Self-drive safari in Serengeti: how it was

Serengeti National Park is widely known for its abundance of wildlife and high biodiversity. The park verges on Maasai Mara National reserve, Ngorongoro Conservation Area and several more game reserves, and together, these areas form the Serengeti ecosystem. Among other things Serengeti is famous for hosting the great migration of wildebeest, zebras and antelopes.  African…

Northern Elephant Seals wintering in California

The Elephant seals are large oceangoing mammals. The are two species: the Southern elephant seal and the Northern elephant seal. Southern species are much larger in size and are found in Southern Hemisphere; while Northern species live along the pacific coast of the United States, Canada and Mexico. Elephant seals derive their name from their…

A roadtrip in Norway

Norway has so many attractions, the whole year may be not enough to visit them all. But we had much less time. What can you possibly see for just a week in Norway? Let’s find out!

Алые паруса 2017

«Мечтать — значит мысленно обгонять время, предугадывать будущее…»   Наверное, немного осталось людей в нашей стране, не слышавших об этом замечательном празднике. Алые паруса – это праздник выпускников школ, который проходит в конце июня и знаменует вступление вчерашних школьников во взрослую жизнь. Начало традиции было положено в 1968 году по распоряжению отдела народного образования Ленинграда. Это…

Beautiful beastie: Mantis shrimp

Mantis shrimps, or stomatopods, are among the most important predators in many shallow marine habitats. These typically solitary sea creatures spend most of their time hiding in rock formations or passageways in the sea bed. They rarely exit their homes except to feed and relocate, and can be diurnal or nocturnal, depending on the species. Unlike…

Scorpionfish of Indonesia

The Scorpaeniformes are a diverse order of ray-finned fish. It is one of the five largest orders of bony fishes by number of species with over 1,320. Scorpaeniform fishes are carnivorous, mostly feeding on crustaceans and on smaller fish. Most species live on the sea bottom in relatively shallow waters, although species are known from deep water, from the midwater,…

Kruger national park 2016 drought

The year of 2016 brought one of the strongest droughts to Kruger National park. During the dry months vegetation has shrunk to greyish-yellow sticks. There used to be additional man-made waterholes for the animals: large barrels with water for elephants and smaller artificial ponds for other animals, but the current position of the Kruger park…

Cango caves

The Cango Caves are located in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. The caves were discovered in 1780 by a local farmer. The chamber he first was lowered down into (Van Zyl Hall, which is as long as a football field), is named in his honor. Further exploration was done and a second chamber…

The Big five game

The big five animals are the African bush elephant, African lion, Cape buffalo, African leopard and rhinoceros. The term “big five game” originally refers to five animals that we the most dangerous to hunt on foot. Currently the term is used for marketing purposes. Why are these animals the most difficult to hunt? The African…

Bloody Heiko Halloween makeup

Aside from wildlife photography I’m into experiments. For this Halloween I decided to shoot a feast with geisha’s head for a main dish… I didn’t use any profesional tools for the makeup: under eye concealer as white paint for face, white craft glue and tissues for the scars, and fake blood. For the hairdo I curled and pinned an ordinary straight…

Cape buffalo

The African buffalo or Cape buffalo is a large African bovine. A characteristic feature of the horns of adult male African buffalo is fusion of their bases, forming a continuous bone shield referred to as a “boss”. From the base, the horns diverge downwards, then smoothly curve upwards and outwards. In large bulls, the distance…

African lion

Lions are the second largest living cats after tigers. Lions are the most socially inclined of all wild felids, most of which remain quite solitary in nature. The lion is a predatory carnivore with two types of social organization. Some lions are residents, living in prides – groups of related lionesses, their mates, and offspring….