The Nouabale Ndoki National Park in the Republic of Congo offers something special: it is an area with untouched forest (no lumbering) surrounded by swamps difficult to access by poachers, therefore providing a safe habitat for a wide range of animals. Here the principal activities are watching animals in the Bai, especially the lowland gorillas that are attracted here by their favourite food, a unique type of vegetation only found in and around this bai. Mbelli Bai also allows the unique opportunity to watch gorillas in their natural habitat and to learn more about their behaviour. 
Mbelli Bai also offers viewings of other species of mammals such as elephants, sitatunga, buffalo, red river hogs, otters, crocodiles, etc.
We will also spend two days tracking lowland gorillas - this is a fantastic experience as anyone who has been to Uganda or Rwanda to see mountain gorillas will know. There aren't too many people who get to see lowland gorillas as well though.
We finish this expedition by crossing the Congo River to the Democratic Republic of Congo and staying very close to Kinshasa, where we then spend four days with another of the seriously endangered great apes, the bonobos. If you saw our photographs in this month's December-January Wanderlust (see below) you will appreciate the charisma of these loving apes. We will spend pretty much all day for each of the four days viewing, photographing and in some cases holding and playing with the bonobos. Everyone who has been on this trip has fallen in love!
This trip offers the opportunity to see two magnificent endangered great ape species. The expedition is a real adventure and a lot of fun. There is not alot of time before the trip and there are visas to organise which tends to be a slow process. The expeditionis not inexpensive on account of these countries having poor tourist infrastructure. This of course does mean that you will get a genuine travel and wildlife experience, you will not meet tourist buses or indeed many other tourists on the expedition which makes for a magical trip of a lifetime. If you would like to join this expedition please email or call and we will be delighted to answer your questions.
We are off to India tomorrow and in the meantime, please have a very pleasant seasonal break.
Julie and Adam
Lowland Gorillas in The Republic of Congo 10 days followed by Bonobos in The Democratic Republic of Congo 4 days in July 2010
Wanderlust - 29 November 2009
Wanderlust is an excellent travel magazine aimed at adventurous travellers. The December/January edition hit the shelves of all good news agents earlier this week. In it is a four page spread on Bonobos which we wrote and supplied all the photographs. We are delighted as it allowed us to highlight the charity (www.friendsofbonobos.org) which works in DRC to protect Bonobos.
We are tentatively planning another expedition to DRC, Republic of Congo and Central African Republic; perhaps in the Summer of next year. So if you are interested, let us know.
Julie and Adam
EIA Save the Tiger Campaign
Attended EIA's fundraising dinner during the week at Cafe Spice Namaste. Thank you so much to everyone who came along - we had two tables and everyone commented on how great the food was - well, we had three of London's leading chefs whipping up an Indian storm for us - and everyone also commented on the dedication of the EIA team to the seemingly endless work they need to do to collect the evidence they need and to campaign for change. Even some of our more cynical City guests have become very interested in the good work the EIA do.
Donal McIntyre was a guest speaker. He commented on the integrity of the reports the EIA write - it seems he and other reporters know that anything coming out of an EIA investigation is factually correct, backed by evidence.
Check out their website:
http://www.eia-internatioinal.org
To see more about the plight of the Tiger and EIA's Tiger campaign specifically, it's:
http://www.eia-international.org/campaigns/species/tigers/
We can vouch that they run their work on a shoestring! No swish offices, overheads are low and many of their investigators have dedicated their entire lives to environmental campaigning. For instance:
* EIA's evidence played a key role in securing a ban on the international ivory trade in 1989.
* EIA's campaiging closed down illegal talc and marble mines in protected Indian tiger reserves.
* EIA's investigation prompted the Indonesian president to crack down on illegal logging.
Military and police officers were among some of the suspects.
We hope you too will become fans of some of their work. You can join for a year for a mere £30! For anyone who has seen a Tiger or an Elephant, it's worth it!
Julie and Adam
November 2009
Shooting in London - 1 November 2009
Well, winter has set in here in London. Lots of rain and dark afternoons. We cannot wait to get back to India in December for some intensive shooting in Rajasthan and Corbett National Park, with two festivals along the way. To keep us sane we often walk round London looking for stuff to shoot. There is more out there than you think and today we focussed on some Grafitti at a local skate board park. There are some great artists out there!
