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]]> http://global-exposures.com/2009/10/rwanda-precious-few/feed/ 0 http://global-exposures.com/2010/03/usambara-mountains-tanzania-2010-slideshow/ http://global-exposures.com/2010/03/usambara-mountains-tanzania-2010-slideshow/#comments Fri, 05 Mar 2010 04:27:38 +0000 Hudson http://global-exposures.com/?p=1611 Click Images to Enlarge

I spent four days early this year with my friends trekking and photographing in the Usambara mountains of northern Tanzania.  Traveling between the towns of Lushoto and Mtae, we found the scenery spectacular and the local Samba people very warm and welcoming.  Aside from a harrowing few seconds when the front wheel fell off our truck on a narrow mountain road, we enjoyed every minute of this adventure.

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For anyone interested in touring these lovely mountains, I recommend organizing your itinerary and/or a guide through the cultural tourism office in Lushoto (conveniently located right next to the bank).  Just remember that some negotiation for price is expected.  Also, it is never a bad idea to kick the tires before climbing into a strange vehicle…

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Please enjoy the following slideshow of the Usambara.  I have made the images a bit larger than those I posted from Africa.  This means that viewing the slideshow full-screen will really make a difference.

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Now I am back in Portland, look for several more postings from my trip to Tanzania in the coming days.  I arrived home from Zanzibar with barely enough time to unpack and repack before heading out to ski, ride in snowcats, and make some more images up in British Columbia (note: a post of that work will be up soon).  Now I’m back at the computer with a little time to sort, edit, and blog before the next adventure.  Stay tuned…

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A brief post-script for the technically curious:

The photograph below is a 22-image, multi-tier panoramic merger; the native resolution of the file is over 100 megapixels.  This is a technique I’m using more and more to create large-format-like, ultra-enlargeable images.  Look for a future technical blog posting on the tools and techniques used in this process.  It’s anything but point-and-shoot, but the results are VERY rewarding.

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My crew has been off the radar now for a couple of weeks of exploration around Lake Victoria, the world’s second-largest freshwater lake.   Bouncing back after a 20 hour bus ride from Arusha to visit a friend’s family in Issenye, we continued  to the granite-boulder-studded city of Mwanza (aka Rock City).  It was here that Speke first laid eyes on Lake Victoria and rightly labeled it the source of the Nile.

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On New Year’s Eve our crew took the ship Victoria through the night from Mwanza to the quiet port of Bukoba on the western side of the lake.  There we organized transport with our new friend Naima to the seldom visited Rubondo Island National Park.    We had heard that Rubondo is a bird paradise, but beyond that we didn’t know what to expect.

Rubondo is indeed a bird paradise, but that description hardly does it justice.  This 25 sq. km. island has to be one of East Africa’s best kept secrets.  It is nearly completely undeveloped and teeming with wildlife from lush tropical rain forest to savanna grassland and papyrus swamp.  Resident species include elephant, giraffe, hippo, python, and even shy chimpanzees.

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In our time on the island we barely saw another soul aside from our party and the staff.  There are beautiful banda’s right on the beach and a roaring fire is kept stoked day and night.  However, I preferred to sleep out in my tent the first night in order to see the stars over the lake and listen to the waves, frogs, crickets and hippos.

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While hiking and Land Rover excursions are offered by the park with a ranger escort, the boat safaris are what set Rubondo apart.  Our boat captain Tua had an unbelievable knowledge of the island, its waters and its wildlife.  One evening Tua safely circumnavigated half the island by starlight, arresting three poachers in a boat along the way.  We had such a wonderful and productive time photographing Rubondo.  It is one of those special places in the world that I will be happy to return to many times.

Having parted ways with my friends, I am back in Mwanza preparing to fly back to Arusha tomorrow.  While I had intended to spend most of January in Ethiopia, I have changed plans and will leave the Simian Mountains for another journey.  Instead both Libby and I feel compelled to do more work with several nonprofit organizations before getting on that long plane home the 27th.  Along the way, I will trek in the Usambara Mountains and explore a few more islands off Zanzibar with my trusty friend Baboo.

My work schedule the rest of the trip is fairly tight and I am not sure whether I will have the opportunity to update the blog again before returning home.  In the meantime, please enjoy this longer slideshow of the images created over the past couple of weeks.

-Hudson

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]]> http://global-exposures.com/2009/08/rwanda-baby-mountain-gorilla/feed/ 0 http://global-exposures.com/2009/10/zanzibar-boys/ http://global-exposures.com/2009/10/zanzibar-boys/#comments Sun, 18 Oct 2009 07:44:31 +0000 Hudson http://global-exposures.com/?p=588 Click image to view larger

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