Below is the first blog posting from the photo safari to Rwanda in February 2012. If you would like to read more information about similar photo safaris to Rwanda you can go HERE.
Day 1 – 17.02.2012 Eight photographers, seven from Norway and one from Denmark connected in the evening at Kigali airport. After a long flight it was nice to have a quiet evening at the hotel in Kigali.
Day 2 – 18.02.2012 After breakfast we visited a very busy local market with many photo opportunities. We also visited the Genocide Museum, a sombre place, but very important to be aware of. The good thing about Rwanda is that the country and people have recovered surprisingly well from the horrible genocide in 1994. The main roads are in very good condition and the environment is cleaner than what is usual in Africa.
After lunch we drove northwest to Virunga, or Volcanoes National Park as it is called in Rwanda. After dinner we started to get ready and organized for tomorrow’s gorilla trek.
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| #1 Woman at the local market in Kigali. Nikon D3S with 85/1.4, 1/400 sec, f/5,0 and ISO 800. Copyright © Ole Jørgen Liodden / Naturfokus. CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO VIEW A LARGER VERSION, BUY A PRINT OR DOWNLOAD THE IMAGE. |
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| Svein Olav is photographing kids in Kigali. Copyright © Ole Jørgen Liodden / Naturfokus. |
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| #2 Hadada ibis above our lodge. Nikon D3S with 300/2.8, 1/1000 sec, f/7,1 and ISO 640. Copyright © Ole Jørgen Liodden / Naturfokus. CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO VIEW A LARGER VERSION, BUY A PRINT OR DOWNLOAD THE IMAGE. |
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Day 3 – 19.02.2012 7:00 in the morning, we arrived at the headquarters of the park to get information about the gorilla groups we were going to visit. We split our group of photographers into three groups, since it would be too crowded with 8 photographers going to the same gorilla family group.
All three groups had amazing encounters and photo opportunities of the gorillas, and everyone was happy. On my trek we visited a group called «Bwenge» with a strong male silverback, some females and youngsters, and one adorable baby gorilla. The baby was exceptional to photograph, looking at me with big eyes and usually partly hidden behind his/her mother.
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| #3 Gorilla baby behind his/her mother. Nikon D3S with 300/2.8 + 1,4x teleconverter, 1/1600 sec, f/5,0 and ISO 3200. Copyright © Ole Jørgen Liodden / Naturfokus. CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO VIEW A LARGER VERSION, BUY A PRINT OR DOWNLOAD THE IMAGE. |
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| #4 Baby and mother. Nikon D3S with 300/2.8 + 1,4x teleconverter, 1/400 sec, f/4,5 and ISO 3200. Copyright © Ole Jørgen Liodden / Naturfokus. CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO VIEW A LARGER VERSION, BUY A PRINT OR DOWNLOAD THE IMAGE. |
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| #5 Gorilla and a thin branch. Nikon D3S with 300/2.8 + 1,4x teleconverter, 1/1000 sec, f/4,0 and ISO 2500. Copyright © Ole Jørgen Liodden / Naturfokus. CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO VIEW A LARGER VERSION, BUY A PRINT OR DOWNLOAD THE IMAGE. |
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| #6 Gorilla in green vegetation. Nikon D3S with 300/2.8 + 1,4x teleconverter, 1/800 sec, f/4,5 and ISO 2500. Copyright © Ole Jørgen Liodden / Naturfokus. CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO VIEW A LARGER VERSION, BUY A PRINT OR DOWNLOAD THE IMAGE. |
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| #7 Gorilla. Nikon D3S with 300/2.8 + 1,4x teleconverter, 1/250 sec, f/4,5 and ISO 2500. Copyright © Ole Jørgen Liodden / Naturfokus. CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO VIEW A LARGER VERSION, BUY A PRINT OR DOWNLOAD THE IMAGE. |
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| #8 Gorilla fast food. Nikon D3S with 300/2.8 + 1,4x teleconverter, 1/250 sec, f/4,0 and ISO 2000. Copyright © Ole Jørgen Liodden / Naturfokus. CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO VIEW A LARGER VERSION, BUY A PRINT OR DOWNLOAD THE IMAGE. |
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| #9 Gorilla siesta. Nikon D3S with 300/2.8, 1/320 sec, f/4,5 and ISO 2500. Copyright © Ole Jørgen Liodden / Naturfokus. CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO VIEW A LARGER VERSION, BUY A PRINT OR DOWNLOAD THE IMAGE. |
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After lunch we drove to a big lake called Lake Burera, on the border with Uganda. Here, we photographed fishermen, local kids and some birds.