Julie and Adam
More shots from our recent expedition - 13 September 2009
A couple of weeks ago we put up a slideshow of the Bonobos in DRC. This time it is some of the Lowland Gorillas, Forest Elephants and people we met in the Central African Republic and the Republic of Congo. A fantastic time for those who want something a little different.
Some tips if you are about to go there:
1. Expect the unexpected.
2. Carry some Euros. This is by far much preferred over the US$ as the local currency (the CFA) is pegged to the Euro.
3. Brush up on your French.
4. The food you eat will actually be very good. However the Pygmys catch animals in nets in the Forest, some of these are dried and smoked. We were not hungry enough to take a bite of one of these!
5. Expect the unexpected and be disappointed if everything goes according to plan!
Enough of that, here is a quick slideshow:
The shots at the beginning if the slideshow are the tribe who dug us out of the mud. Their reward some hard currency and a few packets of cigarettes. The shots of the Elephants taken from a hide overlooking a bai, which is a clearing in the middle of a rain forrest where animals and birds come down for minerals. Finally we took many of the people shots in a market where snakes and various monkeys were available as meat. To us disturbing, but for the local people a source of protein.
Check our website in a week or so as we are working on a trip-report and putting some more high-res photos on the site.
Julie and Adam
Bonobos and Lowland Gorillas - 31 August 2009
We came back yesterday from our 20 day expedition to the Central African Republic (CAR), the Republic of Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo; what an adventure! Some of the highlights:
2. Having the real privilege of trekking Lowland Gorillas in the dart rainforest in CAR. We managed three treks. On the first, elephants came between us and the Gorillas and we could not get round them. On the second we were under really heavy tropical rain. Imagine being in a shower on full blast and trying to take photos and you get the idea. On the third, we walked for perhaps three hours before having the joy of seeing them up close and personal. Less hairy than the Mountain Gorillas found in Rwanda and Uganda but equally impressive. The Silverback was stunning.
3. After the Gorilla trekking we travelled by pirogue down the Sangha river and then caught one of the most extraordinary flights to Brazaville. Extraordinary because the flight was three hours late, passengers did not use the terminal and stood out under a large tree but as it started to rain (again) we all rushed through the barricade and stood under the wing of the plane until we were allowed to board amidst a scrum that would have defeated the British Lions on any day.
4. Finally a week with the Bonobos at the Lola sanctuary just outside Kinshasa. As you can see from the pictures below you can get really close to these amazing creatures almost all of which have been saved from cruelty and inhumane conditions. A great charity doing some serious work which we support in our own small way.
Adam trying to get a shot!
Julie being caught by surprise!
And set out below is a slideshow of some of our shots of the Bonobos.
Within a few weeks we will put more photos up on the site, a slideshow from the first half of the trip and a trip report with more details. Thanks to David, Robin, Marian and Lisa for being such great traveling companions. As we hope you can tell, we had a terrific time and as first time visitors to CAR and the Republic of Congo would recommend them to anyone with a sense of adventure and acceptance that not everything will go according to plan. We are planing to return to all three countries, possibly over Christmas and New Year of 2010/11.
Julie and Adam
Botswana - a slideshow for some special friends
Bonobos in distress - 13 April 2008
We support in a small way a very worthwhile charity in DRC that rescues Bonobos suffering at the hands of humans: "Friends of Bonobos" which runs a sanctuary called Lola Ya Bonobo. Recently we were dismayed to learn that a virus had swept through the reserve killing a number of the Bonobos. For a time the reserve was closed to the public to protect the Bonobos. Thankfully it seems that the epidemic has passed, although with a cost to the lives of some of these gentle creatures and in $$$ cost for medicines and care. We believe this charity does an excellent job and would encourage readers of this blog to donate anything to support it in its time of need.
If you would like to donate copy this to your search engine: http://www.friendsofbonobos.org/
We are returning to DRC and Lola in August and will report back on conditions there. We are saddened because some of the Bonobos that we saw last time we visited did not survive.
