BLOG - Page 3 of 8 - Jane Wynyard

Date:: February 2, 2017
Categories:: Africa
Tags:: africa, Himba, indigenous, namibia, photography, portrait, travel, tribes
Comments:: 0

Stunning images of Namibia’s Himba tribe

It was with a bit of trepidation that we first met the traditional Himba people of Namibia – an indigenous people of about 50,000 living in Northern Namibia and Angola. We were on our way back from Etosha and our guide had warned us the Himba were aggressive business people, wouldn’t like being photographed too often and would most likely cover our arms in bracelets and try to get us to buy everything! While the latter was true (and I did end up buying a few bracelets after they covered my arms in them), I found the Himba despite their serious business demeanour to be warm, friendly and[…]

Date:: February 1, 2017
Categories:: Africa
Tags:: africa, birds, conservation, flamingo, flamingos, lagoon, namibia, walvis bay, wildlife
Comments:: 4

Fuchsia flamingos of Namibia

Having spent a month in the Namib Desert since my last post with no internet access, temperatures of 50 degrees celsius and the nearest town 200km away, I’ve got very behind in keeping my blog up to date! In fact I have a tonne of stories and images to post including tales about baby-sitting a tiny baboon for the night, being chased by an Ostrich and searching for Hyena in Kanaan. Firstly though, I have to share some of my favourite pictures from one of the highlights of my visit to Namibia – seeing the incredible Flamingo colonies at the lagoon in Walvis Bay near Swakopmund. There[…]

Date:: December 20, 2016
Categories:: Africa
Tags:: adventure, africa, bushmen, culture, indigenous, namibia, san, san people, southern africa, traditional, travel
Comments:: 6

Meet the shy clicking San people of Namibia

On my second day in Namibia, I was introduced to a fascinating yet shy group of people called San people. Also known as the bushmen or Basarwa, they are the oldest inhabitants of southern Africa where they have lived for at least 20,000 years. While many San people have adapted to modern ways and no longer live the traditional lifestyle in Namibia, it was fascinating to learn about their culture and see how they lived off the harsh African landscape and nature. We listened to the chief of the group speak in the click language ‘Khoisan’ as he showed us how to hunt wildlife in the traditional San way using poison[…]

Date:: December 20, 2016
Categories:: Africa, wildcat
Tags:: africa, baboons, cheetah, leopard, N/a'an ku se, namibia, southern africa, volunteer, volunteering, wildlife, wildlife sanctuary
Comments:: 1

Why everyone should become a wildlife volunteer

I’ve spent the past week volunteering at the N/a’an ku se wildlife sanctuary in Namibia – established in 2006 by Rudie and Marlice van Vuuren, with friends Chris Heunis and Jan Verburg, to protect and improve the lives of the country’s people and wildlife. The world famous sanctuary provides a haven and second chance for countless injured, orphaned, and conflict animals. The sanctuary’s goal is to release them whenever possible so that they may be free to live a natural life in the wild. In the sanctuary, they have cheetahs, lions, leopards, troops of baboons, warthogs, meerkats, kudu, a beautiful Hartebeest called Elsa, herds of[…]

Date:: December 10, 2016
Categories:: Africa, wildlife
Tags:: africa, collaring, elephant, elephants, kenya, orphan, poaching, samburu, samburu national park, save the elephants, wildlife, wildlife photography
Comments:: 0

How an orphaned baby elephant overcame tragedy to lead her own herd

This elephant collar, held by Save The Elephants’ Research Assistant, Benjamin Loloju Ltibikishe, was once worn by a great matriarch of the Swahili family called Khadija. During the poaching crisis of 2011/2012, she was the only remaining female – the last matriarch – left in the herd that roamed around the south side of Buffalo Springs, not far from Samburu. A mother to three babies, she was a compassionate and special elephant who had earlier adopted her niece, the baby Habiba, after her mother was killed by poachers when Habiba was only a few months old. In 2011, Khadija was found wandering around in Samburu[…]

Date:: December 9, 2016
Categories:: Africa, wildlife
Tags:: africa, bathing, diving elephants, elephant, elephants, kenya, river, samburu, save the elephants, wildlife, wildlife photographer, wildlife photography
Comments:: 0

The diving elephants of Samburu, Kenya

Is it a submarine, is it a lochness monster? No, it’s an elephant thoroughly enjoying itself in the Ewaso Nyiro River in Samburu, Northern Kenya during a particularly hot day. This elephant stayed in the river for about twenty minutes, sometimes submerging himself under water for at least several minutes, before splashing about, spraying water with his trunk and then heading off in search of food. Elephants are good swimmers and can stay underwater for quite some time by using their trunks as snorkels. Check out more pictures of this particular and very happy bathing elephant below.

Date:: December 8, 2016
Categories:: Africa, wildlife
Tags:: africa, cruel, dead monkey, death, kenya, monkey, nature, samburu, vervet, vervet monkey, wildlife, wildlife photography
Comments:: 0

The cruel reality of nature

This looks like a sleeping baby monkey but the harsh reality is that nature can be as cruel as it can be cute and fluffy. This is in fact a dead baby vervet. It had just been killed seconds before we arrived. It’s grief stricken mother sat with it briefly and then walked away. Two other monkeys nearby – a mother and baby – had terrible bite marks on their backs so we can only assume that a male vervet attacked both mothers and babies. New dominant males in monkey families will kill all the babies that aren’t sired by[…]

Date:: December 8, 2016
Categories:: Africa, wildlife
Tags:: africa, baby elephants, elephant, elephants, kenya, playing, samburu, samburu national park, save the elephants, wildlife, wildlife photography
Comments:: 0

The adorable bush flattening baby elephants of Samburu

While most of the elephants in Samburu National Park in Northern Kenya have been happily and quietly eating the new green vegetation that’s sprouted after the recent rains, two baby elephants have been approaching their food in a somewhat less civilised manner. No doubt a handful for their patient mother, these two siblings – aged about three years old – have decided they’d rather flatten their food than eat it and have launched into a game of ‘bash the bush’ wherever they go. Together they run from bush to bush stamping, squashing and attacking as many plants as they can – ears forward, trunks flailing, both[…]

Date:: December 8, 2016
Categories:: Africa
Tags:: africa, african culture, butterfly people, culture, elephant, kenya, portrait, portraits, relationship, samburu, samburu national park, samburu people
Comments:: 0

Why the Samburu of Northern Kenya are called Butterfly People

The local people that live in Samburu National Park are called ‘ Butterflies’ because of the beautiful colourful clothes they wear. They are a proud race of semi-nomadic people who still maintain their warrior culture. Samburu also have a special and deep relationship with elephants. They believe that God created man and elephants as brothers and that elephants have special powers. Whenever they come across an elephant carcass, they’ll place pieces of grass or greenery on the skull of the animal as a sign of respect. According to legend, the first elephant who lived with Samburu as their brother was working with a[…]

Date:: December 7, 2016
Categories:: Africa, wildlife
Tags:: adventure, africa, bull elephant, elephant, elephants, kenya, samburu, samburu national park, save the elephants, wildlife, wildlife photographer, wildlife photography
Comments:: 0

The wild bull elephant that visits the STE research camp

We had a rather awe-inspiring visitor yesterday … an enormous 17-year-old bull elephant called Malaso who for some unknown reason, took exception to the special collar testing units that we’d set up in the morning on a patch of land at the entrance to the Save The Elephants camp. He strode into the camp, sniffed the heavy collars and their wooden stands which we’d positioned as part of an alert testing, and then promptly lifted them into the air and threw them to the ground as though they were mere twigs. He then happily munched on salt bushes while we[…]

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