Ben Wilhelmi

flamingoes nesting on lake Natron, aerials

 

some time ago, there were news that flamingoes might come to lake Natron and breed…BBC Nature mentioned that rare feat and asked us at Flying Medical Service, amongst other pilots, to keep an eye open. Which we did and this Friday, on my way to Loliondo I spotted the hundreds of nests near the south but quite center on the lake on a large salt pan, isolated from predators by acidic waters.

I dropped a few thousands feet, did 2 circles and here are some of the shots. Those grey dots are the nests.

 

Then I realised we had missed the nest building period. Here are the flamingo chicks in grey with a few adults.

 

 

 

 

Notice that some nests still contain an egg.

 

 

 

sad news is that next day, the whole salt pan was submerged! The lake is flat, at 3 meter deep at most, so it fills up very fast in case of serious rains. And these days it’s all about serious thunderstorms and showers all day long. I‘ve just had 3 flooded airstrips these last 3 days of flying… so the adult flamingoes most likely took off but the chicks at that stage don’t fly yet and they must have drowned. I couldn’t see those chicks around but anyway I can’t imagine they’ve had time to walk to safety10 or 20 km away.

I’ve seen once nests disappear within one rainy day but at a much earlier stage I think since I hadn’t spotted any eggs and later did not notice any youngsters…

photography while driving in Kenya

 

not the same style but driving in Africa or in America offer the same visual happiness for photographers.

 

notice the blue bucket below the Equator sign. Local crooks will trick tourists to prove that water swirls in opposite ways just a few meters north or south of the Equator.

 

casually holding an AK 47 for a road check…

Masai warriors throwing spears

 

Trust me, those long spears are heavy! Nothing to do with the aluminum things I used to throw at school.

I did once fly a wounded warrior with such a spear across the torso. Of course that 2 m spear wouldn’t fit in a small plane like the one on this picture, nor in the Land Rover that brought the man to the bush hospital. No problem since the wounded man’s friends had taken care of that: 2 held one arm each while a third one put his foot on the belly and pulled the spear out!! Obviously these guys have zero knowledge in open wound management! The guy survived by the way, proud with 2 neat scars to show off.

This one managed to throw a spear and a club within a second. By luck I caught both weapons on this shot. That brown speck on the horizon is the club!

 

street photography in Arusha

 

Nigeria hasn’t set a bad example with Sharia crap here,  luckily Tanzanians are smarter than that and religion conflict seem pretty rare. This veiled woman is thus free to ride on her own, legally that is. I’ve seen some women seriously escorted by bearded guys…on one occasion, 4 of these guys escorted a nearly burka’d woman to the airport, as far as security let them go. Then she came alone to my plane and as soon as she boarded and was out of sight from the other punks, she dropped the oppressing garment and there she was, free, smiling and dressed like a typical young girl, make up and jewelry included. She was laughing at my surprise too, good for her.

 

These contraptions are on the rise in Tanzania.

 

A really rareVolvo at an unofficial street selling point. It must be a problem for spare parts as most cars in east Africa are now made in Japan.

 

Led Zeppelin…the owner would an unusual music fan because rappers and Congolese bands tend to be the stars, or Madonna some years back. The same fan owns a coupla of these dala dalas (public minibuses) equally showing “Led Zeppelin” but most have spelling mistakes like “Led Zeppelir” or “Led Zepplin”…should have stuck with one artist…

 

 

 

 

Shops are usually painted to announce their goodies. Printing is there but picking slowly and then only for bigger business.

 

Daily occurrence, this is not a market day. On the main road so the traffic tends to slow down seriously here.

 

 

On a Sunday, shops are closed and independent street sellers invade the sidewalks and roads.

New York City, street pictures

 

kid learning a lesson at Battery Park, Korean war monument.

 

 

 

Ground Zero memorial.

 

 

 

funny characters out there…

 

Grand Central station.

 

photography in the bush, Tanzania

 

while busy on clinics with Flying Medical Service, I have time to walk around, even to the nearby village.

Nobody is going to steal my aeroplane, right? A cessna 206 by the way.

 

Masai women have traditionally been stuck in blue, red or black, according to their social status in the tribe. There were slight variations depending on the clans as well. Now men haven’t actively looked for clothe change of style. But guess what? Women did… so let’s enjoy the explosion of colors and patterns nowadays.

