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travel photography

Karula a female leopard in South Africa

Karula leopard in Djuma. © Andrea Rees Photography.
Karula, a female leopard photographed in the Sabi Sands, South Africa

Meet Karula, the ‘Queen of Djuma’

In May 2015, I spent a night at Elephant Plains Game Lodge in the northern Sabi Sands. I was fortunate to see the female leopard known as Karula during both game drives.

My favourite encounter with Karula happened when we came across her and Tingana (a dominant male leopard in Djuma Game Reserve) on the morning drive. They were on the move. but stopped to mate. We spent 45 minutes following them through the bush.

She was a well-loved leopard in Sabi Sands but sadly, she disappeared without a trace and is assumed to be dead. Those mating sessions I witnessed did not result in cubs for Karula, but in February 2016 she had 2 cubs. They were named Hosana (male leopard) and Xongile (female leopard). Hosana still traverses the Sabi Sands. Sadly, Xongile disappeared without a trace just like her mother.

Photographing Karula

I was able to photograph Karula several times during those sightings, but my favourite moment and photo happened when Karula stood on a termite mound. I captured this image the only moment she looked my way. and had mere seconds to catch it. Fortunately, I was ready. This photo of Karula continues to be one of my treasured images as Karula was the leopard that drew me to the species and WildEarth.

WildEarth / safariLIVE

It was an amazing and surreal experience being in Karula’s presence because I have watched her over the years on safariLIVE by Wild Earth. WildEarth streams a live game drive from South Africa 2 times a day every day to their YouTube channel.

In November/December 2018 I had the opportunity to visit and live with the safariLIVE / WildEarth team and crew for 10 days. You can read about my experience on the WildEarth blog here.

Note: Having some image display issues on various mobile devices. If this image is blurry, please click on it for a sharper version.

To purchase this image or my other wildlife images as a print, coaster, mask, magnet and more, visit my Redbubble Shop or please connect with me to discuss.

A beautiful sunset in rural India

 

SunsetGanges
After travelling the Ganges River for 4.5 hours by row boat to our overnight camping spot, we were treated to this sunset. It wasn’t a formal campsite, just a spot on a sandy beach by the river somewhere near Allahabad, India. Occasionally we would see 1 or 2 people in the distance across the river or fishermen that rowed by. The following morning we were greeted by the rare and elusive Ganga bottlenose dolphins. This was one of my most memorable experiences while on a small group tour with Intrepid Travel in February 2015.

Sunrise boat ride on River Ganga in Varanasi, India

Sunrise on River Ganga (Ganges) in Varanasi, India. There is so much to observe as life unfolds by the river’s edge, but if you don’t look the other way, you’d miss this. The way the sun peeks through the smoke filled skies as it rises is a something worth getting up early for.

 

Life unfolds by the River Ganges in Varanasi, India

Life unfolds by the river Ganga (Ganges) in Varanasi, India. I captured this as I drifted by on a boat as the sun rose.

This was one of my most memorable experiences while on tour with Intrepid Travel in February 2015. I’m counting

http://www.eta-i.org/valium.html

down my favourite experiences and images from my travels this year.

Thanks to IntrepidTravel and Toronto TravelMassive for taking me to India for my first time. I won a 15-day tour at Toronto Travel Massive’s 4th anniversary celebration.

Vienna’s Prater Ferris Wheel

Vienna Prater

One of Vienna, Austria’s landmarks, the historic Prater ferris wheel. The original ferris wheel was built in 1897 but was damaged in 1944 during World War II. It has since been restored a few times.