WILDLIFE BLOG

We found these Vervet monkeys playing on a sunny branch early in the morning after a cold night. Their play became more and more active as they warmed up in the golden sunlight.

.....like a Luangwa Sunset.

As I was driving my guests through some thick bush a few days ago, the huge shape of a Martial Eagle flew up from beside the road and landed in the tree opposite. We looked at it for a while and I suggested that it might have been on the ground because it had tried to catch something. Its crop was empty so I guessed it hadn't been feeding and had perhaps missed its target. The [...]

As the lagoons dry up and water becomes more scarce, antelope come to drink in the shallower channels left by the movements of hippos. In this case, I liked the way the channel draws the viewer's eye into the image and towards the group of Puku drinking in the distance.

The relationship between leopards and baboons is a complex game of threat and fear. Baboons certainly feature highly on leopards' menus, and leopards in the Luangwa are well known for being expert primate hunters. But baboons are very strong and highly social, so leopards, which are solitary hunters, must balance the risk of getting injured in the process. I watched some very interesting interactions between these two species last week after we came across the body [...]

Greater Kudu are my favourite antelope, and possibly my favourite animal of all. I found a group of females feeding on the seed heads at the tops of tall grasses and loved the way their red ears picked up the beautiful evening light.

Nature's cruel. We've all heard it many times. But the constant pursuit of improvement through the process of natural selection means that lots of animals don't make it to adulthood, and certainly don't have the chance to breed. What's unusual about this story is that it concerns a very young elephant calf, an animal that we think of as perfectly safe, protected by its extended family. Recently, one of our guides followed a gyre of circling [...]

We don't often get very close to Kingfishers, because they have great eyesight and see us coming! However, when I was crossing the bridge recently, I stopped to have a look over the edge and saw this Pied Kingfisher with a fish in its beak! The perspective from above is a bit unusual but makes for an interesting photo.

We are lucky to have a very relaxed female leopard living in the nearby area. She has a huge range, so we're never too sure where she's going to turn up, but when she does, it's regularly with her two cubs! Now almost 6 months old, we've been watching them grow up and feed alongside her. I found them one morning recently, and both cubs were on the lowest branch of a tall tree, although only [...]

Giraffes spar by using their long necks and massive heads to inflict heavy blows on the body and legs of their adversary. We rarely see this fighting 'for real', as most animals prefer to settle their differences in other ways. But we often see sub-adult males practicing on each other so they learn the skills that they will need in later life to fight for dominance and the right to mate. When performed 'gently' this activity [...]