The original intention was to close down the cam sometime in October, or certainly once the summer rains started, but such has been the popularity of the cam that its life has been extended.

For those of you who are not familiar with the WildCam, it's been placed in a "hide" at a small dam called Pete's Pond in the Mashatu Game Reserve in Eastern Botswana.

At this time of year it's very dry in Mashatu, so animals have to rely on any water that's available.

Most of the natural waterholes or streams have dried up, so the pond is one of the few places where the resident wildlife can find water.

This makes for excellent viewing, as a wide variety of animals have been arriving to drink, including elephant, a selection of antelope, zebra, giraffe, wildebeest, hyena, warthog, jackals, plus numerous bird species.

I'm finding it specially fascinating as I've visited Pete's Pond and have taken pictures from the hide .....read more. Below are pictures showing the hide and the pond:

Photo Details:: African elephant (Loxodonta africana) female, late afternoon, Mashatu Game Reserve, Botswana.
Camera: Canon EOS Digital Rebel (300D)
Lens: Canon 100-400mm IS zoom
Focal Length: 235mm
Shutter Speed: 1/320
Aperture: f 5.6
ISO: 800

Can today's top-of-the-range "point-and-shoot" (ie fixed lens) digital cameras provide a viable alternative to a digital SLR?

That's a question wildlife and nature photographers need to ask themselves.

It's certainly something I've been pondering. I could sell my Canon digital SLR and lenses, buy a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ30 ($609 from Adorama) and have enough cash left over to take a fantastic photo safari to Tanzania's Serengeti or the Masai Mara in Kenya - places I have always longed to visit but are beyond my budget.

The Lumix DMC-FZ30 is an 8-megapixel camera (same as my Canon EOS 350D) and comes with an image-stabilized 12x zoom (35-420mm equivalent). In addition, this is a Leica lens, with a maximum aperture of F2.8 to F3.7. See pic below:

Does that really mean that at full zoom you're shooting with something akin to a Leica 420mm F3.7 lens? Good question!

So I was fascinated to read this in-depth shoot-out between a Canon EOS-20D and the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ30 - you'll be surprised at some of the findings!

Photo Details:: Lion cub (Panthera leo), one of three in the litter, peering over top of a bank where it and its siblings were resting in the shade with two adult lionesses, Lower Zambezi National Park, Zambia.
Camera: Canon EOS Digital Rebel (300D)
Lens: Canon 100-400mm IS zoom
Focal Length: 400mm
Shutter Speed: 1/1000
Aperture: f 5.6
ISO: 800

To be honest, I don't know anything about this competition and the credentials of the organizers, but from the website it all looks very professional.

Anyway, for most of us it doesn't really matter. What does matter is the quality of pictures and, of those I've seen (mainly nature and wildlife), there're some absolute stunners.

The winner in the category "Professional Photographer of the Year: Nature" is Jack Spencer of Nashville, US, with his entry, "Flowers". He also took first and second in the "Flowers" category.

I think his pictures are superb - they have a muted, painterly quality, similar to Polaroid transfers that were in vogue some years ago (maybe still are). I'm sure some purists will find fault with them, but visually they're quite beautiful.

The winners in the Wildlife category (professional) are:
1. Bob Elsdale, London
2. Louie Douvis, Sydney
3. George Lepp, Los Osos, US.

The Photographer of the Year: Nature (nonprofessional) is David Burdeny of Vancouver.

Winners in the Wildlife category (nonprofessional) are:
1. Ali Pourmand, Huntsville, US
2. Henry Aragoncillo, Santa Fe, US
3. Piotr Jakubowski, Jakarta, ID

Of the above entries, my favorite is Ali Pourmand's sequence titled "The Queen of the Swamp" - again, quite beautiful images.

The National Wildlife Federation is urging US citizens to help prevent oil companies from drilling the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Says the NWF: "We need everyone to know the stakes. A major wildlife refuge could be ruined for a marginal supply of oil that won't do anything to help America overcome its dangerous dependence on foreign energy.

Organized by Britain's Natural History Museum and BBC Wildlife Magazine, the prestigious competition this year attracted 17,000 entries from 55 countries.

Manuel Presti, an engineer from Rome, took overall honors with "Sky Chase", his image of a peregrine falcon in pursuit of a mass of swirling starlings.

According to competition judge Mark Carwarding, the image "is full of energy and movement and captures an absolutely perfect wildlife moment".

Sadly the images displayed on the Natural History Museum's website are too small to see any detail, never mind a sense of energy and movement.

Even so, if you enjoy wildlife and nature photography, it's still worth browsing through the various category winners, especially as there is an account of how and why the photographer took the photograph, together with data about equipment and exposure.

Photo Details:: Chacma Baboon (Papio ursinus) male, near Victoria Falls, Zambia.
Camera: Canon EOS Digital Rebel; Lens: Canon 100-400mm IS zoom; Focal Length: 170mm; Shutter Speed: 1/250; Aperture: f5.6; ISO: 400

The latest cell phones incorporate mega-pixel cameras with video capability. We've already seen dramatic images taken with camera phones on our TV screens and in print, particularly of the London bombings and, more recently, the natural disasters that have hit our planet.

