1. Botswana and Namibia
  2. Namibia

Etosha Pan and Otjiwarongo

Desert Air pilot, Etosha pan from the air, steenbok, rhinos at salt lick, wart hog family, running cheetahs
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Up in the air
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Up in the air

  • Up in the air
  • Kunene-River-from-the-air,-Angola-Namibia-border
  • Naturally-occuring-fractals-2,-Etosha-Pan,-Namibia.
  • Naturally-occurring-fractals,-Etosha-Pan,-Namibia<br />
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These fractals are made by water flowing across the Etosha salt pan at the end of the rainy season, as seen from the air, - but are not nearly as elegant as Morgan Fractals' computer-generated images :-)
  • Naturally-occuring-fractals-3,-Etosha-Pan,-Namibia<br />
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The rains dissolve the salts from this saline pan and as the rains dry, the encrusted salts outline the former water channels, while the larger lakes are drying from the edges. During the dry season the wildlife congregates at the remaining pools of water and the natural springs.
  • Steenbok-resting-in-the-shade,-Otjiwarongo, Namibia
  • White-rhinos-at-a-salt-lick-at-sunset,-Otjiwarongo,-Namibia
  • Baby-white-rhino-nursing,-Otjiwarongo,-Namibia
  • White-rhino-at-salt-lick,-Otjiwarongo,-Namibia
  • Pair of cheetah waiting for some action, Otjiwarongo, Namibia
  • Cheetah,-early-morning,-Otjiwarongo,-Namibia
  • Running cheetah with all feet in the air, Otjiwarongo, Namibia<br />
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The subject of this photo harkens back to the time of Eadweard Muybridge, the inventor of cinematography.  In the late 1800s a debate raged about whether all four feet of a trotting horse are ever off the ground at the same time, and Muybridge was commissioned to look for a novel way to solve the question. He was hired by the railroad baron Leland Stanford to photograph Occident, one of his champion trotters, in motion.  His photographs of the horse in 1878 (recently on exhibition at the Tate Gallery in London) proved that there is an instant when a running horse does, indeed, have all feet off the ground.  This occurs in the horse, as well as in the cheetah, when the front legs extend back and the back legs extend forward, generating maximum power.<br />
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Muybridge's high speed mechanical shutters were the prelude to the modern camera, and his invention of the zoopraxiscope to show his still pictures in rapid sequence were the prelude to cinema.
  • Cheetah in action at sunrise, Otjiwarongo, Namibia<br />
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May not have time to post or comment during the next few days :-(
  • Cheetah in mid-pounce, Otjiwarongo, Namibia<br />
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I liked the way the tail pointed straight up. (best at larger size)
  • Cheetah in hot pursuit, Otjiwarongo, Namibia
  • Composite of cheetah in action, Otjiwarongo, Namibia<br />
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This photo is a composite of two successive frames of a single cheetah in action. At the larger sizes  the non retractable claws of the cheetah can be seen (cheetahs are the only large cat where this occurs).  Cheetah can run at speeds of up to 115 mph, so it was a good photographic challenge to get sharp shots of them in action.  Fortunately the strong morning light allowed a fast shutter speed.  Several other photos of the action can be seen here <a href="http://goo.gl/JQtHw">http://goo.gl/JQtHw</a>.
  • Resting, but alert cheetah, Otjiwarongo, Namibia
  • Cheetah in hot pursuit-2, Otjiwarongo, Namibia
  • Running cheetah
  • Cheetah in action-2, Otjiwarongo, Namibia
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