a Premier predator Safari with a Kalahari extension.This means 4 nights in Mashatu, 4 nights in Mala Mala and then three nights in Tswalu Kalahari. All transfers are done by plane so that means you never miss a photo morning or evening session the entire duration of the safari!

What it also means is that our clients cover some very diverse landscapes across the country with all of them being excellent wildlife photography country.This is simply one of the best wildlife photography safaris you can do in Southern Africa with the highlights being the elephants and photo hides of Mashatu, Leopards and lions of Mala Mala and then the Meerkats of Tswalu.

It is no wonder that we only have a couple of places remaining in 2015.

These are:
Premier Predator Tour 22-30 April 2015
Premier Predator Tour 11-19 November 2015

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