CHYULU HILLS, KENYA – Most of the images in the trip are taken with a Nikon D700 and various combinations of long lenses. There is a 15 kilogram baggage weight limit on chartered bush plains, so my photo gear severely limited luxury items like clothing and toiletries. Our typical day started with coffee in camp before sunrise (6:30) followed by a game drive in a Land Rover to catch the activity around sunrise, then breakfast in the bush. Game was not particularly plentiful in this region as it has suffered three years of drought. Impalas from our morning game drive:
Impalas
I also traveled with my Leica M9, which is not useful for game, but in the places where it can be used produces images that actually do stand out as having an intangible clarity and a three-dimensional quality.
Abandoned Maasai village
Acacias from our morning game drive. The Chyulu Hills are part of the vast Serengeti ecosystem, which looks heart-breakingly like Out of Africa.
Acacias
This from an afternoon bush walk.
Maria and Nancy do a bush walk
Here we are at sunset at the end of a bush walk. The man in red is a Maasai tracker; the man in green is armed in case of an unfortunate encounter with wildlife. In Ol Donyo Wuas’ experience this hasn’t been an issue but their view is better safe than sorry.
OL DONYO WUAS CAMP, CHYULU HILLS, KENYA – We spent the morning connecting with our charter aircraft and flying to the Chyulu Hills, where we stayed at Ol Donyo Wuas, the only camp that we are staying at with permanent structures (as opposed to tents). We did a game drive from the dirt airstrip to the camp, and cycled later in the afternoon. Game was fairly scarce – this area has suffered three years of drought.
Kilimanjaro from the air – to the south of us on the other side of the Tanzanian boarder.
Kilimanjaro from the air
Ol Donyo Wuas has built a watering hole fed by the camp’s “gray” water. It’s very popular. Here’s a giraffe getting a drink – the giraffe is vulnerable to predators when it drinks because it can’t give defensive in this position.
Giraffe at watering hole
Ol Donyo Wuas met us un the bush with elaborate tea and cocktails after our ten mile ride on trail bikes.
Tea time
Sunset. This happens quickly and doesn’t last vey long in the tropics. We’re almost on the equator so there is very little variation in sunrise (6:30 AM) and sunset (6;30 PM) throughout the year.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – Another dull day compounded by a light drizzle. This is waiting for Maria outside of the uptown, westside theatre where Bachelorette is playing.
Theatre
SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL – Our last day in Brazil. As far as I can tell most Brazilian (or at least Paulista) architects’ student projects were prisons. The drabness is enhanced by the diffuse yellow sunlight that reaches the street here. This is out of the window of our hotel, the Emiliana, in the Jardins district of Sâo Paulo. Link to the Emiliano.
PARATY, BRASIL – This is our last morning in Paraty – in the afternoon we drove back to São Paulo – a five hour trip with Father’s Day traffic. That’s right, Father’s Day traffic. August 8 is Father’s Day in Brazil, and they take it seriously. This is reason enough to immigrate to Brazil. I’ve been trying to convince our children that Father’s Day is the most important calendar of the year, but I don’t think that they believe me.
Anyway, the image for the day. The weather was fine (the first bright clear morning) so I shot Portuguese colonial buildings, including this gem: Paraty
Leica M9 with 24mm Summilux lens. Two frames stitched.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – I met our daughter at a rooftop lounge in Hell’s Kitchen – at 11th Avenue and 48th Street – for sunset. This area of Manhattan, which is primarily where people come to buy cars or have them serviced, is changing rapidly. So this is Hell’s Kitchen in the foreground and the midtown skyline in the background. Very basic urban landscape, but in terrific light.
Hell's Kitchen and Midtown skyline
Leica M= and 50mm Summilux lens. Three images stitched, and then cropped to square format.
