Sunday, May 16, 2010

Children and Animals of Tanzania

I love to take photos of children during our travels to foreign lands. They have such universal warmth, friendliness and innocence. It is wonderful to share a smile with a child, such as this girl in a village in Tanzania. I sometimes wonder, and hope, that they will retain their happiness as they grow older.
The giraffes we watched were so elegant and graceful they were mesmerizing. They some times watched us. They were silent. We made noise: "click, click, click." The green background is the slope of the outside of the Ngorongoro Crater, the largest caldera on land.
We took a hot air balloon ride over the Serengeti. There were three balloons in our group. The colors of the balloon were coordinated with the colors of the Serengeti.
From our balloon, we looked down on a group of hippos lounging in a muddy pond.
We had a good view of female lions multiple times on our trip. We saw male lions several times, but until the final game drive on our final evening of our photo safari we had not been able to take a good photo of the mane of a male lion. The other male lions we saw were either sleeping facing the other direction or were eating a wildebeast in the tall grass, obscuring their face. This lion looked at us because we interrupted the privacy that he was enjoying with a lionness.
Cape buffalo always would watch us, usually with several of them serving as a sentry while the others in the herd would keep on eating. Cape buffalo are mean and strong. They will take on lions and there is an amazing youtube video showing the cape buffalo working together to get a cub back from a group of lionesses. You will see them come after lions and fling them in the air with their horns.
My husband enjoyed meeting some of village children. We always bring gifts of pens to give to children who pose for photos. We also bring Arizona Highways magazines to give to people in other countries as a thank you. The Arizona Highways magazines have large photos of spectacular places in Arizona. People enjoy the photos and the English text.

7 comments:

brattcat said...

These are splendid. The compositions sings. You have taken us to an extraordinary place with these. Thank you.

glenda said...

These children are just precious. Interesting the balloon colors to match the scenery. Enjoy the animal pictures. Thanks for the tour.

Memphis MOJO said...

These are all great shots, but the first one of the young girl is amazing to me.

Unknown said...

Fantastic photos! Hard to choose a favourite but I'm in awe at the ballon shot.

Joanne said...

You make me want to step on African soil again... I love the smell and the horizon, the animals and the surprises.... great shots:)

tapirgal said...

A wonderful set of photos! I know someone who needs to see this.

Lee Spangler said...

Just spent a month in Tanzania myself and worked on a water project in a village near the Ugandan border. I also did a 5 day safari through the Serengeti and Ngorongoro. I enjoyed being reminded of those days and would be glad also in sharing memories with you.

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