Ben Wilhelmi

Aerial photography of wildlife, Tanzania

 

In this era of drones let me precise that I take these aerials while flying the plane myself. The challenge is quite different.

All the animals below come from the Selous reserve in southern Tanzania along the Luhego (Luwegu) river and the Rufiji river. There are many airstrips in that huge reserve which we have good reasons to fly low and slow, that is while taking off and landing.

Hippos gathering and a fish eagle on take

 

2 ground hornbills (bucorves en français) land near a fish eagle at lunch

 

Egyptian geese.

 

 

Saddle-billed storks (jabiru d'Afrique)

 

Egyptian geese, a few yellow-billed storks and hippos.

 

 

Waterbucks (cobes)

 

Buffaloes.

 

Wildebeests (gnous)

Aerial photography, Tanzania

Tanzania is such a big country gifted with many beautiful landscapes. Not only that, those landscapes vary tremendously come the rain seasons.

 

Salt lakes are perfect examples of ever changing colors and patterns. Here is a detail of lake Eyasi.

I guess pelicans visiting Tanzania.

 

The Ruaha river after the rain season.

 

The famous wildebeest migration near the Mara river, here on the Serengeti side.

 

Lake Natron, another salt lake.

 

The Rufiji river in the Selous reserve.

 

Lake Natron again.

 

A typical homestead like millions in the country.

 

Tarangire national park. Quite famous for its elephants.

 

Lake balangida, a lesser known salt lake. Those white dots are salt extraction activities. I would guess operated by local people only.

Aerials, Tanzania

 

Sea bottom, not very deep obviously. Pemba island, Indian ocean.

 

A detail of the Selous wetlands.

 

 

 

More of the Selous reserve.

 

Kipili Bay, lake Tanganyika.

 

Wildebeest migration, Serengeti.

 

Empakai crater, Ngorongoro highlands. Notice the mounts Kilimanjaro and Meru far away. One of those days with an exceptional visibility.

 

Elephnats in the Great Ruaha river.

 

Socialist traces in Zanzibar…

 

but colors are available too.

Wildlife in B/W

 

 

 

 

 

wildlife in Tanzania, B/W photography

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tanzania in the rainy seasons, aerials

 some rains appeared in northern Tanzania over the last weeks. Speculations are now flying around. early rains or just a glitch of mother Nature?

those rain seasons are usually spectacular, intense and dramatic. It’s always wise to polish your cameras and have them ready, fresh batteries, empty cards (and know what your buffer capacity in RAW format!).

a delta on lake Natron filled up with muddy waters.

 

near the border with Kenya, lake Natron. Once in a while some heavy downpour up in Kenya will feed the river and a mudflow will color the lake on the northern part.

 

happy wildebeests. There are a few groups here and there in Tanzania which don’t take part in the famous migration across the Mara river.

 

happy farmers. Well supposedly as these guys are notorious complainers here too.

 

easy job for the herders. No need to walk up all the way to Sudan or even Somalia as it is the case in drought. See the map and appreciate the effort from the Masai herders who have done this some bad dry years!

 

lake Natron.

 

 

 

extinct volcano Shompole on lake Natron.

wild animals in Tanzania, B/W photography

 

 

wildlife, Tanzania

 

here is a selection of some wildlife pictures in Tanzania, including some aerials of zebras and wildebeests.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

a chimpanzee in Mahale NP, the unique and best place in the world to spot them.

wildlife in Tanzania, aerial photography

 

flamingoes on lake Natron.

same picture but seriously cropped when by luck I spotted this pied avocet lost in the middle of the flock. ( une avocette élégante en français)

 

gazelles and topis (damalisques en Fr.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

wildebeests ( des gnous en Fr.)

 

ostriches…males in black and white, females in brownish outfit.

Tanzania, wildlife, B/W pictures

 

 

Chimpanzees in Mahale.

old B/W films but the white spots are located on the fur, not dust on the film.

 

Lunch, one-eyed lioness but she keeps a piercing glare.

 

Tarangire NP, elephant country.

 

Ndutu neighboring below, in the Ngorongoro area.

a small number of wildebeests during the famous migration.