Skywatch Friday - Fifty Shades of Blue

Travelling between the towns of Aberdeen and Klipplaat I stopped to photograph a row of sisal plants, when another photo opportunity presented itself, in the form of a troop of vervet monkeys that had been feeding on the pods. This guy kind of blended in with the sky.....well ever so slightly.

Many more super pictures from around the world can be viewed at the Skywatch page.

Skywatch Friday - Mata Mata Sunset

This was one of those moments where I had to stop the car and enjoy the sunset even though there was a race against time to get back to camp, before the gates closed. With the dry air and dust the sunsets in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park are breathtaking.

Visit Skywatch for more great pictures from around the world.

Happy New Year

May 2015 be the start of many good journey's for you. May your roads be without too many bumps and if there are may you sail over all obstacles without a care. Let 2015 be a fantastic year, look for adventure, take risks, have fun and make your dreams happen. When the road starts to get blurry, stop and smell the flowers. Spend time enjoying the sunsets and sunrises and look for the rainbows. Take pleasure in all that is around you and look forward to seeing what new experiences the next rise or turn in the road brings.

Lappet-faced Vulture - Kgalagadi

The Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park can become a special place, if you allow it to get into your soul. I did not feel like that on my first visit last month, because the place is so hostile. It is almost as though it is conspiring to see how it can make life uncomfortable for you, but the heat, wind storms, dust storms and thunderstorms all become part of the experience and is what sets it apart from other parks.

Processing my photos after the trip is what has done it for me and I will have to start planning the next trip soon. It's not as though you can just decide to jump in your car and go there. You have to book your accommodation a year in advance - that tells you something about the place and its popularity.

One of the amazing features of the Park for me was the variety and number of raptors that one gets to see there. The Lappet-faced Vulture is just one of these - a magnificent bird, always ready to clean up after the predators.

Bateleur

This was one of those moments in photography that you dream of.....getting this close to a Bateleur. We disturbed him while he was on the ground at Melkvlei in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park and followed him to a tree where he had settled.

After taking a number of photos from various distances before  he was frightened off, we were eventually parked under the tree with him peering down at us through the sunroof.

These are truly magnificent birds.