Expert guided photographic tours

Welcome

Add comment January 30th, 2012 10:48pm todd

Welcome to Gustafson Photo Safari. We lead dedicated photo tours to East Africa, South America, North America and other nature photography locations around the world. Our no-compromise safaris are designed to get you to the best locations to make great images.

Here you can find out more about how we work, view our upcoming tour itinerary, read about previous tours and see some of the fabulous photographs taken on our safaris.

Madagascar – Day 9

Add comment May 18th, 2012 06:20pm todd

Today we fly to Fort Dophine on an afternoon flight and drive to Berenty .  We had time for a visit to Lemurs Park out side of Tana.  The have a large natural reserve with 9 different kinds of lemurs to see and for us to photograph.  Most of the species we have seen or will see in the wild but our goal was to get some photos of two rare species that we won’t see on this itinerary; the crowned sifaka and the mongoose lemur.  We saw them both but wile the crowned sifaka was in a great place to photograph and gave us wonderful chances for portraits the mongoose lemur stayed in bamboo thickets and wouldn’t come out for us.  One other lemur that was easy to photograph was the black lemur that we had shot in the wild at Palmerium.  All in all it was a lovely way to spend the morning on a travel day.

More bird photography in Madagascar

Add comment May 14th, 2012 06:39pm todd

Last chance at a morning boat ride, pack up and transfer to town and our afternoon flight to Tana.  The birds tried to out do everything they had given us on the previous boat rides.  We nailed bird after bird on great perches, displaying, flying and just being beautiful!   Right now we are in Tana at our hotel shopping for Madagascar sapphires before dinner.

Madagascar – Birding

Add comment May 11th, 2012 06:34pm todd

I took the second group for the morning boat while the others went to the forest pond.  The boat is AMAZING!  It’s flat bottomed with a roof and rails all around to support cameras.  It can get close to the birds; right up into the reed beds along the shore.   I’ve shot from boats a lot and this set up is one of the best I’ve ever been on.  The lake is a rookery for Black capped night herons, intermediate egrets, purple heron, glossy ibis, and the amazing black egret.  One of the last 90 pairs of Madagascar fish eagles is nesting here and the are loads of malachite king fishers.  I’ve done malachites before but the access, setting and calmness of the birds is unparalleled.  

The black egrets are in full mating plumage and the whole colony is alive with activity.  I’ve seen exactly 2 black egrets in Tanzania and here we have 300!!!  Flight photography is great, too.  The early morning fly in has squadrons of black egrets and glossy ibis but the flying continues all day.  We even got some chances at the fish eagles.  The big surprise for me was a huge purple heron hanging out in the reeds at the water’s edge.  Again, his calmness allowed us a close approach for beautiful portraits in golden light.

After the boat ride we walked the grounds waiting for the Coquerel’s sifakas to come out of the forest and dance.  They never did come down but we were able to photograph them in the trees.

This afternoon our second group took the boat trip while the first group went to the forest.  Again, the birds were spectacular!  The boatman understood what we needed for photography and continually put us in great position to make the shot.  The fish eagles were perched on low branches and in the clear as we drifted by. So many great chances!!!

After the boat ride we asked our guide if there were any sickle-billed vanga birds around.  (We had heard they were in the area and hoped to see one).  Our guide pointed at the tree right next to us.  There were 20 of the vangas there feeding on low branches.  Success!!

Madagascar – Update!

Add comment May 10th, 2012 06:28pm todd

I’m going to post two days because day 5 was spent traveling.  I hope you enjoy.

Day 5

Today we transferred from Palmarium to Tana by boat, 4 wheel drive vehicles, 20 seat bus and airplane.  More photos to show tomorrow!

Day 6

We had an easy morning transfer to the airport and a 50 minute flight to ….where we hopped into our 20 seat bus and drove to Citrus Town (yes, they grow oranges and lemons here) located on the south west coast of Madagascar.  We moved into our bungalows, had lunch and split into two groups.  One group of 5 went on a boat trip to see the crocs and birds on the lake while the other group headed into the dry deciduous forest.  Afternoons are typically quieter than mornings but we still saw green geckos, lizards, paradise fly catcher, pied robin and Coqurel’s sifaka.  By a large forest pond there was a bush with lots of small frogs sitting on the leaves while malachite kingfishers perched on stumps near the water’s edge.

Folks in the boat said they had a difficult time.  I thing communication and movement on the boat can make for a frustrating trip.  They did see a lot of good subjects, but we need to figure out how to get in position and shoot smoothly and efficiently.  I’ll go on the boat and see if we can’t make it work.  Again, typically the morning should have more activity on the lake and in the forest.