WIN!!! With Getaway Magazine and C4 Photo Safari's

Getaway Gallery has for a number of years brought the limelight to some of South Africa’s most talented rising photographers. The gallery show cases Africa’s travel photography at its finest, each month the finalist are published in the Getaway magazine and highly commend entries on the Getaway website. Part of the first prize for the overall winner for 2015 will be treated to a week-long photographic safari in the Masaai Mara worth R45 000, sponsored by C4 Photo Safari’s. On top of this, your trip will see you kitted out with some of the latest photographic equipment on the market.

C4 Photo Safari’s has hosted photographic workshops in the Mara for seven years running; the workshops are hosted by some of South Africa’s finest professional photographers. On this trip you will not only have the privilege of witnessing one of nature’s wonders, the wildebeest migration, you will also have the opportunity to experience the freedom and vast wilderness of one of Africa’s greatest ecosystems.

Enter you images now to Getaway Photography and stand a chance to win with Getaway and C4 Photo Safari's. Closing date for entries is 1 April 2015, winner to be announced in the July edition of the magazine.

Good Luck!

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Antarctica Photo Gallery 2014 - By Peter Scheulfer

As our travellers from our recent trip to Antarctica eventually start settling back into milder climates and the going on’s of everyday life in the city, the reams of images snapped during the expedition start making an appearance on social networks and some in publications.

C4 traveller Peter Scheufler managed to snap a mere 20 000 images on the trip, this number being a tribute to the sheer beauty we were exposed to during our weeks at sea.  Here are a few photographs from Peter’s gallery that serve as an indication to the beauty of which we speak. Well done Peter, we look forward to seeing more of your work!

 

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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 Vehicle

 

Designed and built by the same wildlife photographers who built the world famous underground photo hides at Mashatu, the C4 photo vehicle is a fully customised vehicle built exclusively for Mashatu Game Reserve. Its design and concept stem from wanting to give clients unparalleled access to the excellent wildlife of Mashatu and allow them to photograph uninhibited and unconstrained. Our many thousands of hours on safari vehicles have been the best research and combined with our photographic experience we have produced a specialist photo vehicle that is simply the ultimate experience in photographing from a vehicle.

C4 Photo Safaris has been hosting photo safaris across Africa since 2005. Over this time we have seen thousands of game drive vehicles, each one with its advantages and pitfalls. No one vehicle was ideal for photography, so we went forth and built the definitive photo vehicle that caters perfectly for wildlife photographers. Using our extensive experience of driving on vehicles in the field whilst taking photos, we used this knowledge to design a vehicle that is unique in its kind and that offers you unparalleled photographic ease, speed, stability and comfort. No element of design was left out. We designed this vehicle to be our perfect photographic vehicle and we demanded perfection based on our many years photographing in the field.  Only once it was good enough for us, did we allow it to be enjoyed and used by our clients.

C4 Photo Vehicle

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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 Photo Tour Antarctica - 2014 (Part 1)

 

Over the last few years C4 has begun taking its excellent reputation in leading photo tours into the Arctic regions. This was based on demand from our clients who wanted to travel to new destinations and wanted to do it with C4. The Arctic trips were so successful that we have now done 4 trips in our own chartered boat. In May we will do our 5th Arctic charter. But the demand did not stop there and Antarctica was the next polar region being demanded. Maintaining our goal of always delivering the best photo workshops and tours on offer, we negotiated to run a photo workshop to Antarctica with Art Wolfe and Frans Lanting to join C4’s Shem Compion and Iconic Images International’s Denis Glennon.

From the moment everyone stepped on board our vessel the spirit was one of highly charged anticipation having such wonderful photographers to help run our workshop in such a magnificent location.

The results were not disappointing as we had brilliant weather at all the major landing sites resulting in world class photography and sightings. 

The sheer numbers of wildlife on South Georgia and the vast ice scapes of the peninsular offered all our cameras a continuous buffet of photo options. Art and Frans helped immeasurably in the field with their experience, tutoring and deep knowledge of the locations we were visiting.

 

18 days moved very quickly and before we knew it we were back on land with bags and bags of images to work over. 

Antarctica and South Georgia are both places that make you realise the true potential beauty of our planet. Everyone on this C4 trip was touched many times by being in such close commune to a wilderness area and such close proximity to so many animals.

 

These images will give you an idea of just what Antarctica is all about.

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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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Private Safari in the Okavango Delta, Botswana.

One of our clients, Eric Cheek, went on a private safari with Greg Du Toit earlier this year. They were situated at the Mombo Camp, Botswana which is in the famous Okavango Delta. The Okavango Delta is known as one of the last major wildernesses in the world. Mombo Camp within the Mombo concession in what has often been termed the 'Predator capital of Africa' and is considered to have the finest game viewing in Southern Africa. It is the only place in Botswana that holds the Big 5 and it sensational wildlife viewing is a world-renowned attraction.

The photograph below was taken by Eric Cheek.

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