African Big Five

Yawn!!!
Yawn!!!

With so many pictures from our Tanzania trip I wanted to something different than my usual wildlife photography style. I have tried to compile a series of five pictures which I call “Animal Portraits”. Each of these animals are from a group referred to as the African Big Five. Continue reading and grab the other 4 too!!

Lion lessons!

Lion Lessons: Yes my love you did well!!
Lion Lessons: Yes my love you did well!!

On the morning of our departure from Kirawira, western Serengeti it was cloudy and we had almost given up all hopes of seeing anything but then as it can happen with any jungle safari our luck changed. Just 20 meter form the road was sitting a part of a lion pride three lioness with two cubs. Initially the cubs were just content to suckle but then one of the lioness took upon herself that it was time to teach a few things about hunting to the young ones. So she cajoled them into play and what looked like a lot of fun for the cubs she proceeded to teach them some moves about how to hunt! I won’t bother with much verbal details and will let the pictures do the talking. Continue reading 9 photos after the link

My top 10 iPad gripes

  1. It is heavy and does not lend itself well to being held in a single hand due to the smooth metal back – I remedied this by ordering a silicon rubber sleeve.
  2. Safari for iPad does not offer search within a page. This can also be remedied by following the instructions here
  3. Screen should have been widescreen a 16:10 ratio is pretty much it these days. The widescreen option in the setting sucks!
  4. The look of apps like the address book, calendar and iBook is cheesy and not customizable
  5. Takes longer than expected to charge but on the flip side has a long battery life
  6. The built in Photo frame application is so basic that it will not even allow to set time between photos. Tapping will pause the slideshow but that is it!
  7. No printer support even in iPhone OS4 Will have to wait for iPhone OS4 for printer support (my accountant needs printed receipts of all purchases)
  8. Missing apps – Clock, Calculator, Weather, Stocks, I know that substitutes are available for free or very cheap but still….

OK! that is a list of just 8 and that said I absolutely love using my iPad. I use it most for reading, browsing Flickr and at times for viewing video using Air Video. Apple in past has heard its consumers so hopefully most of my gripes will not be there in next versions of the apps. The one which I am really doubtful about is getting a widescreen iPad but hey! one can always wish…..

I have listed my gripes – what are yours gripes about the iPad?

Vulture on stilts!!

Secretary-bird - Sagittarius serpentarius
Secretary-bird - Sagittarius serpentarius

As we drove towards the Central Serengeti plains a head bobbed up from behind a rising – I immediately exclaimed – Vulture!! But as the bird continued to come towards us it became apparent that the bird was taller than any vulture I know of, as the legs came into view they were more like that of a Stork or a Crane. This was my first encounter with the Secretary-bird. Continue reading has 2 more pictures…

Lake Manyara: GPS trails, Geotagged photos and more….

Grey Crowned Crane - Balearica regulorum
Grey Crowned Crane - Balearica regulorum

Lake Manyara was our first game drive destination on our 9 day travails through Tanzania. After landing at Nairobi we traveled for nearly 7 hours before we could reach here. Even though we were very tired the abundance of birdlife and wildlife made up for everything. Continue reading there are 20 more pictures!!