Wow!

Managing a blog is not as easy as I thought, with facebook, business to do and friends to please it has turned out to be a real mission. I have had a couple of fantastic trips the last year or so. Left Tswalu to start a new life as a business owner in the city and doing part time photography.

I have had some amazing Kruger trips with some unbelievable sightings, visited Hluhluwe game Reserve, St Lucia wetlands Park, Jozini Dam and had a fantastic weekend in the Drakensberg. It has been a year filled with some memories I will never forget.

I often get a unexpected e-mail from friends that got my photo of the webbed Impala on e-mail, always a great feeling. Model photography has also proven to be allot of fun and I am getting into the feel of Landscapes to. I bought a Canon 7D and a 70-200 f2.8 lens recently and what a machine. We are planning a trip to Mozambique in April and I will definitely update the blog about the trip.

Cheers

Frank

Kalahari summer

The last of the thunderstorms for the rainy season in the Kalahari are passing through, lighting up the night sky with bright flashes followed by the rumble of the rain creeping over the dunes from the west. This will be the last rain the Kalahari gets until around September 2010, the winter cold is slowly taking over from the hot and humid summer we have had, this triggers the migration of many birds back to the warmer areas in Europe and North Africa.

The summer held many surprises this year, we lost a great male cheetah a true lifesaver on those game drives that nothing worked and had they joy of new lion cubs in the north. This is the cycle of life and death, wet and dry in the magnificent Kalahari.

SANBI Research group.

Gaint ground Gecko I photographed earlier this year.

Tswalu supports a wide variety of research programmes and there is always someone on the reserve researching something. Last night we had the opportunity to go out into the field with the guys from the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI), researching geckos and amphibians.

The strategy was Marco our head field guide would shine the spotlight on the road with me next to him on the bonnet of the Land Rover, and Adrian driving the vehicle, if we see something Adrian would brake hard I go flying off the vehicle and catch the Gecko while Marco makes sure I don't get taken by a hungry lion in the proses. We had great success and caught ten Barking geckos and five Kalahari ground geckos.

The research done on these animals will determine new species, genetic diversity over South Africa, running speed, bite force, and locomotion force. As well as general colouration's of species within a area.

A special thanks to the guys and girls from SANBI for sharing their knowledge on these fascinating animals with us.

Frank Solomon

Swifts and swallows

After last nights rain, all the flying insects seemed to be out and about this morning and so to those who feed on them, there was a mass of swifts and swallows everywhere in the dune streets feeding on the flying termites that set flight in the hope of starting a colony of their own.

I found it more interesting watching these birds this morning than the three black rhino we found....

Another great thing about the Kalahari...

Frank Solomon

Tswalu Kalahari

Nestled in the Kalahari among the Korranaberg mountains is a one of a kind reserve, a 100 000 hectare playground filled with some of the best game in South Africa. Its a photographers heaven great backgrounds, amazing sightings, red sand and blue sky. Hope you all enjoy the photos.

Frank Solomon
Tswalu Kalahari- Game ranger.