Ladies and Gentlemen,

We spent last week in Kenya, staying at Ol Donyo Wuas. And visited Ambosili National Part.

Here are a selection of photos from our trip.

I am going to post severl pages. The following is my first, dealing onluy with elephants.

Elephants at Ol Donyo Wuas and Ambosili

A Visit To Masai Village

Great pictures.
Did you see any Lion?
Haven't seen any in that area myself. Most likely due to Masai with their spears and poison.

About how far were the close up pictures? It looks as if they are 20 yards or closer. The detail and clarity is nice , was this a zoom lens?

Some of the photos were taken about 4 meters from the elephants. From a hide that came to about shoulder hight for me.

These elephants are used to humans.

Saeed - Alot of really cool pictures, thanks!!

Saeed: You certainly have an eye for detail and composition, and an understanding of the creatures you capture. Those are wonderful images. The tusk formations on some of those elephants make them look very much like mammoths.

Fantastic photo's!! How close were some of the close up photo's? It looks like 5 meters!

fantastic photos! How close were you to the elphants on the close ups? 5 meters?


dale

Very nice Saeed

What camera/lens did you take on this trip

Great photos. Enjoyed them very much!

awesome !

Very nice, thanks for sharing.

All photos were taken by a Canon 7D with a 28-300 Canon lense.

I am selecting pictures of birds, animals, scenery, people and Masai to post for your pleasure.

Wow, those close ups are incredible.

Amazing pictures!!

quote:

Originally posted by ozhunter:
Great pictures.
Did you see any Lion?
Haven't seen any in that area myself. Most likely due to Masai with their spears and poison.

Sadly, we saw neither any lions nor any signs of them.

Great photos. Somehow looking at those old elephants make me feel that I am looking at a group of retired old men gathered at their evening club.I found it quite touching actually,looking at those pics.

Best-
Locksley,R

Incredible pictures. Very well done. Being very green on the subject could someone explain what the bulls are rubbing their working tusk on to create the groove or notch. Seems most have them on at least one tusk.

Thanks

D

gras notch, after 50 years of eating

Those are incredible Saeed! How about an AR calendar for 2012? Would be outstanding with some of your photo's.
Cheers,
David

Awesome photos Saeed! There are some very ancient looking old bulls there!

My first question was going to be "how close" but I see you answered that already...4m! Even though they are used to humans, that would still be pretty exciting.

Thanks for sharing.

Great photos!

Thanks Saeed.

I second the idea on a Saeed generated AR calendar!

Thanks Saeed. Nice pics. Some of those old bulls are wrinkled almost as much as I am.

It's always amazing the things you see when you can't have a gun. Can you imagine the revenue that could be generated with even one year of hunting. Kenya is really missing the boat and has been for a long time.

Great pictures, thanks for sharing. Now I can go to bed and dream of big ivory.

Very nice pics.

quote:

Originally posted by Canuck:
Awesome photos Saeed! There are some very ancient looking old bulls there!

My first question was going to be "how close" but I see you answered that already...4m! Even though they are used to humans, that would still be pretty exciting.

There is a hide about 20-30 meters from the waterhole, and the people in the lodge ask that any hues who wishes to go down to the hide ask for someone to escort them down.

We went down with Daniel, one of the Masai guides. He had a party popper in his hands - it is supposed to scare any elephant that might get any idea of coming into the hide.

The likelyhood of this happening is about a trillion to 1.

Anyway, we went down with a friend and his son.

Some of those bulls pass very close to our hide as they passwed either going to water or going back.

As the first bull was walking towards us, my friend whispered "Saeed, he is getting close!"

I ignored him and continued to take pictures.

The bull now was about 15 yards away.

I looked back at my friends and they were alread at the back end of the hide, getting ready to de-camp!

I went back to taking pictures. The bull get to the other side of the barrier between me and him, and turned toward us to look. I kept clicking away. He then turned and went on his way.

The look on my friend's face was priceless!
He said "He could have got you with his trunk!"
"Why would he want to do that?"
"I don't know. But he did not look very happy looking at you"

"You are beginning to sound like Walter now"
True. I am beginning to think like Walter now too. He is right! You are raving MAD!"

"You think you could outrun an elephant with a 10 yards lead?"

"Can we go back now? I need a drink!"

Saeed:

If you get a chance please photograph blinds, vehicles, accommodations, etc. along with animals of course. Once again very interesting to those of us who have never been.

Beautiful animal photography so far. Much different than hunting trip.

D.

Saeed,

Remarkable. The distinctive features of each elephant are shown. Makes them more individual instead of all being just huge animals.

Thanks again for sharing your experience.

Saeed excellent job with the photography. What cameras did you use?

Mike

Thank you Saeed!!! You have just made me Home sick for Tsavo!!!!!! great pictures Thank You for sharing them with us!!!

Super photos!! Thanks for sharing

Saeed,

How is the image quality across the enire focal length of the lens?

quote:

Originally posted by boondoggle:
Saeed,

How is the image quality across the enire focal length of the lens?

The lense is quite good, but I get the feeling that it gets slightly soft at the extreme zoom range.

Saeed,

Beautiful photos and I would never want to mare them, but it would be very educational for us budding elephant hunters to post an additional set marked with where one should shoot to get a perfect brain shot.

I'm sure this seems like a strange request, but it would be educational and certainly help prevent a wounded animal and/or hurt hunter.

Regards, AIU

Nice photos Sheikh Saeed.

Aziz

Are the bonhams still there?

quote:

Originally posted by jcorry:
Are the bonhams still there?

Yes, Richard and his family live close by.