While I love this blog, I now pretty much only write on my other two blogs: BirdingBlogs.com and 10,000 Birds - I would love to see you there!

Wednesday 30 September 2009

Wildlife up close - primates

Primates are - to European tastes at least - very very exotic creatures. South Africa has three large primates, the Vervet Monkey, the Samango Monkey, and the Chacma Baboon. This post doesnt really fit with the rules of the "Wildlife up close" digiscoping series, but I will put it in there because it is somehow related.

Young Vervet Monkey



Samango Monkeys




Young Chacma Baboon drinking at sunset
Adult male Chacma Baboon

If you have not seen any of the "Wildlife up close" digiscoping series, then here is a bit of an intro (from the first Cape Buffalo post):
So one of the great things about digiscoping is that one has a huge focal length to play with, so one can really get up close and personal with some pretty impressive creatures. In my time in Southern Africa, I was able to get a whole pile of close-up macro-style images of a variety of wildlife.
What I would like to do is to create a collection of the best "Wildlife up close" images but I would like you to help me out. Each post will feature a different species of African wildlife and I would like to vote for your favorite (or against your least favorite).

Please vote for your favorite, and at the end of the series, I will randomly choose a winner from each post in the series and send them the original full-sized image they chose.

Happy voting and good luck!

Dale Forbes

8 comments:

Chris said...

Hi Dale,
and you got them all! Well done mate! I love the last portrait a lot but as usual, all the pictures are splendid!

Kevin said...

Great Detail Dale, you get spoiled on all that wonderful African Wildlife!

Kev

Anonymous said...

I like the kissing the earth photo. It reminds me of drinking from the mountain springs all summer long.

Dale Forbes said...

Hi Chris, the Samango would normally be the hardest, but I know exactly where to look for them and we ended up seeing them many times in two different regions - I am particularly happy with that series as they can be the hardest monkey in SA to get really good portrait photos of.

Kevin - Africa spoils anyone even remotely interested in nature and wildlife!

Hi Bernie! that trail must have been absolutely incredible. but the greatest part - for me - would have been the solitude away from people and cities and cars. and the communion with nature and oneself...

SAPhotographs (Joan) said...

I wlove the last 2 Samango ones Dale. Brilliant!! Nice that you posted pictures of all three.

Jochen said...

Wow, Samango is really good.

Well, I've never really developed an increased interest in primates for reasons I don't know (in very much the same way that terns tend to not get me very excited even if I chance upon a lifer). Nevertheless, I'd go with the drinking baboon kid. That's a particularly nice shot.

Dale Forbes said...

primates have never really done it for me either. but the samango and the central american red-backed squirrel monkey stand out from the crowd.

for birds, it the gulls that dont really do it for me (although I really like terns)

Anonymous said...

We liked the content and the article. Worth the time