First off, sorry for no posts last week. We just got our power back yesterday after Sandy dumped five feet of water into the lobby of our apartment building. It’s good to be back online. For today, just a simple portrait of a black-backed jackal. I was on the ground for this one, shooting at eye level, when the curious jackal approached to within twelve or so feet. The shallow depth of field and backlit lighting provided by the setting sun created a nice soft feel to the image.

This male lion had a belly full of oryx when he arrived at the water hole to quench his thirst. The light was pretty nice that morning and the water hole was so still, providing a mirror-like reflection.

Today I found out that I won a photography competition for an image that I took while on safari in Botswana last year. I’m happy to say that the grand prize is a trip back to Botswana. In addition to the grand prize, I also had the top photo in five of the competition’s nine categories (see the link here for a quick write up and the winning shots). The photo above is a Cape buffalo and it has absolutely nothing to do with the contest, other than it’s also from Botswana. I have previously posted all the winning images so didn’t want to post again.

I saw quite a few of these black-backed jackals in the Central Kalahari Desert of Botswana. One of the nice things about that trip was that I was able to get out of the safari vehicle and onto the ground for more intimate, eye-level shots. I caught this guy, early in the morning, just as he was getting up from a long nap in the dry grass.

This looked like a shift change, as the one lion gave way to the other as soon as he approached the water hole. They had just spent the last few hours feasting on an oryx kill and were both bloated and thirsty. The water hole was within sight of our camp in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve of Botswana.

This is an African wild dog. Or, if you prefer, an African hunting dog. Or a Cape hunting dog. Or a painted dog. Or a painted wolf. Or a painted hunting dog. Or a spotted dog. Or an ornate wolf. It’s called all these things. It’s also in trouble in Africa and listed as endangered due to human overpopulation, habitat loss and predator control killing. I was lucky enough to find this guy and the rest of his pack of about twelve or so in the Linyanti Swamp area of Botswana.

This little bird is called a little bee eater. They are fairly common throughout much of Africa. This one was in the Okavango Delta of Botswana. I liked the nice clean background and tried to include more of it in the composition.

In honor of Botswana’s first ever Olympic medal last night (a silver in the 800 meters) I thought I’d post another of that country’s most ferocious residents — the fun loving honey badger. This guy was on the prowl late in the afternoon in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve. He walked right through our camp while I was hidden in a makeshift blind consisting of about eight discarded boxes from the local villagers.

When a springbok pronks like this, it is warning would-be predators not to bother — that it is healthy and not worth the effort to try and catch. I suppose it works sometimes, not others. I photographed this springbok early in the morning in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve of Botswana.