Recognizing that ordinary citizens can record breaking news, a website has been established that allows members to send in images of news events from around the world - and get paid for their images.

Within two weeks of launching, the Cell Journalist website has signed up members from over a dozen countries.

"Cell Journalist's membership base is growing rapidly and we are happy to continue welcoming new Cell Journalists from all over the world," says Parker Polidor, company president.

“We are looking for all newsworthy images from natural disasters to celebrity sightings and everything in between,” Polidor says.

Members can easily submit images by e-mailing pictures and videos directly from camera phones or WIFI enabled digital cameras. Cell Journalists who submit images and videos get paid $50 each time the image is used. "A really great video or photograph can be used several dozen times," Polidor says.

Photo Details:: Giraffe (giraffa camelopardalis) close-up with blue sky and puffy clouds in background, late afternoon in Mashatu Game Reserve, Tuli BlocK, Botswana.
Camera: Canon EOS Digital Rebel; Lens: Canon 100-400mm IS zoom; Focal Length: 400mm; Shutter Speed: 1/400; Aperture: F7.1; ISO: 800.

Photo Details:: Vervet Monkey (Cercopithecus aethiops) sitting in tree looking pensive, Mashatu Game Reserve, Tuli BlocK, Botswana.
Camera: Canon EOS Digital Rebel; Lens: Canon 100-400mm IS zoom; Focal Length: 400mm; Shutter Speed: 1/400; Aperture: f6.3; ISO: 400

Tip for Photographing Monkeys:
A problem when taking pictures of monkeys is the contrast between their light grey bodies and black faces.

Your camera's meter is likely to expose for the grey body, so the small face and dark eyes will be underexposed, showing very little detail.

You can compensate for this by using fill-in flash. This should add some detail to the dark face and also put a highlight or "catchlight" in the eyes, which always increases the sparkle and vitality of animal pictures. The trick is not too add too much flash, which will make the photograph look artificial and possibly "blow out" the hightlights.

Of course, if the monkey is sitting with angled sunlight on its face, naturally lightening the dark areas and adding a catchlight to one or both eyes, then you're in luck. In the picture above, there was some angled light on the subject, plus light reflected off the surrounding branches, which helped balance the light body and dark face.

BetterPhoto.com, the online photography education site, has announced that its BetterPhoto™ Show will now be podcast on iTunes.

Combining the power of podcasts and the BetterPhoto website, Jim Miotke tells the stories behind his favorite photos and explains various techniques for taking better pictures. At the same time he posts relevant photos on the site so listeners can follow along to learn from each photo.

The free weekly podcast can be accessed at www.betterphoto.com/podcasts.asp or via Apple's iTunes music store.

The show can be subscribed to as an RSS feed through iTunes so listeners always have the latest tips and tricks.

Photo Details:: Leopard (Panthera pardus) lying in tree looking directly at the camera, Mashatu Game Reserve, Tuli BlocK, Botswana.
Camera: Canon EOS Digital Rebel; Lens: Canon 100-400mm IS zoom; Focal Length: 285mm; Shutter Speed: 1/200; Aperture: f6.3; ISO: 800

Taking Leopard Pictures
Finding a leopard to photograph in the wild is the first hurdle - they're elusive, nocturnal animals, so generally don't lie around in the open during daylight waiting to be photographed.

Once you find a subject, you'll likely face additional problems.

The magnificent male leopard in the picture above was lying full stretch on a thick branch in dappled shade. We spotted him by chance as we slowed to climb a steep bank and happened to look up into the the branches of a tree immediately ahead and to our left.

Although we had a good, relatively unobstructed view, it was nevertheless a challenge taking pictures:

• you're in a game-drive vehicle, so have to position yourself and the camera within the confines of the vehicle - in this case shooting upwards at a fairly acute angle;
• you're using a long lens, in this case a 100-400 zoom (equal to a 160 - 640mm on a Canon 300D), so it's essential you support the camera and lens - no hand-holding possible at that magnification. Again, not easy or comfortable when you're shooting upwards and your areas of support for the camera is something like the vehicle door or window sill.
• you're with other people, which means slight but constant movement of the vehicle - so camera shake is a major problem when shooting with a long lens.
• your subject, beautiful as it is, has dappled markings that blend in with the background and surrounding dappled shade. See picture below that shows this more clearly (and pick up some tips about spotting leopards at the same time!

To overcome as many of these hurdles as possible, I used a "bean-bag" to support the camera and lens, pushed my ISO to 800 to allow for the fastest shutter speed possible, and also took some pictures with a camera-mounted flash to fill in the shadows and reduce the contrast.

The main leopard photo above (a tight crop of the full-size image) was one of the "fill-flash" series, as you can see by the large highlights in the leopard's eyes.

