| On safari-- wildlife and nature photos |
| "Zambezi elevenses" |
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Victoria Falls, starting point of many safaris in Zimbabwe and neighboring countries. Before Livingstone renamed the falls, they were called by the locals, 'Mosi-oa-tunya'-- the Smoke that Thunders. An even earlier name meant 'Water rising as smoke.'
The photo (above) of elephants drinking was taken on the Zambezi River, just upstream from the falls at the end of a walking safari in Chizarira, Hwange and Zambezi National Parks. Chizarira is in remote and rugged country backing on to Lake Kariba
Tundazi, the peak which dominates the higher country of Chizarira NP. Then, an irritable bull elephant encountered on the walking safari led by Leon Varley in Chizarira. We kept our distance! Later, an encounter with a small herd in thick bush. The elephants quickly moved off (and a warthog suddenly popped its head up) when they scented us. Much of Chizarira is rugged escarpment country but the lowlands of the south-east are crossed by broad sand rivers. On a track outside the park, a very placid but dangerous puff adder, enjoying the sun. More walking, in Hwange NP, where we tried to close the distance between ourselves and lions we were tracking. We came across only the remains of a sable antelope they had killed the day before. The last photo above is of a ground pangolin, seen by Geoff Gates on an earlier safari in Chizarira NP
 "The Lion of Chizarira" |  |  "The Elephant Trails of Chizarira" |
and click the map of Chizarira walks to enlarge it
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One of the great pleasures of an African safari: watching life at a waterhole, whether it's large animals like elephant (see the baby elephant which hasn't yet learned to use its trunk) or smaller ones like common waterbuck at Masumu pan, Hwange NP, or tiny creatures like a Little bee-eater hunting insects
Zebras amidst the autumn-like tones of mopane woodland in the dry (winter) season, and a rock hyrax with young (Hwange NP). Hyraxes, widespread in Africa, are small mammals which look like rodents but are actually closer to ungulates like elephants
Nothing's more delightful in a herd of elephants than the care and attention paid the young, and the behaviour of the young. These photographs were taken in Hwange and Zambezi NPs. More elephant images can be seen on my Botswana and Kenya pages, and there's a slideshow and a separate page both devoted to elephants. See the menu below
The Matobo Hills, a vast area of granite domes and kopjes, home of ancient cultures in southern Zimbabwe and later one of the strongholds of the Ndebele. They named the area Amatobo, meaning 'bald heads.' The panorama is made from three photographs taken from a hill called Malindidzimu, 'place of benevolent spirits'. The spirits share the hill with the graves of Cecil John Rhodes and other colonial heroes of the old Rhodesia. Rhodes called the vista 'a view of the world'
Equipment used in Zimbabwe: Minolta Dynax 7000i with Tokina 2.8 80-200 af zoom, Fuji Superia various ISO, Fuji Reala 100, Agfa Ultra 50. A medium format Fuji GS645S Wide 60 camera with Velvia 100F film were used for the second and third of the Victoria Falls photos near the top of the page. The Maplink on the left shows where the photographs were taken