Julie and Adam
India expedition 2009 - 5 April
We came back from our Indian Expedition this time last week. A full trip report will follow, but for us the highlights were:
Tigers - our group saw ten! Amazing, beautiful and hard to see. Unlike in some parts of Africa you cannot drive off-road and have to stick to the park's pretty good tracks. At the start of the day it is somewhat of a race to get to the places where are guides think they may be able to find a Tiger. When it works it is absolutely breathtaking!
The people and culture - we spent some time away from the reserves visiting temples and markets. The colours, smells and vibrancy of the country impressed us all. What is nice about India is that almost everyone likes to be photographed.
The temples are extraordinary and allowed endless photographic opportunities.
And finally we loved the food. Never in the history of Adam's life has he eaten so many Naan breads and Chapattis! Fresh out of the oven or fires and at times with a coating of melted butter .... mmmm mmmm! Three times we ate at roadside Dhaba "restaurants". The food at these places is always fresh and made to order (despite first impressions!), is a little more spicy and gives you a different view of life than our fine hotel dining rooms.
We liked the trip so much that we are planning another at the end of the year to Rajasthan.
Julie and Adam
DRC and Kenya Expedition August / Sept 2009
Antarctic Slideshow
Binocular servicing and repairs
I have owned a wonderful pair of Zeiss 10x40 binoculars which have served me well for about 25 years. They are just about the only piece of kit which I have managed to hang onto for such a long time. I have to confess that I have treated them pretty badly. Bumped, soaked, rained on and given a fair amount of sea spray over the years. 
Not surprising that half way through the Antarctica expedition they packed up and refused to focus. Rather then spend £1,000 replacing them, I was determined to have them repaired. I found a recommendation for "Optrep optical repairs" on a Pigeon fanciers forum! A quick phone call confirmed they would repair the binoculars and I sent them off on Monday. By Friday (!!!) they were back with a bill for £125 for servicing, mechanisms decoroded, guide rods unbuckled, threads reground, cleaned, relubricated, adjusted, reset, collimated (I had to look that up in the dictionary) and tested. The guy at Optrep told me that they quality of the Zeiss is such that they should outlive me!
I am really pleased and delighted with the service.
Adam
Focus on Imaging - 22 February 2009
Just back from attending the Focus on Imaging show at the NEC centre in Birmingham. Caught up with one of our friends who lives close by the night before, nice dinner and talking about travel. Crashed at his pad.
The event is actually very good and despite the credit crunch, was very well attended. For us the main point of going is simply to look for ideas that inspire us. Highlights from today:
1. In advance of our Bonobo exhibition to the Congo in August, buying a ring flash adaptor for portraits. We know the Bonobos have seen flash before and so this will enable us to take even better shots.
2. Many, many, many stands offering to produce photographic books, photos on metal, on canvas and on acrylic blocks. We are looking at putting some of our best shots on some of these and once we get back from India will try some out. For us the stand that stood out was Mario Acerboni which had some stunning designs for photobooks.
3. A really funky new form of on-line slide production by animoto. In the next few weeks we will put one of the shows up on the blog and let you know what we think, although having just tried to sign up (yes it looked that good) the site does not seem to be working.
4. An expensive insurance quote for our equipment. Hmmm.
Anyway, great show and good to see Canon out in force (a much better stand than the Nikon one ... in our opinion).
Julie and Adam
Mumbai - 3 February 2009
At very short notice, we had the opportunity to spend a few days in Mumbai as a warm up for our Safari to the Tiger reserves later in March of this year. Adam had been down in Hyderabad since the start of the year and we thought this was a good opportunity to explore Mumbai as a prelude to one of our photographic city-break tours. Mumbai is a wonderful city which has as many contrasts, colours, foods and vibrance as any you could name. As you would expect, it has its beggars:
What impressed us most was the Dhobi Ghat or Washers' Area, the City's largest laundry. This is where almost all of the clothes in Mumbai get washed, ironed and repaired. It is a photographers' dream with colour, movement and children who get to wash themselves at the laundry! The workers here are very proud of their profession and while the rewards appear low to us (2 rupees to iron a shirt) it is a proper job for all of them. We always like to see people who are very good at what they do and give 100%.
The clothes are washed in a concrete cubicle. This is a small area where a man (and it seems to be a man's job) spends his time washing (read beating) the clothes against a patthar or concrete block. It is very hard work and the guys become very fit!
There are many fantastic people around, most of whom seemed very happy to have their portraits taken.