This is a problem with a flash mounted on the camera - it's a bit like red-eye in people. If I could have had the flash mounted some distance to the side of the camera, then the harsh, unnatural highlights in the eyes could have been avoided.

But in this case it was difficult enough trying to keep the camera steady, without thinking about trying to mount a flash somewhere in the vehicle. Such are the hazards of the amateur wildlfe photographer!

Below is a picture of renowned South African photographer Nigel Dennis at work photographing a leopard (from his book, Getaway Guide to Wildlife Photography.) Note the array of cameras, all firmly mounted on the vehicle, plus the powerful flash with tele extender attached, mounted to the side of the main camera.
© Nigel Dennis

If you'd like to see some of Nigel's outstanding photographs, a visit to his website is highly recommended.

Photo Details:: Leopard (Panthera pardus) looking relaxed in long winter grass, Kruger National Park, South Africa.
Camera: Sigma SD10; Lens: Sigma zoom; Focal Length: 133mm; Shutter Speed: 1/50; Aperture: f4.5; ISO: 100.

Another day, another leopard ...
This picture of a leopard with its warm, golden tones, is courtesy of Arno Meintjes.

Arno and his family are keen wildlife enthusiasts and, as regular visitors to South Africa's Kruger National Park, they have amassed an excellent collection of wildlife images, many of which they're happy to share with visitors to this website.

Yesterday's leopard picture (immediately below), taken in dappled shade against a backdrop of green leaves, illustrated how well the black and gold rosette's on a leopard's coat work as camouflage.

Now we have another leopard, in totally different surroundings - brown earth and gold-colored winter vegetation - yet the coat again blends surprisingly well with the background. Nature really is amazing.

Twenty-one black rhinos (Diceros bicornis) have been released into the Zululand Rhino Reserve in KwaZulu-Natal province, South Africa.

The release this month is a further step in the WWF/Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife Black Rhino Range Expansion Project, which aims to boost the numbers of the critically endangered species by increasing the land available for their conservation and providing new territory in which they can breed quickly.

The Zululand Rhino Reserve, covering 24,000ha of savannah, is just such "new territory", where owners of more than 20 neighbouring properties recently removed their internal fences to create a large, barrier-free haven - the ideal breeding ground for the new residents.

“In just two years of this project, the black rhino has acted as a catalyst in creating about 40,000ha of barrier-free land for conservation,” said WWF project leader Dr Jacques Flamand.

Black rhino, which used to be the most numerous rhino species in the world, became critically endangered following a catastrophic poaching wave in the 1970s and 1980s that wiped out 96% of Africa’s wild black rhino population in only 20 years. At the lowest point, there were just 2,500 black rhinos left.

Photo Details: Close-up of the front paw of a female lion (Panthera leo), Mashatu Game Reserve, Tuli Block, Botswana.
Camera: Canon EOS Digital Rebel; Lens: Canon 100-400mm IS zoom; Focal Length: 400mm; Shutter Speed: 1/500; Aperture: f8; ISO: 400

Photo Details:: Hippo (Hippopotamus amphibius) on small island in the Zambezi River watches warily as we pass by in a boat, unaware of how undigified he looks with a streak of egret droppings down his head - Lower Zambezi National Park, Zambia.
Camera: Canon EOS 350D; Lens: Canon 80-200mm F2.8 zoom; Focal Length: 150mm; Shutter Speed: 1/3200; Aperture: f4; ISO: 400

Photo Details: Banded mongoose (Mungos mungo) out foraging for food, Mashatu Game Reserve, Botswana. Camera: Canon EOS Digital Rebel; Lens: Canon 100-400mm IS zoom; Focal Length: 330mm; Shutter Speed: 1/400; Aperture: f6.3 ISO: 400.

During the day banded mongooses will head out, usually in a group or pack, to look for their favorite food, mainly beetles, millipedes, crickets and the like.

They forage around in the undergrowth, scratching and turning up litter, leaves and twigs, much like chickens. They poke their noses into any openings and will use their front claws to extract prey from cracks and crevices too narrow for their snouts.

Although they will spread out to some extent when out foraging, they avoid forests or open country and keep in contact with constant chirps and twitters.

If threatened, one of their defensive techniques is a "mob attack" in which they advance in a writhing pack, heads reared, simultaneously growling and snapping. This suggests a single, large and relentless adversary.

In his book, The Behavior Guide to African Mammals, Richard Despard Estes writes:
"The mobbing attacks of banded mongooses are so impressive that even animals as formidable as servals and large dogs may be intimidated, not to mention lesser foes such as jackals, eagles, vultures and herons.

"Packs have been known to to mob bushbucks, geese, and other harmless creatures somehow perceived as potentially dangerous".

Photo Details: Elephant (Loxodonta africana) female protecting or sheltering a group of youngsters, Mashatu Game Reserve, Botswana.
Camera: Canon EOS Digital Rebel; Lens: Canon 100-400mm IS zoom; Focal Length: 100mm; Shutter Speed: 1/125; Aperture: f5.6; ISO: 800