Iconic east Africa.

Amboseli, Masai Mara, Serengeti and Ngorongoro are all names that are at the heart of the safari industry in Africa, spread between Tanzania and Kenya. They stir up a romanticism that cannot be found in other locations. So when C4 Images and Safaris and Iconic Images International ran a safari to these wonderful locations we expected a good safari but nothing could prepare us for how wonderful the safari would actually be. We simply could not have asked for better sightings or photography

Read more...

Mashatu guide press release

C4 Images and Safaris are excited to announce a new chapter in the Mashatu Photographic hides. We’ve welcomed two new guides with a passion for conservation and photography as strong as C4 Images and Safaris’.  

Read more...

Southern Serengeti Calving Season

Words and Images by C4 Guide Albie Venter

Contrary to what many believe, the great migration never really starts nor stops ever. It is a perpetual movement of the mega herd of herbivores comprising wildebeest, zebra, and some species of gazelle. One of the main events on our safari schedule is the annual calving season during the months of February and March in the southern Serengeti. Here we caught up with the herd in a beautiful location in the southern woodland. Africa’s quintessential plains meet with the woodland and create a feature-full landscape of flat topped Acacia woodland interspersed with scenic Granite outcrops. These Granite kopje’s adds additional flavor and on them we often encountered prides of Lions, scenes reminiscent of Disney’s the Lion King.

A Scene out of Disney's Lion King! A pride on a Granite Koppie!

Quintessential East African Sunrise.

A chorus of Cape Turtle dove calls welcomed the day each morning as we travelled through the woodlands and we were treated to some of Africas most quintessential sunsets.

Our first afternoon had us photographing a pride of lionesses with no fewer than eight cubs all playing in the last rays of the setting sun.

All the large predators were present in numbers and we even witnessed a pair of newly independent Cheetah siblings taking down a wildebeest calf. Lions with cubs playing in golden light, a large male leopard and animals beyond count all contributed to a very memorable trip.

One of the Serengeti Special endemics, a Grey Breasted Spurfowl greeting calling at the end of day.

A big highlight was upon our return to camp one evening our chats were interrupted by a lioness walking nonchalantly through camp. And being a group of photographer one would imagine at least one good image between the lot of us. But alas...nothing to prove the sighting.

A Tawny Eagle taking off in early morning light.

Something I personally take real pleasure from is the fact that birds of prey were present in both species diversity as well as numbers. And although it is difficult to do proper birding during a safari in one of the worlds predator hotspots I did manage to tick off more than 120 species.

The smaller predators such as this pair of Bat Eared Foxes also added to the remarkable diversity of wildlife.

Read more...

Lake Nakuru

Words and images Albie Venter

This small little park on the outskirts of Nakuru town in Kenya’s rift valley never fails to surprise me. Probably not the wildest place in the world as one can see the outlying developed areas from most places in the park it certainly punches way above its weight in terms of photographic opportunities. One of the most remarkable phenomena is the incredible rise of the water levels. There are a few explanations for it but it is possibly resulting from increased freshwater inflow into the lake due to high rainfall. This results in lowering the salinity of the water, which in turn reduces the “salt flats” which then degrades the area as a feeding spot for the myriad flamingoes and other waders. Currently the lake shore has reached the entrance gate, submerging all the original offices and the rising water levels have drowned hundreds (thousands?) of mature Fever Trees along the lake edge. The lack of numbers of waders notwithstanding, this easily accessible park still features highly on photographers hit list.
 

One cannot really ask for more. A scene out of a Kipling fable. A beautiful female leopard high up in a Fever tree forest. 

The enchanting Fever Tree Forests combined with the frequent early morning mist creates stunning photographic opportunities, reason enough to visit this Park.

Again the mist is the deciding factor. Here a white rhino feeds on the "floodplains" next to the lake while a flock of waders pass overhead.

 

However to see the big cats within such close proximity to built up areas is truly a testimony to the conservation success and tolerance of neighboring communities. During our recent travels we saw several lion prides, Leopard, the most memorable of which was perched regally in a golden Fever Tree Forest as well as a remarkable sighting of a Striped Hyena.

Birds never disappoint and in addition to a new lifer for me in the form of European Shoveller, I also saw a spectacular and always special Narina Trogon.

Even though we were not really even looking for the big cats, we caught up with several prides of lions.

Read more...

C4 and Leopard conservation success!

C4 Images and Safaris aids in the release of a wild captive leopard

On the 16th February 2014, C4 Images and Safaris were contacted to help with an immediate conservation concern in the North West Province. An unidentified man was found to allegedly be keeping four leopards in captivity and in very poor condition. The consensus by conservation officials was that the leopards were all wild - due to their aggressive nature. To prove this, they needed to see if the leopards could survive in the wild, which was the conservationists educated opinion.

Read more...

Wild Laikipia Wild Dogs

Regular C4 Client, Teresa Nel, has just returned from a private safari in the beautifully remote wilderness of Laikipia, Kenya.

Below a collection of images taken by Teresa.

