The city skyline can be seen in the distance on a moody afternoon as a zebra trots across the savanna in Nairobi National Park. Nikon Z8 with Nikkor 24-70mm lens (at 70mm) ISO 720, f/5.6 at 1/640th of a second.

Impala are, without a doubt, the most plentiful mammal we see on our Africa trips. I often overlook them because they’re so common. But I did capture a few clips of video on our 2023 trip — all on our final day in Samburu National Reserve in Kenya. Nikon Z8 with Nikkor 500mm PF lens, 4K, 120 fps.

Seems I also captured a fair amount of footage of elephants from our visit to Samburu last June. All of these clips were taken from the dining area of our camp, just across the Ewaso Nyiro River from all the action. The camp is appropriately named Elephant Bedroom, as throughout the day (and night) elephants wander through, looking for a quick meal from the fruiting trees that surround the guest tents. Karen and I are leading another tour back to the same place at the end of April. Looking forward to more of the same. Nikon Z8 with Nikkor 500mm PF lens, 4K at 120 fps.

Here’s another short video from last June’s trip to Kenya. In the south of Kenya, Masai giraffes dominate, but up north it’s the reticulated giraffes that live in places like Samburu National Reserve. Nikon Z8 with Nikkor 500mm PF lens, 4K, 120fps, f/5.6 at 250th of a second.

After playing around with my video footage from Guyana yesterday, I decided to take a look back at what I captured in Africa last June. Turns out I had the camera rolling more often than I thought, especially in regards to this family of cheetahs we encountered each of the four days we were in Samburu National Reserve in Kenya. It was fun to cobble a few of the clips together, mostly from our final morning in the park. Nikon Z8, 4K, 120 fps, f/5.6 at 1/250th of a second.

This one goes out to all my friends in Detroit — here’s to another big win for the Lions tonight. This particular lion was putting on quite a show for us, rolling in the grass, licking his paws, and doing all manner of other lion things. When I snapped this shot, he was distracted by something in the distance and was on high alert and looking particularly regal. Nikon Z8 with Nikkor 500mm lens, ISO 1100, f/5.6 at 1/125th of a second.

First day in the Masai Mara back in June, we came across this male lion in the rain, up on a small hill, surveying his environment. Nikon D850 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 116mm) ISO 900, f/2.8 at 1/640th of a second.

It’s always hard to show perspective when posting dik dik’s. They’re so small, but without any reference it’s hard to tell just how small they really are. Same goes with this image, but for some reason, perhaps the angle, this Kirk’s dik dik kind of gets close to illustrating their diminutive fifteen-inch height. Photographed in Samburu National Reserve in northern Kenya. Nikon Z8 with Nikkor 500mm PF lens, ISO 250, f/5.6 at 1/1600th of a second.

On the African savanna you find your fun wherever you can. In this case, two cheetah cubs found it in the form of elephant dung. A good time was had by all. Photographed in Samburu National Reserve in Kenya. Nikon Z8 with Nikkor 500mm lens, ISO 450, f/5.6 at 1/800th of a second.

Dwarf mongooses are a fairly common sight around safari camps. A bunch of them were scurrying around in the woods surrounding our camp in the Masai Mara of Kenya on our recent trip. On the technical side of things, this is a good example of a very high ISO image (12800) that has minimal noise thanks to an even and proper exposure. If I had shot at a lower ISO and then tried to lighten it in post processing, it would have had a lot more noise. Nikon Z8 with Nikkor 500mm PF lens, ISO 12800, f/5.6 at 1/320th of a second.