If the lumbering form of a hippopotami causes you to giggle, please don’t scoff too loud. If properly motivated this “horse of the river” it can run up to 30 miles an hour! That is no small task with a bulk ranging from 3,000 lbs for a female and clocking in at over 6,000 lbs for a male. Luckily hippos prefer to spend their time in the water putting all that blubber to good use as buoyancy to keep it floating near the surface. If a hippo does submerge it can hold its breath for an astonishing five minutes. Check out an amazing video of underwater hippo acrobatics below:

Yearning to take your own video (and photos) of this remarkable beast? Contact us about an Africa safari with hippos!

Britain and Germany had long been the colonial powers in eastern Africa and the nation of Tanganyika was no exception. But British rule came to an end in 1961 and Tanganyika peacefully moved into independence with Julius Nyerere as its President. Just offshore on the small island nation of of Zanzibar, however, a long-standing Arab dynasty remained in place even after the British gave the country its independence in 1963. Only a month later, the bloody Zanzibar Revolution was underway and thousands of Arabs and people of Indian descent were either killed or expelled. On April 26th, 1964, the two nations merged to form Tanzania of which Zanibar remains a semi-autonomous region.

Why do we love Tanzania? For the eye-opening diversity and integration between excellent wildlife viewing and fascinating cultures, for the mighty Mt Kilimanjaro and tranquil white beaches of Zanzibar, for the remarkable Great Migration and for all the hidden corners like Mahale Forest and Ruaha National Park that make this a destination worth discovering over and over again.

Photo courtesy of Asilia.

Packing a carry-on bag for a whirlwind 3-week trip through South Africa including safari, business meetings, and family time takes time to perfect. I pack safari khakis and high heels all in one bag and leave my second carry-on ready to stuff with soccer balls and Frisbees to give out along the way. At African Safari Company, we always make sure to take useful supplies and support Pack for a Purpose partners every time we travel!

The trip this past December included 3 partners of Pack for a Purpose: Savanna Private Reserve, Londolozi Private Reserve, Lion Sands Private Reserve all in the Greater Kruger National Park’s Sabi Sand reserve as well as Cape Cadogan, Lion Sands sister hotel in Cape Town. The first stop was Savanna Lodge, which sent these wonderful photos from their orphanage partners along with a lovely note:

“Just a short note to say thank you for your donation of Frisbees and soccer balls for the children from Tiyimiseleni Orphanage. The children were delighted to receive these items. They had big smiles and enjoyed playing around with them in the playgrounds. They were unsure initially how to use the Frisbees, but got the hang of it quickly! It is with your support and kindness that we are able to make a small difference in these children’s lives. Thank you for thinking of them.
With warm regards, Paddy and the Savanna family.”

The next two stops were Londolozi and Lion Sands. I had a great talk with one of the owners of Lion Sands at camp about their three school projects and the camp’s community involvement. That was the last stop on the safari, but when we arrived in Cape Town, we stopped at a local Checkers (think a South African Kroger) and bought crayons, coloring books, pencils etc! These supplies we left at Cape Cadogan, the sister hotel of Lion Sands, and they went out on the next supply truck back to the Lion Sands supported schools.

I wish we’d had the chance to personally deliver the supplies but it was wonderful to get the photos and feedback and to talk to the staff at each of the camps, who are clearly passionate about the projects they support with Pack for a Purpose! See if your African camps and lodges participate here.

Photos courtesy of Savanna Private Game Lodge.

From National Geographic; “Panthera [ed. a U.S.-based wild cat-conservation group] President Luke Hunter suspects the pale leopard has erythrism, a little-understood genetic condition that’s thought to cause either an overproduction of red pigments or an underproduction of dark pigments.

“It’s really rare—I don’t know of another credible example in leopards,” said Hunter, whose group collaborates with National Geographic’s Big Cats Initiative. (The Society owns National Geographic News.)

Hunter added, “it’s surprising that [a photo of the leopard] didn’t come out sooner, because he’s relatively used to vehicles.”"

Want the chance to spot the strawberry blonde leopard on your African safari adventure? Contact us!

Photo courtesy of Deon De Villiers and National Geographic.

Try panning with a moving animal at a slow shutter speed to blur the background and focus the attention on the moving animal.  The example image was created at 1/30^th of a second.  Experiment with different shutter speeds – as each situation and lens combination will lead to a different “best” shutter speed.  Remember to follow the action with the camera, and follow through as you make images (like a golf or tennis swing).

Want to learn to take amazing photos like this one? Get the most out of your Africa safari and join Bob & Diane on their 2013 trip to Tanzania here and check out their brand new adventure in Botswana here!