Mary and I went to Africa on a photograph safari for two weeks in July 99. I must say right up front that Mary agreed to go to Africa with me even though she has NEVER SLEPT OUTSIDE IN HER LIFE. Here is a women that has never camped out or been in a girl scout program and she agreed to camp out for two weeks where she couldn't decide to just pack up and go home if she didn't like it. Fortunately, she did enjoy the trip and says she would go back with me again. The trip included visits to Moremi, the Okavango Delta and Linyanti. We left from Washington Dulles Airport, flew to Newark, to Belgium, to South Africa, to Botswana, to Zimbabwe, and back to South Africa, Belgium, New York, and home to Dulles.

We were fortunate enough to be invited on this trip by Mary's past boss from AME, John, and his wife Diane. John and Diane's two daughters and John's cousin Kit were also on the trip. This was not a package trip, it was a personally designed trip by John and Diane for just the seven of us. 

Mary and I have made international trips to Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, etc and domestic trips, but I don't think I will ever forget the experience we had in Africa, the birth place of man and still the jungle of survival of the fittest. Before we left I had a lot of questions about this safari, how close would we really be to the animals, what type of accommodations would we have and how safe will we be. Actually the trip couldn't have been better and I highly recommend it to everyone. Since we were in the southern hemisphere, it was winter there. Mornings were in the mid 40's and midday was in the 70's. The good news was no snakes or bugs.

I have two albums of pictures which I will be glad to share with anyone who would like to see them, one album has most of the 800 pictures I took and another which has only highlights with about 100 pictures. This web page has most of the album of 100 pictures. 

The question I get a lot is "Were you really this close to the wild animals", The answer is "yes".    I had a 35 to 80mm zoom lens and a 200mm fixed lens. I used the 35-80mm lens most of the time. 

Now to the pictures:

First set:         Pictures 1 thru 29  

Second set:      Pictures 30 thru 56    

Third set:         Pictures 57 thru 75 

Fourth set:       Pictures 76 thru 100