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| #10 Red-chested Sunbird. Nikon D3S with 600/4.0 + 1,4x teleconverter. 1/500 sec, f/5,6 and ISO 3200. Copyright © Ole Jørgen Liodden / Naturfokus. CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO VIEW A LARGER VERSION, BUY A PRINT OR DOWNLOAD THE IMAGE. |
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| #11 Local boy. Nikon D3S with 600/4.0 + 1,4x teleconverter, 1/800 sec, f/5,6 and ISO 3200. Copyright © Ole Jørgen Liodden / Naturfokus. CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO VIEW A LARGER VERSION, BUY A PRINT OR DOWNLOAD THE IMAGE. |
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Day 4 – 20.02.2012 After yesterday’s wonderful opportunities, we all hoped for another amazing day with the gorillas. Again we split our group into three smaller groups and headed out for the gorillas. This morning my group met the «Agashya» family, which means «special». This family group of gorillas was earlier led by females, but later one single silverback was accepted to the group and is now the leader. We found 24 gorillas down in an open area on a green hillside. More than 10 babies and small gorillas were playing around making this a enjoyable visit.
The other two groups were also successful on their trek, so everybody was satisfied back at the lodge. After lunch, several of us photographed many of the birds around the lodge. At sunset I hired a local group of dancers who performed with the majestic volcanic mountains in the background.
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| #12 Gorilla in fresh green vegetation. Nikon D3S with 300/2.8, 1/640 sec, f/5,6 and ISO 1600. Copyright © Ole Jørgen Liodden / Naturfokus. CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO VIEW A LARGER VERSION, BUY A PRINT OR DOWNLOAD THE IMAGE. |
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| #13 Playing gorilla. Nikon D3S with 300/2.8, 1/3200 sec, f/5,0 and ISO 2000. Copyright © Ole Jørgen Liodden / Naturfokus. CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO VIEW A LARGER VERSION, BUY A PRINT OR DOWNLOAD THE IMAGE. |
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| #14 Relaxed gorilla. Nikon D3S with 300/2.8, 1/2000 sec, f/6,3 and ISO 1250. Copyright © Ole Jørgen Liodden / Naturfokus. CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO VIEW A LARGER VERSION, BUY A PRINT OR DOWNLOAD THE IMAGE. |
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| Kjell photographing gorilla. Copyright © Ole Jørgen Liodden / Naturfokus. |
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| #15 Gorilla with some “candy”. Nikon D3S with 300/2.8, 1/2000 sec, f/5,6 and ISO 1250. Copyright © Ole Jørgen Liodden / Naturfokus. CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO VIEW A LARGER VERSION, BUY A PRINT OR DOWNLOAD THE IMAGE. |
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| #16 Gorilla family. Nikon D3S with 300/2.8. 1/1000 sec, f/6,3 and ISO 1250. Copyright © Ole Jørgen Liodden / Naturfokus. CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO VIEW A LARGER VERSION, BUY A PRINT OR DOWNLOAD THE IMAGE. |
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| #17 Young gorilla. Nikon D3S with 300/2.8, 1/3200 sec, f/5,6 and ISO 2000. Copyright © Ole Jørgen Liodden / Naturfokus. CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO VIEW A LARGER VERSION, BUY A PRINT OR DOWNLOAD THE IMAGE. |
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| #18 Gorilla in landscape. Nikon D3X with 14-24/2.8, 1/500 sec, f/8,0 and ISO 200. Copyright © Ole Jørgen Liodden / Naturfokus. CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO VIEW A LARGER VERSION, BUY A PRINT OR DOWNLOAD THE IMAGE. |
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| #19 Cinnamon-chested Bee-eater. Nikon D3S with 600/4.0, 1/500 sec, f/5,6 and ISO 2000. Copyright © Ole Jørgen Liodden / Naturfokus. CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO VIEW A LARGER VERSION, BUY A PRINT OR DOWNLOAD THE IMAGE. |
