February 19, 2013
Warthog, Black-Shouldered Kite, Leopard, Crowned Crane, and Rüppell's Griffon Vulture in Tanzania

Here are a few of my favorite images from my recent photo safari to Tanzania. I think Warthogs are neat animals but it's difficult to obtain good images of them because they're small and tend to hang out in tall grass. This guy was standing on a rise in short grass at first light which let me get close to his eye level and also see most of his body.

Black-Shouldered Kites can be skittish, so we tried to photograph them whenever possible. This one let us approach fairly close and I got some nice portrait images before it had enough of the paparazzi and took off. We arrived at the leopard jam while this guy was carrying his just-caught Warthog piglet back towards his favorite tree. He paused near the base of the tree to rest, then he carried the piglet up to a crook in the tree (above) where he rested quite a while before carrying the piglet further up into the dense canopy.

Grey Crowned Cranes are usually quite shy, so I was surprised when we were able to practically drive right up to this one. It gave us several good looks before calmly walking away.

This Rüppell's Griffon Vulture was on final approach to landing at a zebra kill.