One point five million wildebeest cross the Mara River every year on the way to or from Kenya and Tanzania. On this occasion, some 10,000-15,000 traversed at this point in the river, taking almost an hour and a half to pass. What a photograph cannot capture is the sound, and I also think any photo would find it difficult to catch the mayhem involved as well.

After the passing a dozen or more wildebeest remained in the river, either by drowning or having been trampled to death.

This was undoubtedly the highlight of last week’s trip to the Maasai Mara in Kenya. I’ve witnessed river crossings of some 1,000 wildebeest of ten minutes or so duration, but this one clearly was much more memorable. On top of this there were many of the Mara’s cats, lion, cheetah and leopard which I’ll post here in the next week or so.

Click on the image for a larger view.

Taken using a Nikon D700 with a 70-200mm f/2.8 lens at 70mm, f/9.5, 1/250 and ISO 400.

You can click each of the images above for more info and pricing on that print.

Today I’ve released two more prints for sale, black and white monochromes of Embracing the Wind and First Light, which I photographed last year in the Masai Mara in Kenya.

These fine art quality prints are printed to the highest high quality on heavy art paper in a range of sizes, and ready for framing, and limited to 175 prints of each.

All images are printed via Giclée technique to art gallery standard on high quality Hahnemühle Fine Art 308 gsm heavyweight paper using the latest light-fast ink technology. Each print is printed with a generous white 50 mm border all around with a light keyline and text underneath. Prints are available with sizes upwards of 400 mm (16 inches) wide, the height being dependent on the format of the image.

For more general info go the Fine Art Editions page here.

Framed prints are an option I’ll be offering in the near future.

During dusk at Linyanti in Botswana, we’d already lined up some elephants approaching single file, but given we were likely to see these again, we decided to visit a lone male lion which has just appeared instead. The light had become appealing at five-thirty, and we’d been with the lion for barely ten minutes when a leopard took his place at the base of a nearby termite mound.

As one person has said; this was a gift from the leopard, out in the open, unobscured, and in the early evening sunlight too. And just when we were thinking how nice it would be if he were to sit on top of the mound, he promptly jumped up and sat on top of it. I’d seen a few leopards, but never had the privilege to photograph one in setting such as this.

Click on the image for a larger view.

Taken using a Nikon D700 with a 200-400mm f/4.0 lens at 400mm, f/4.8, 1/125 and ISO 800.

This young male lion has paused and is looking back to check the progress of the rest of his following pride in Moremi, Okavango, in Botswana in May of this year. The compact stance formed by his foreshortened view appealed to me. I think this may lend itself to a black and white variant someday.

Click on the image for a larger view.

Taken using a Nikon D300 with a 200-400mm f/4.0 lens at 400mm, f/5.6, 1/125 and ISO 200.

This year I had nine images make it into the semi finals, a good result, but but not quite close enough, unfortunately. One of these entries was of a Nile crocodile chasing down a wildebeest which was entered into the Animal Behaviour category.

This was my third year entering this competition, probably the most prestigious of it’s kind worldwide. I’ve just heard back from the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition organisers to discover all of my entries made it past the first round, and nine made it through to the semi final round. That’s a good result, but it still feels so close to miss out on a final for at least one of these images. It’s still encouraging though, and I have my fingers crossed for 2011!

Caption: A wildebeest stranded mid-river during a crossing over the Mara River in Kenya last August battled for almost two hours against a dozen crocodiles. At one point he almost escaped, only to be dragged back. It was quite an emotional scene for us to witness. Sadly for the wildebeest (and us), the crocodiles won in the end.

Click on the image for a larger view.

Taken using a Nikon D300 with a 200-400mm f/4.0 lens at 400mm, f/6.7, 1/350 and ISO 200.

A Leopard sits atop a termite mound near dusk at Linyanti, Botswana. It was a pleasure to meet this leopard lying at the base of an ant-hill. Just when we were thinking how nice it would be if he were to sit on top of it, he promptly jumped up and sat on top of it.

I’ve seen a few leopards, but never had the privilege to photograph one in setting such as this. It was beginning to get dark and he was against the sun, so we were relying on slower shutter speeds and compensating for the backlight. It was kinda tricky, but we got there :)

I’ve just returned from two weeks in Botswana. We visited the Central Kalahari, the Okavango Delta, Linyanti and Chobe. If I was to return to one place then it would be at Kwando, Linyanti. If two, then I’d add the Delta.

Click on the image for a larger view.

Taken using a Nikon D700 with a 200-400mm f/4.0 lens at 260mm, f/4.8, 1/180 and ISO 800.

An old African Buffalo, and old African Buffalo are irritable, grouchy and dangerous. He’s old and has probably been excluded from his herd now and will see his last days to himself. This was one picture of several which we took just metres from us, and when he moved out towards us, we felt it best for us to just move on.

Click on the image for a larger view.

Taken using a Nikon D300 with a 200-400mm f/4.0 lens at 400mm, f/4.8, 1/250 and ISO 360.

Nkuringo was an elderly silverback mountain gorilla from Bwindi in Uganda. I took this in March 2008.

This is a follow up picture of Nkuringo who featured in a recent post here where I’ve a fuller account of our time with him.

He was old and had an injury to his mouth which we later learned had obtained in a fight two years earlier, which consequently made it difficult to eat.

Taken using a Nikon D300 with a 70-200mm f/2.8 lens at 130mm, f/3.3, 1/125 and ISO 500.