And the children are so beautiful. Seeing these children playing delightfully as their parents washed their hair in the open-air laundry lifted any thoughts of our financial depression. While we spent over an hour there, we could easily have spent a day. Next time ....
All these photographs were taken with a Canon G10. This is an excellent "compact" camera with has the advantage of taking RAW images. Really excellent. The only disadvantage is that it cannot burst, ie take a sequence of shots. So for both of us used to rattling off 5+ images at a time to get the 'perfect' portrait, this takes one shot at a time. Julie's 5D SLR battery had died so we were stuck with the G10.
Food ... simply amazing. We would recommend Trishna for fish, Kebab and Curries for Northern Indian food, Konkan Cafe for a lunch on Banana leaves and Leopold Cafe for breakfast. Not the cheapest meals Mumbai has to offer, but exceptionally good value by London standards and no Mumbai Belly!
Thank you Mumbai!
Julie and Adam
Xmas and New Year: The Falklands, South Georgia and Antarctica
Happy New Year!! Credit crunch aside, we wish everyone a happy and safe 2009 filled with great experiences and photo opportunities.
Our Christmas/New Year expedition to the Falklands, South Georgia and the Antarctic Peninsula was terrific. The highlights were very rough seas - what an adventure, great traveling companions and numerous safe landings with terrific wildlife and scenery of course. 
This expedition is about bytes and bytes of photographs: at times you are spoiled for choice and simply don't know where to look. Our first landing at West Point Island on the Falklands gave us an outstanding viewing of Black Browed Albatross with their very young chicks and in some cases eggs in the nests. What great birds, we typically see them at sea and this sighting on land was very, very special. 
At Gold Harbour, South Georgia on Boxing Day we sat unharassed by the usual Fur Seals (one of our traveling companions has a great idea, sushi related, to put to the Japanese and Norwegian whalers which would deal with these sweet looking, prevalent menaces as a quid pro quo to leaving alone the reducing whale population - 'scientific research' aside of course). Anyway, the absence of Fur Seals meant we could plonk ourselves on the beach and without moving, have uninterrupted viewings of the belching, manky eyed but nevertheless intriguing Elephant Seals a few feet away, Penguins behind us or peering at us inches away, from the other side of the lens, watch the various Penguins coming up from the sea onto the beach in front of us and then sea birds running on water, coming ashore and then displaying remarkably their dominance over a carcass. We just didn't know where to look! The sun was shining, our tans were coming along nicely (we were warmer than we are currrrrrently back in London, (bbbrrr)) and the mountain - beach - small iceberg scenery was truly breathtaking. It is probably the most enjoyable photographic few hours we have ever experienced - that's a bold statement I know but we'll stand by it. 
Neko Harbour at the Antarctic Peninsula on January 1st was equally magical. There are 125 or so glaciers around the harbour so it's very, very scenic and you know you are in Antarctica and not merely at a stunning ski resort. Having recovered from the New Year's Eve festivities (an on-deck barbecue with Russian pop music that would trump a barbie on Bondi beach any day) we said Hello 2009 with some special times at Neko: Gentoo penguins with days old chicks, blue glacial backdrops and a magical iceberg filled harbour and avalanching mountain setting. The session was capped off brilliantly when right at the end of our zodiac cruise back to the ship, via various icebergs looking for a resident Penguin or Leopard Seal, we scored with a Gentoo readying itself to dive off the ice. Whoa!!! We had to be quick but the Canon 5D Mark IIs burst brilliantly and we managed to get a series of our Gentoo at very close range from sea level before our ever-obliging zodiac driver called time and we headed back to the ship for hot showers, lunch and the pulling of anchor. Ooh yeah, and this was only January 1st!
We are thrilled with the image quality of the two new 5D Mark II bodies - more on these to follow in a later Blog, but with one exception, (a programme dial which is too easily knocked), they get a big thumbs up from us.
So we are back in London and within two weeks we will have our trip report and 25 or so photos loaded onto this website. Let us know what you think. And for those of you interested in our next trip to Antarctica, we are working up our ideas for an even better 3rd trip, probably for Xmas 2010 so once again, please register your interest early as capacity on our favoured small ships is limited and six clients missed out on this year's trip....
Happy New Year and happy traveling.
ShutterspeedTravel