Hi

I am back from a wonderful 3 weeks trip around the Kalahari desert.

The tour started in Windhoek and headed south for the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Parc (KTP). Then, we left that parc for a few days in the Kaa Concession area and ended with the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR), including mostly the Deception Valley.

The first week was very hot and dry (making it really dusty), the other two weeks showed us that the rainy season was not over. A rain or thunderstorm at midday or in the evening was likely. This washed away the dust, but humidity raised, up to the level of having quite dense mist on early mornings.

I finally decided to take the following equipment:

• 2 K-7
• DA12-24/4
• DFA100/2.8 WR
• DA*200/2.8
• DA*60-250/4
• TC 1.7x
• Solarpanel with powermodule and Ansmann Vario Pro charger to charge the K-7 batteries when away from power supply.
• Netbook

What worked well

• The weather sealing of both K-7 and the weather sealed lens worked perfectly. Even in such conditions, I never had any dust on the sensor[
• With the help of the 26W solar panel, a power module and the ansmann vario pro, I could charge all my batteries (K-7, AA batteries for GPS and the battery of the netbook). I even charged the batteries of other people in the group.
• All lens delivered great IQ.
• Quite frequent use of high FPS was really helpful to follow actions such as playing lions
• Sorting the RAW photos on the netbook in the evening was not quite fast, but still very usable. I do now have to sort "just" out of 800 shots, while I did really take over 2500 shots.

What did not work as expected

• DA12-24 does not zoom so smoothly anymore, so weather sealing seem to make the difference
• Because of the dust and rain, the DA*16-50 would have been the better choice than the DA12-24.
• As it is not allowed to leave the car while in the national parcs, composing nice wide angle landscapes with the DA12-24 is not as easy.
• Normally, on such a safari, I took both DA*200 and DA*300. This time, I took the DA*60-250 and DA*200 instead. I was quite surprised that the DA*60-250 was not what I expected. When taking a wild animal with a prime lens, if you are too close for the used focal length, you take a detailed shot or portrait shot, if you are too distance for the used focal length, you try to show not only the animal but also the surroundings. When using the 60-250, you always hesitated in taking a detailed shot or a shot showing the animal in its surroundings.
• The 1.7x TC on the DA*60-250 takes too much light on early morning and late afternoon shots.
• On many occasions, I missed a longer lens. I do really wish a prime lens in the 500mm region. Hopefully Pentax will soon bring a lens going beyond 300mm, or I might well take the Sigma 500/4.5.

[knoxploration]

These just get better and better. The first of the two images above takes my breath away - I hope for your sake that was taken with one of your telephotos, and a fully gassed vehicle. ;-)

[knoxploration]

The first of the images at 2:38am I mean, can't edit my post for some reason.

[tcom]

Thankfully the guide could repair the car as this deep sand track is not used frequently. We do not see any single other car on this track duringthe whole day.

The landscape is changing as we leave the Nossob valley

50
DA12-24, 1/2000s f/8.0 at 24.0mm iso400


51
DA12-24, 1/320s f/8.0 at 12.0mm iso100

[tcom]

These just get better and better. The first of the two images above takes my breath away - I hope for your sake that was taken with one of your telephotos, and a fully gassed vehicle. ;-)

Thank you.

The lioness were too occupied by themselves and did not care much about us, at least as they were plaing. As we drove by, they were a bit irritated.

[tcom]

52
DA12-24, 1/500s f/8.0 at 12.0mm iso100


By the end of the day, we arrived at our camp site at Khiding Pan in the Mabuasehube area of the Kgalagadi. We built up our tents in around 15 minutes.

That's all for now, but there is a lot more to come.

[kevinschoenmakers]

Great stuff, keep it coming!

[rhe]

Great shots and interesting commentary. Thanks for sharing!

[autumnsbliss]

Beautiful shots. The blue sky is simply fantastic (almost like I'm standing there myself)!

Get any shots of some meerkats?

[tcom]

Thanks for all the comments.

Beautiful shots. The blue sky is simply fantastic (almost like I'm standing there myself)!

Get any shots of some meerkats?

We did see 2 families of meerkats. The first family disappeared as soon as we arrived, the second one took such a safety distance that even 500mm would not have been long enough.

The people getting really close photos of the meerkats in the wild spend probably more than a year in order to get tolerated by the meerkats.

[rparmar]

rparmar: it was my 9th trip to southern Africa and I waited to see my first cheetah in the wild. I am very well aware that if I see something special, I should take a photo immediately, one never knows.

Nothing personal meant! I can see from your shots you are an expert and don't need my advice... much the other way around. But I sometimes leave such tips for other people who might be browsing this thread to read. Just to make it a more enriching experience.

I would have found it difficult to leave the lionness even if I had been there all day. Can look at such wonderful beauty forever.

Thank you for your new shots -- they went well with my coffee!

[cupic]

What a fabulous series ...so sharp focused composed and excellent white balance,when I see this on my monitor,this makes me try to be as good as seems to me I have a ways to go but to see whats capable makes it for me TFS


cheers

[quiksilver]

Excellent set of images. It looks like a National Geographic set. Thank you very much for sharing.

How much did a trip like this cost? What did you find to be the best lens to use on such an outing?

[tcom]

Nothing personal meant! I can see from your shots you are an expert and don't need my advice... much the other way around. But I sometimes leave such tips for other people who might be browsing this thread to read. Just to make it a more enriching experience.

Yes, that's exactly the way I understood it. I just wanted to say that, even if it was my 9th trip, I behaved somehow like a newbie when I saw the cheetah.

I would have found it difficult to leave the lionness even if I had been there all day. Can look at such wonderful beauty forever.

That's true. But when you do have 350km ahead of you and expect very high temps, you do not really have a choice.

Thank you for your new shots -- they went well with my coffee!

You are welcome!

[tcom]

Excellent set of images. It looks like a National Geographic set. Thank you very much for sharing.

How much did a trip like this cost? What did you find to be the best lens to use on such an outing?

Thank you.

In regards of costs, you have to consider a few points first:

• Botswana is really expensive. ie. a campsite reservation is around USD 30-50 per person and night.
• I travelled in a very small group, 6 participants.
• Two Land Rover Defender for such a small group (two vehicules are highly recommended when going to such remote areas)
• Two driverguides
• Return flights from Europe to Namibia are expensive (around EUR 1000 per person)

It was a three weeks tours, for a total of around EUR 5000.-.

As for the lens, the DA*60-250 was handy, but I would have been better of with my usual combo DA*200 and DA*300. A longer lens would have been welcome. I am even considering the Sigma 50-500 HSM...

[tcom]

30th March: Mabuasehube area

After the long and tiring drive over the dunes to reach the Mabuasehube area, we will not drive that much. We take a game drive in the early morning.

The sky is quite covered this morning, there are not much animals around, so it is time for some macro shots of what's around

53 Seeds
DFA100WR, 1/125s f/5.6 at 100.0mm iso100


54
DFA100WR, 1/160s f/4.5 at 100.0mm iso100