C4 will be running a scheduled tour to Laikipia in January 2015. See here for more info.

Read more...

Mashatu Underground Hide

Professional Wildlife and Nature Photographer, Martin Harvey, recently visited Mashatu and the underground elephant hide. Martin spent much of his time taking video footage at the hide and put together this beautiful video.

Waterhole from Martin Harvey on Vimeo

Read more...

C4 Guides Top Shots from the Mara

This year C4 spent 6 weeks in the Masai Mara leading photo tours. It was our 6th consecutive year of hosting these photo tours. Our camp ran beautifully, the location as always, was perfect and we had exceptional sightings.

Our guides are Mara specialists who have all spent many seasons leading photo tours in the ecosystem.

When on safari we believe in quality over quantity and get out guests to take images at excellent sightings in beautiful light.

These are a selection of the C4 guides' images from this year in the Mara. Enjoy and please share amongst your friends.

On the next blog post we will be putting up our clients images from their experiences in the Mara.

Albie Venter (www.africa-unlocked.com)

Read more...

Mashatu Workshop - Mike Dexter

At the end of all safaris there are some sightings or moments which stand out from the rest. The recent Mashatu workshop was a little different in that each instant smudged into the next; a hotchpotch of memorable imagery, a truly extraordinary experience.

The road to Mashatu Tent Camp is long, rocky and hot. More picturesque areas of the reserve will be explored later. For now the promise of four exhilarating days of idyllic game viewing in one of the largest private game reserves in Africa will have to keep you motivated as you pass through the dry mopane veld.
A shepherd tree leans over the road. In the tree is a small leopard cub which changes everything. We are no longer on our way to Mashatu, we have arrived.

24 hours and 2 game drives later we have had another four leopard sightings. In trees, in river beds, walking, sleeping, yawning, stretching and posing, they bared all for our cameras and by brunch on the first morning there were smiles all around.

I have mixed feelings about lions. They can be murderously boring, frighteningly impressive or gracefully regal. The trait you witness comes down to timing and luck. A pride of 11 (2 lionesses and 9 youngsters) caught and killed a wildebeest bull. We arrived only moments after they had begun to devour their prey. Feeding lions provides a full sensory experience. The sounds, guttural, aggressive and primal accompany the powerful visuals that leave nothing to the imagination.

We returned to the wildebeest carcass 24 hours later. The lions had moved on and in their place was a frenzy of jackals heckling for the prime remains and a hyena crushing bones for the nutritious marrow within.

The young of most species are adorable and baby hyenas, although a member of the ‘Ugly 5’, are no exception. At one den we have counted 9 pups of different ages. They are relaxed, curious, bold and playful; a collection of adjectives that add up to wonderful wildlife images and an overall special experience.

Writing up a summary of this trip is very difficult. I can’t cover it all and yet there’s nothing undeserving of mention. I can’t do it justice with words so I hope that the images will do a better job.

Read more...

Masai Mara Photography 2013

Words and images by Albie Venter


Yet again I come to the end of a big chunk of the years annual safari calendar. The annual pilgrimage to the Maasai Mara in Kenya. Spending even a few days allows you to witness and photograph natures incredible events so make sure to add it to you bucket list . Below are a few of my favorites from 2013. I hope you enjoy.

A typical and quintessentially East African Landscape. We ventured far from the crowds in search of birds when we were rewarded with  this remarkable scene.

A great Highlight is certainly finding the ever elusive Leopard. In the Mara North conservancy we were treated to fantastic viewing with only a small amount of vehicles.

A Pride of lions make their home adjacent to Off beat Camp in the mara north. Every single day we were treated to their antics. If there was another car it was only from our own camp.

The Off Beat Lion family.

Mara North Lion cubs in the last light of day.

Cheetah are always high on everyones wish list. Wider view of these cats at close range puts them beautifully in the dramatic open landscape.

Two cubs playing in Ol Kedjo Rongai

Making decisive images.

Its not only lions that got us going. We came across a few Black Rhino during the various trips. None more impressive than this enormous old male called Karanja. Fortunately he is on 24 hour protection!!

Close up of Karanja. look at his third "horn".

Hippopotamus in water lettuce

One always tries to encourage our guests to depict animals in a new way. A wide angle of a big male can be quite dramatic.

Very young cubs with mom.

Sometimes everything just falls in place for a great pic. A majestic male lion in a sunrise.

The Mara is probably the best place for action images and who would have though that it woud be one of the most common birds that would be giving us the best action.

Again trying to find new ways to depics familiar animals. Here i used some flash while using motion and radial blur.

WE found two mails one morning skirting camp. Here one is roaring in the earlu morning. A few minutes later they linked up with a female.

One of the coalition fiercely seeing off his brother in order to maintain mating rights.

The mating pair treated us to amazing photo opps right next to camp for the .

Dramatic display of light one afternoon as the suns rays are reflected from the above clouds to give an inverted pyramid shape.

As allways the Mara is one of the best places to view wildlife action

A beautiful female leopard in the first light of day.

A nice surprise! An elusive serval in golden light.

Read more...