Ben Wilhelmi

Arusha, street photography

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A morning walk in the bush

The Ruaha river is about to stop flowing. In some regions the dry weather has been tough these months…

In front of the camp, crossing the river is now easy while keeping feet dry.

 

The hippo pool at the foot of the hill restaurant.

 

Marabou storks, yellow-billed storks, little egrets, intermediate herons….quite a few birds have shown up, but no pelicans this year, to clean the river of any fish.

 

I was looking for the buffaloes but stumbled on these guys. 14 elephants overflown by herons.

 

Now… my bazooka lens, 600mm, was left in Dar es Salaam because I was not supposed to stay here in the Ruaha park. A flat tyre decided otherwise. Sometimes there is a good side to a problem. Here I was with elephants. But the not so good side is that I only carried my point and shoot camera. A quality one but that has no zoom (Fuji X100s) but a wide fixed lens. I have to come closer, no choice. The following pictures and above have not been cropped.

 

Even with the wind in my back, these poor-sighted animals spotted me. I must have made some noise.

 

So I moved round still with the wind in mind.

 

One or 2 elies were still a bit wary. But they stayed there, kept on digging holes in the sand for fresh water as the river is quite dirty and not appetizing. I don’t take any bath in it these days.

I was surprised to see some bullying behaviour. One dude kept on pushing the smaller ones away to enjoy their holes, their hard work. Must be the politician of the bunch. In turn there was  a lot of trumpeting. Powerful and impressive sound that gave me the chills, being only 10 meters away.

 

That is the closest I got. The  picture was not cropped. 23mm lens, that is 35mm in standard 24x36 system. I admit I was standing somehow safely on a slab of rock, ready to run to a nearby boulder. Elephants are poor climbers, famous last words….

South Sudan, people

 

 

Near the Kenyan border, one can notice similarities with the more famous Maasai tribe. Distant cousins maybe.

 

USAid feeding center. Those bags weigh 50 kg!

 

Young civilians with weapons, typical scene. A bit annoying when those guys come and ask for a lift on the aircraft. For free usually… sometimes they’re reasonable and understand the concept of weight vs available distance on an airstrip. Sometimes the discussion gets heated, the pilot gets threatened to be thrown in jail or gets beaten with  rifle butts . For instance my colleague who being African had more chances than me to get through such an inconvenience…, 3 days in hospital.

 

 

 

The massive Ilyushin 76 technically can carry 70 tons of cargo, was officially limited to 35 in Juba due to the available runway and the excessive heat, but the Russian pilots and crew took another extra 5 tons and pocketed the money. We all did, though in my little plane, I couldn’t compete with tons! On empty legs passengers were welcome...even on the bare floor. A bit risky if the said passengers shift too much to the back.

I guess this soldier came to collect his fee to look somewhere else while that dodgy business went on.

Another example of a picture I took with my smartphone while pretending to make a call. People can get so cagey about picture. I had been arrested for taking a picture of a fruit seller. I had learnt my lesson.

 

Traditional scars.

Maasai people, pictures

 

Old pictures from my archives, 1999 and 2000, that is on good old films.

 

 

 

 

An Afro haircut is quite rare amongst Maasai, warrior, like this man, or not.

 

This young woman sports fresh traditional scars that are still healing I guess.

 

People, South Sudan

 

Piercing made in South Sudan, USAid feeding station, Pibor.

 

 

Fur hat, 45 Celsius in average…

 

His wife’s bag?

 

Smiles and scars.

 

 

Tanzania, aerial pictures

 

 

Luhego river, southern Selous reserve. Notice the 3 black and white specks, they are birds, ground hornbills (bucorve en français, famille des calaos)

 

Some farmers don’t bother with straight perimeters.

 

Most precious belongings stay in the middle protected at night by 2 enclosures’

 

Salt art, lake Balangida/

 

Shoreline near Mashado, Indian ocean.

 

Agava plantation.

 

Drying swamp, Selous reserve.

 

Ruaha river, early morning

Aerial pictures, South Sudan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scenes in the bush, Tanzania

 

Outreach clinic amongst Maasai people in the Rift valley. The doctor was addressing some basic knowledge about babies.

 

A Barabaig woman was puzzled by the smoothness of the metal, she kept on stroking the aircraft for a long time.

 

A long walk awaits these Maasai. Villages are quite scattered around the volcano Lengai.

 

 

Another view of  the volcano

 

 

A Maasai hut but the design is not that unique.

 

All pictures shot with various analog cameras over the years.