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| #20 Helmeted Guineafowl. Nikon D3S with 600/4.0 + 1,4x teleconverter, 1/800 sec, f/5,6 and ISO 1600. Copyright © Ole Jørgen Liodden / Naturfokus. CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO VIEW A LARGER VERSION, BUY A PRINT OR DOWNLOAD THE IMAGE. |
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| #21 One of the surrounding volcanos. Nikon D3S with 600/4.0. 1/1600 sec, f/7,1 and ISO 1250. Copyright © Ole Jørgen Liodden / Naturfokus. CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO VIEW A LARGER VERSION, BUY A PRINT OR DOWNLOAD THE IMAGE. |
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| #22 Local dancer. Nikon D3S with 85/1.4 and ring flash, 1/250 sec, f/3,2 and ISO 2000. Copyright © Ole Jørgen Liodden / Naturfokus. CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO VIEW A LARGER VERSION, BUY A PRINT OR DOWNLOAD THE IMAGE. |
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| #23 Dance performance. Nikon D3S with 85/1.4 og ring flash, 1/800 sec, f/3,5 and ISO 1000. Copyright © Ole Jørgen Liodden / Naturfokus. CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO VIEW A LARGER VERSION, BUY A PRINT OR DOWNLOAD THE IMAGE. |
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Day 5 – 21.02.2012 After breakfast we divided our group into two tracking groups for the third and last attempts at the gorillas. This morning I wanted to try to photograph the Golden Monkeys. These monkeys are also a rare and endangered species living in the Virunga area. The photo opportunities for the Golden Monkey turned out to be very good, and it was interesting to experience and photograph a species I’ve never seen before.
Today, all the treks were short, with a maximum one-hour walk each way. Again everyone had some nice encounters with the gorillas, and we succeeded 100% on our eight treks in search of gorillas. More images from the other photographers will soon be available HERE.
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| #24 Golden Monkey. Nikon D3S with 600/4.0, 1/1000 sec, f/4,5 and ISO 1600. Copyright © Ole Jørgen Liodden / Naturfokus. CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO VIEW A LARGER VERSION, BUY A PRINT OR DOWNLOAD THE IMAGE. |
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| #25 Golden Monkey in bamboo forest. Nikon D3S with 600/4.0, 1/640 sec, f/5,0 and ISO 1600. Copyright © Ole Jørgen Liodden / Naturfokus. CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO VIEW A LARGER VERSION, BUY A PRINT OR DOWNLOAD THE IMAGE. |
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| #26 Grey Crowned Crane near the lodge. Nikon D3S with 600/4.0, 1/10 sec, f/11 and ISO 400. Copyright © Ole Jørgen Liodden / Naturfokus. CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO VIEW A LARGER VERSION, BUY A PRINT OR DOWNLOAD THE IMAGE. |
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| Nine happy photographers. Copyright © Kjell Germeten. |
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It was time for our drive back to Kigali, but first we had time for a nice group photo.
I want to thank all who participated in this photo tour and made it such a memorable and enjoyable photographic journey! I hope to see you all again soon!
For those of you who wish to participate on a similar photo safari to Rwanda, you can find more information HERE.
Written by photo guide: Ole Jørgen Liodden
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This post is also available in: Norwegian Bokmål
Tags: Golden Monkey, Gorilla, Mountain Gorilla, Naturfokus, Ole Jørgen Liodden, Rwanda
This entry was posted on Friday, March 9th, 2012 at 00:24
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