K. Bruce Lane - Photo of the Day: rhinos

Monday, June 03, 2013

Animal Kingdom 4

Animal Kingdom 4

As we continued around the rough road on the safari vehicle, we drove past elephants, black rhinos, ostrich, lions and a variety of other mammals and birds.

As I said yesterday, I would love to go on a real African Safari, but the closest I'll probably get is the Kilimanjaro Safaris Expedition in the Animal Kingdom Theme Park of Disney World. I did manage to photograph a few elephants from a distance, a couple of black rhino, ostrich eggs and two mammals shown in today's photos. Though the driver of our vehicle told us what these animals were and provided information about them, I can't remember what they are.

In order to make photos of all the animals in this attraction, you would have to travel on the ride many times. Several animals, including the cheetahs, were lying in the shade and too far away tp photograph. As we passed the lions, I shot photos even though I couldn't see them as the driver was pointing them out. I figured I might see them on the photos later but when I did see one, it was fairly far away (for the wide angle lens I was using) to get a good shot.

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Sunday, June 02, 2013

Animal Kingdom 3

Animal Kingdom 3

I imagine that the KIlimanjaro Safaris Expedition is much like a scaled down version of a real African Safari. There was a sign warning that this ride, which was aboard a covered truck, was rough and said it wasn't appropriate for people with various conditions. It was pretty rough and the constant motion over rough roads made it difficult to make pictures that were in good focus.

I was lucky to have a "window" seat, but in many cases the animals were on the opposite side of the vehicle and since I was shooting with a wide angle lens, I missed them. It was too rough to change lenses and the Nikon, which has a good 36 x zoom, wasn't fast enough to zoom, compose and shoot while in motion.

Despite those things listed above, I did manage to make a few decent shots which I will share with you today and tomorrow. The white rhino was lying down with several vultures watching him. I wondered if it was sick and they were waiting for a big feast! The hippos were in the water and I can imagine how beautiful it would be to see lots of them in an African river. A few African crocodiles were in a nearby enclosure and we passed by and I was lucky to capture 1 decent photo.
I included a photo of the truck ahead of us to let you see what they looked like as they drove around the man-made savannah. Two giraffes appeared to be feeding on a tree, but upon closer examination, they are eating out of a bucket hung on one of the trees. I photographed several termite hills, but am pretty sure they are also man-made.

Feel free to share today's photos with family and friends.