22. February 2017 19:02
by Rene Pallesen
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Going to Boulders Beach with all the penguins was a fun experience for the boys.
There were lots of nesting penguins and they are more agile than you think, jumping between the rocks on the beach (notice how the penguin below is airborne).
They sit on their nests until the eggs hatch.
and they stay with the young ones after they hatch too.
And once in a while a seagull gets lucky and steals one of the eggs.
There are hundreds of them on the beach.
And they are right next to the path.
The whole area was covered in smoke from a massive bush fire up in the hills, so our eyes were watering and hurting by the end of it.
Despite the smoke I still managed to get a good photo of this beautiful flightless bird.
21. February 2017 20:02
by Rene Pallesen
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21. February 2017 19:02
by Rene Pallesen
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On the way down from Table Mountain we visited Bo Kaap.
This is a predominantly muslim neighbourhood with some very colourful houses.
Great as a backdrop for photographing the most beautiful girl I know.
And also the most handsome boys.
21. February 2017 19:02
by Rene Pallesen
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20. February 2017 20:02
by Rene Pallesen
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20. February 2017 20:02
by Rene Pallesen
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At one of the private game reserved the owner maintains a little car museum with some very cool cars.
Especially this Ferrari 335S is interesting. If it is the real thing then it is one of only five ever made where the last one sold at an auction was sold for more that 30 million pounds.
20. February 2017 19:02
by Rene Pallesen
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19. February 2017 17:02
by Rene Pallesen
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My girlfriend mentioned trying "bird's nest soup" whilst I was there. She said normally the bird's nest they use belong to the swallow. It is a delicacy to many Asians, and similar to shark's fin soup - that is if you have tried it. Normally the nests are made out of the birds' saliva.
There was so much rain at Silam that HQ was often flooded.
Many of the competitors took the opportunity to get some sleep and the slept on whatever they could find.
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Created: 7 Dec 2001
15. August 2000 10:40
by Rene Pallesen
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Ecochallenge ( Sabah 2000 )Silam and Jungle Ops . . .It is so bloody hot in Silam! It must have been at least 40 degrees and 100% humidity!
Silam was the overall headquarters, and Danum Valley Field Centre (DVFC) was referred to as Jungle Ops. Jungle Ops controlled all radio communications and conducted the race through the the jungle.
From Kota Kinabalu, we flew to Lahad Datu and drove the rest of the way to Silam. Silam was the site of one of the repeater stations. We had to set up a HQ a few kilometres from this station... heaps of opportunities for a few walks in the jungle.
The operation at Silam was huge!... I had never seen such a busy place before. The place was crawling with energy. It was bigger than any military operation I had ever seen! You would be amazed to see the logistics involved in this project ! At the time I did not have the time to take a lot of photos.
We had many army trucks transporting the competitors' equipment - very good cooperation from the military. They helped out with the preparation and set-up of HQ, and with the transportation of fuel.
This is the headquarters on the left.
The whole Ecochallenge race is governed from this office.
The map in the background contains the position of all the checkpoints at which the competitors have to go through.
Both of the above photos are aerial shots of HQ and were taken from a helicopter.
I managed to get a nice aerial shot of Silam HQ. The big white patch in the middle is where the competitors stored all their equipment. Just to the left are the containers from where the race is controlled. The 4 'finger-like' white pads on the right are the heli-pads. The long rectangle to the left is the eating area, and just above it is the hospital.
Approaching DVFC in helicopter.
This is actually a research centre in the middle of the jungle - commonly known as DVFC (Danum Valley Field Centre).
DVFC is not normally accessible the tourists and the general public, only to researchers.
DVFC is concerned about contamination into the jungle.
Outside Jungle Ops HQ.
The green boxes contain bottled drinking water.
By the time the race was over, most of this had been consumed - quite amazing really, considering there were really only 10 people at Jungle Ops.
During the competitors were not allowed any help from us, and that included the provision of drinking water.
Paul with some of the radio equipment at Silam.
He is standing next to the HQ matrix, which contained all the communications equipment for headquarters.
Paul is also standing next to the only 2 beds in the HQ building. These were used by the radio operators to nap in between shifts.
Below, you see me sitting in the catering tent at Silam.
I think it must have been a good daycebookShareButton"> Towards the northern end of Kruger there is a wildlife rehabilitation centre where injured animals are cared for before returned to the wild.
Some are unfortunately in a condition where they can never be returned and these are used for educating visitors on wildlife issues.
The guide on our tour around the centre was truly amazing, very funny and very knowledgeable.
Angry Lioness:
Leopard:
Cheetah:
Chevel Cat:
Lion:
Lion with Snack:
Painted Dogs:
Hyena:
Southern Ground Hornbill:
Eagles:
Voltures:
Honey Badger:
18. February 2017 15:02
by Rene Pallesen
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In South Africa we did two days in the Kruger National Park.
The first day we hired a private guide to take us around in a 4WD and the second day we did a self drive.
With the guide we were lucky enough to spot all the Big 5 (Elephants, Lion, Leopard, Buffalo and Rhino). The advantage of a guide is that they are in constant radio communications with all the other cars and therefore can track the animals. On this day it was very hot and a lot of the animals were hiding in the bush and it seemed that we spotted all the animals and called it in to the other cars.
Having the private guide was a massive advantage as we could spend the time as we wanted, so we didn't spend much time on say elephants, but we did spend 45 minutes stalking a lion hoping it would get too hot under a bush and get out into the clear.
The second day we went it was raining and a lot more challenging, but we still spotted some that we didn't see the first day.
Camera wise I knew it would be a challenge to get good photos with a normal lens and didn't have the budget or justification to spend on a fast long lens. Instead all the photos in this post were taken with my 80-200 f2.8 with a 2x teleconverter. I used my tripod as a monopod and the guide was great at moving the car into spots where I had a clear line of sight (another advantage of not having to consider other passengers).
Here are the Big 5 we spotted.
Leopard:
Lion:
Rhinos:
Elephants:
African Buffalos:
And here are some of the others such as Zebras:
Hyenas:
Giraffes:
Impalas:
Kudu:
Waterbucks:
Wothhogs:
Baboons:
Monkeys:
Guinea Fowl:
African Fishing Eagles:
Storks:
Marabous:
Turtles (These ones are predators):
Weaver birds:
Chameleons:
17. February 2017 16:02
by Rene Pallesen
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