 

Cows, the most precious possession for a Masai man, volcano Lengai in the Rift…

and looking behind is an airstrip, Engoveroni. I went for a short walk on a neighboring ridge because I wanted to have a large view of the sloped airstrip. Notice the tiny white shape, that is the aeroplane.

 

Masai men on an errand. The plane in the distance again.

 

Mini market in the village.

 

 

Modernity creeps in and I would never have guessed in some remote areas…

 

I hate those ugly wool hats, especially when the temperature comes close to 30 Celsius. It ruins my pictures and I am convinced the kids don’t feel comfy.

In the digital age of photography, I still enjoy too my old film cameras, loaded with slide or B/W films. These pictures were shot this year with my Leica M6 and 28, 50 or 90 mm lenses. A minimum of neurons is required to shoot with this kind of equipment…

photography with a Rolleiflex, Tanzania

 

that is the Tanzanian bush with that old medium format camera on a slide film, the excellent Fuji Velvia 50 . Mine is from 1961, still produces sharp pictures especially with a film like that.

This shot is from October when the first rains were coming, here a thunderstorm brewing late afternoon. These Masai kids were a bit shy but that never lasts, curiosity is too strong usually.

 

Lake Natron in the Rift valley….

Natron is a salt lake always offering interesting salted patterns and bright colors. Here is a vertical shot of those salt pans.

 

Masai people attending a Flying Medical Service clinic near the Serengeti.

Kids are always around even if they need no medical treatment or vaccination.

random pictures

 

In Nairobi, at the Sheldrick’s orphanage.

 

Karine’s Mc Minus in aerobatic flight, overseeing volcano Lengai.

 

Much needed in the lousy local traffic jams and bad drivers. My bicycles are really handy too.

 

I did fly this Masai kid on an evacuation flight. He unfortunately died of this face cancer. 2 weeks were lost in the hands of incompetent doctors in one bush hospital…would it have changed much the result? Well we’ll never know. But usually the patients we fly out tend to make it.

 

A Masai girl proud of her umbrella.

 

Bad weather in the rain season.

 

A vintage camera from 1910. Quite a mission to use but once in a while, it’s fun. Respect for our ancestors who had to use this on a daily basis.

 

waiting for take off after this monster, the Airbus A380. Jealous? Not at all, OK maybe for the salary…I prefer to fly small planes in the bush.

 

Ferry flight over Yemen, too bad for the excessive amount of dust…notice the typical sharp demarcation between the dust layer and clean air.

 

In the ferried Twin Otter.

street photography in Arusha, Tanzania

 

Arusha can be, no, is chaotic but very interesting at the same time. Many towns are busy and hectic like Arusha, I thought it was the norm but Djibouti for instance looks dead boring and sleepy. OK maybe one stopover was too short to give a definite opinion but the sidewalks were empty, there was no traffic, no business, no hawkers…

 

 

 

local playboy, maybe a ‘sapeur” fan, that is a trend from Congo which dictates that your life revolves around highly fashionable clothes and parties. “Sape” in slang French means clothes but also a Congolese concept and acronym about well-dressed and party-goer people: Société des Ambianceurs et Personnes Elégantes if I remember well. That would translate into party-goers and well dressed persons society.

 

 

many armed guards in Arusha, but not always with the proper training nor proper type of weapon for street action...

 

 

 

flying in Africa, photography

 

things change here too, rules are being created every day, and tentatively enforced… but there is the bush touch. Here are some pictures over the years I’ve been flying here.

Not a perfect composure I know but hey, I was flying close formation and shooting over my shoulder at the same time, which I now know was not the smartest thing to do. Anyway, this the Cessna 206, one of those operated by Flying Medical Service. This is the airplane I started with in Tanzania, and the one on which I have most hours.

 

A flat shck absorber and a bush fixture, that is tube rubber band to avoid contact between metal parts.

 

Dump site in Nairobi. This graveyard has been totally cleaned up recently unfortunately. Pilots and aircraft owners, when your airplane gets incapacitated in Africa, make sure you check about the parking fee regulations. The Nairobi greedy authorities for instance charge hefty fees for planes while the spare parts take time to arrive and/or the labor is performed. So it has happened that beautiful venerable airplanes like DC3’s, Broussard or An2 (the biplane above) had to be scraped off because the parking fees got too expensive for the aircraft value. What a shame. So at some point, the airplanes get seized. Note also that if you want to buy such a seized plane, you must pay the old fees too. Those authority punks prefer to lose everything instead of dropping the fees and still getting something from the sales.

