Wildebeests, Serengeti National Park, Tanzania. January 2008. Canon EOS-D1 Mark III, 70-200mm, f/5.7, ISO400In January and February of 2008, I traveled to the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania, Africa for a photography workshop. Since I had been a young girl I had always dreamed of going to Africa, and when the opportunity happened, I had no idea what to expect. When I got off the plane at Kilimanjaro International Airport, the sun had already gone down, and I could instantly feel there was something different. The wind was blowing, the air was warm, there was a full moon, and I could see the silhouettes of the flat acacia trees. I whispered to myself, “This is going to be an incredible adventure.”
And it was.
The Serengeti National Park is a 6000 square mile reserve located in Tanzania and Kenya. The wildlife roams freely, and on any given day you can spot over 250 different species. For 10 days I was unable to put my camera down.
Before I left Los Angeles, I was interested in witnessing the wildebeest migration. I’ve seen the monarch butterfly make its journey north and have been to San Juan Capistrano when the swallows arrive. What makes creatures make the same (and often perilous) migration year after year? Who in the group decides that it’s time to go, and how do they know which way to go? At one point during the safari, our guide let us get out of our vehicles, and the expansiveness was breathtaking.
Not only was I able to see the wildebeest returning to the southern area of the Serengeti, I was also able to experience an array of amazing wildlife with their young.
In some cases, I was able to get quite close. When I photographed a mother elephant and her newborn calf, I was only about 20 yards away.
