When I went trecking for chimpanzees in Uganda, getting good photos proved more difficult than I had thought. More often than not, the chimps were high in the canopy of very large trees, with a bright white sky as a backdrop. That being said, I was able to get a few decent shots. I kind of liked the way that in this particular shot, the fig eating chimpanzee is emerging out of that field of black that dissects the composition.
Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 800, f/5.6 at 1/250th of a second

This one is from Kibale National Park in Uganda. I saw thirteen different species of primates on that trip, including this red-tailed monkey. Wish I had a little bit better lighting conditions, but I did the best I could given the situation and the bright sky in the background. I don’t know much about these monkeys, other than the fact that they have red tails and they were featured in the popular BBC youtube series, Funny Talking Animals — Walk on he Wild Side (click here).
Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm), ISO 800, f/4 at 1/160th of a second

Chimpanzees can be difficult to photograph in the wild. They spend most of their time high in the canopy set against the bright white backdrop of the sky. After several days trying to get decent shots, I finally came upon a troop closer to the ground. This female saw me through the opening in the tree before scampering off to higher ground.
Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 220mm) ISO 800, f/4 at 1/100th of a second

When I was going through my gorilla shots last night, I came across this image of a black and white colobus monkey that I had originally overlooked. I like shots like this that show a lot of the animal’s environment — in this case a giant tree in Kibale National Park. Kibale is well known for its primates and is home to thirteen different species, including chimpanzees.
Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 800, f/4 at 1/200th of a second

This is an old one that has yet to be posted to the blog. It’s from my gorilla and chimp tracking trip to Uganda back in March of 2009. At times it was very difficult to get clean looks at the gorillas in the thick forest, but all the foliage also provided nice framing when a gorilla’s head suddenly popped into a clearing. This guy was staring up at a silverback who was high in a tree.
Nikon D700 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 200mm) ISO 800, f/2.8 at 1/100th of a second (-1/3 stop ev)

This one is from Uganda in Queen Elizabeth National Park. One of the great things about many of the Ugandan parks is that you’re allowed to get out of your safari vehicle and hike. I was on foot when we came across this herd of hippos in a large bend in the river (a hippo herd is also known as a bloat or crash). This particular hippo wasn’t all that pleased to see me there so I took a few quick photos and got on my way.

Part of my trip to Uganda several years back included a day of chimpanzee trekking in Kibale National Park. It was somewhat difficult to photograph the chimps that day because they were so high up in the trees and there was a white sky in the background. I was able to get several okay shots, however, when there was enough foliage to fill the frame. This lady (at least I think she’s a lady) was busy eating fruits when she took a glimpse back to see what all the clicking was about.

This was the dominant silverback gorilla in the troop that I saw in Uganda. There was a younger silverback in the troop as well, and eventually he will challenge for the top spot. When this happens, the troop will probably split in two, with each silverback taking roughly half the members. There are only 700 mountain gorillas left in the wild in Uganda, the Congo and Rwanda.

This is a male red-chested sunbird that I photographed in Queen Elizabeth National Park in Uganda.  The long curved bill is used to extract nectar from flowers. Uganda is one of the best places in the world for birding due to its fortunate geographic positioning between the savannah to the east, the sub-sahara region to the north and the jungle to the west.