 

Damaged propeller, quite typical when operating on gravel airstrip. A newly painted propeller will show signs of sand paper abrasion within one hour of flying in a dusty environment.

 

Unfortunately this is not uncommon. This picture shows the wreck of a Cessna 206, on a mountain near Arusha. This is also how I got my first job in Tanzania…. the plot and 2 passengers died.

 

Some airstrips Flying Medical Service operates on need some cleaning. No wonder we get regular punctures.

 

I was under training for flying the bush, sometimes the plane would go without me so I could snap a few shots of the plane in the air.

 

Kaboom, some local mafia style ops in Nairobi. Not sure the inquiry on who planted the bomb was ever sorted out. No terrorism involved anyway.

 

some airstrips are tricky. Short and sandy in this case.

random pictures in Tanzania and around

 

 

Me having a haircut in South Africa while on a long bicycle trip from Arusha to Cape Town.

 

Tanzania below:

An old weekend bike trip around mount Meru near Arusha.

some difficult passage.

 

My longest flying job in Tanzania, with Flying Medical Service.

Taking a short cut through a 600m high gorge. Watch rocking videos on my Vimeo account.

 

Amazing  encounters with chimpanzees in Mahale.

 

Walking safaris in Katavi.

 

Infrared picture in the Rift valley. Volcano Lengai.

 

Colleague landing in bad weather, Serengeti.

 

Aerial view of the mythical Kilimanjaro at about 20.000 feet high.

Paris, street photography on B/W films

 

 

La Madeleine showing an ad for a Bosch exhibition.

 

An artist performing at the Sacré-Coeur.

 

Pretty girl at the Opéra.

 

The Tower seen from the Trocadéro. “Troca” in local language.

 

 

Montmartre, sketchers and painters have now to pass an exam before performing here. Guaranteed results?

 

Motorist and prostitute dealing…

Thanks but no thanks.

 

Grandma in a Chanel environment.

 

Personally? These band members had way more talent than Warhol…that old lady singer was bursting with energy.

sepia portraits in the bush, Tanzania

 

 some portraits in the Tanzanian bush over the years...

 

 

 

 

 

Arusha, street life, photography

 

Interesting town, full of flaws but fascinating to watch in details and colors.

 

The ‘boda boda’, that is moto taxi, the latest dangers in town. There is a law project to simply ban them from the center.

 

Fluffy toys, pretty new sighting too. Sold on the road side, probably some poisoned toys from China….

 

 

One of the cell phone companies, always competing with flashy colors and designs on show.

 

Some pretty girls with a western dress code…

 

though in some case there is a serious culture clash, here an example between a tourist and a local girl.

 

Burma, on B/W film

 

Burma…undergoing some serious changes but some scenes will probably stay as it is for some decades I bet.

 

a woman from the Padang tribe.

 

 

 

some shots from the Schwedagon pagoda.

 

 

 

 

Notice that the whole contraption is made to be carried across the shoulders. A portable “restaurant”…

 

shot with a  Leica M6

Tanzania, portraits in the bush

 

Mang'ati, Barabaig, Masai, Sonjo... many tribes in Tanzania. Here are some portraits from northern Tanzania.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

photography while driving, Kenya

 

 

I try to never miss a chance to record something. Sometimes it’s not interesting after all or it will get a documentary value only in 50 years, if… here is a selection of pictures alongside the Kenyan roads, there are some differences with Tanzania but not much.

For instance I’ve never seen such a bicycle in Tanzania. The saddle refurbishment is interesting.

 

 

 

Mishkaki, whatever the spelling, is the nickname for those motorbikes with up to 3 adult passengers.

 

As in Tanzania, roadsides take a lot of time to be fixed…

 

Ingenious contraption. I’ve never seen that except in this case.

 

Sugar cane is eaten plain as a delicacy.

 

Charcoal is huge business in many African countries, bad business for the environment. Cheap fuel for cooking would be the answer but these days….

 

A funny road sign, ‘ole’ is a Masai prefix.