January - Rothschild's Giraffe:

There are three types of Giraffe in Kenya, Masai, Rothschild's (generally considered a subspecies of the Masai) and Reticulated, with Masai being the commonest and Rothschild's the rarest. They can be distinguished by their different coat patterns and their distribution, We had excellent views of all three species during the safari. This image of a young Rothschild's Giraffe was taken in Crater Lake Game Sanctuary near Lake Naivasha. It was in a small family group, quite near to the track that we were on, and, as with many of the animals in Kenya, it was not very concerned about us in the vehicle. The group itself, although extremely impressive, was not in particularly photogenic light or surroundings, so rather than take average shots of the whole animal, I concentrated on full frame head and neck images. I quickly shot three full frontals, bracketing the exposure and two profiles before it lost interest in us and wandered away.

February - Grey-headed Kingfisher:

We have one species of Kingfisher in the UK, Kenya has eleven. These range in size from the diminutive African Pygmy Kingfisher, smaller than a Blue Tit, to the enormous, crow sized, Giant Kingfisher. The Grey-headed is medium sized (about the same as a Starling) and we saw a few of them, but only in Samburu National Reserve, a semi-arid environment, which was the first destination we stopped in. In fact this is one of three images in the calendar that were taken on the first afternoon in Samburu National Reserve. Incredible place! You may wonder how a Kingfisher survives in an arid habitat, well, not all Kingfishers dive into water to catch fish, some actually inhabit bush country, woodland and forest and are not dependent on water at all. They catch prey by diving from a vantage point to the ground to pick up any small passing invertebrates. Often but not always the bill colour is a guide, with most water dependent species having a black bill, and the others, like the Grey-headed, having red bills.

March - Young Lion:

This magnificent creature needs no introduction and is THE animal that people on safari want to see. Consequently it is worth millions of dollars in revenue to Kenya, something that a huge number of Kenyans are aware of, as it provides their livelihoods. This is the first of two images of Lion in this calendar. This was a young Lion in a pride of about eight animals, mostly females but with a couple of young males. The image was taken in the Masai Mara, with the pride walking right down the track, relegating all safari vehicles to the grassland on either side. Our guide and driver Peter showed great skill and knowledge of the situation, always driving out and away from them in order to get the vehicle into a position ahead of the animals, and then waiting for them to come to us. This image has a lot to do with his skill, he was ensuring that I would get the best images of a relaxed animal by keeping the vehicle at a distance and allowing the animal to choose how close it felt comfortable. The Lions were not at all interested in us, their eyes fixed forward, possibly on some distant prey, looked straight through us, as if we were not there. Simply fantastic!

April - Golden-winged Sunbird:

Sunbirds are the old world equivalent of Hummingbirds which are found in the Americas. Like Hummingbirds they feed on nectar but unlike them they do not hover. There are over thirty species of Sunbird in Kenya. The Golden-winged is quite a large one (probably like a large Budgie, with a much longer tail) This image was taken in the grounds of Elsamere Conservation Centre, on the banks of Lake Naivasha. Elsamere is the former home of the Late Joy Adamson who, together with her husband George, became world famous for their pioneering conservation work and relationship with the Lioness Elsa, as told in her best selling book and subsequent film: Born Free. Golden-winged Sunbird was one of my target species and Peter our guide brought us to this one particular bush where he knew I had the best chance of getting some shots. It was a large bush with dozens of flower spikes with lots of distracting background flowers and foliage that usually, if possible, I try to minimize in order to get a clean 'oof' (out of focus) background. The bird was moving continuously and I never knew where it was going to land and when it did, it had ususally gone before I even got the camera on it. After an hour of frustration I decided to change strategy. I saw that this particular flower spike stuck out from the rest of the bush and therefore had a moderately clear background. I set the camera up ready for the bird to land on it and feed. The bird gradually worked its way round the bush, closer and closer, and after two more hours, Bingo! It stayed on the flower for ages, well, four seconds according to the camera exif data!

May - Leopard:

The Leopard, like the Lion, is one of the 'Big Five' It is a mainly nocturnal hunter and is renowned for its ability to haul very heavy prey vertically into trees in order to feed in peace away from the other carnivores such as Lions and Hyenas, which would otherwise steal it. This most beautiful animal was photographed in Lake Nakuru National Park. It was resting, in a classic Leopard pose, in the late afternoon, waiting for the light to fade before going out to hunt. For the first hour or so it was facing away from us and was not approachable from the other side. As it was, the light was very poor during that time, but then, as the sun came out and lit its beautiful coat, it turned its head and looked straight at the camera. It then proceeded to stretch and yawn like a giant pussycat, before settling back down to sleep, again turning its head away from the cameras. What a magnificent animal!

June - Superb Starling adult & juvenile:

This image was also taken in the gardens of Elsamere while waiting for the Golden-winged Sunbird (April Image). I saw the young bird (top) land on this great dead acacia branch. I swung the camera around and as I lined up the shot, I couldn't believe my luck when the adult not only landed at the bottom in a position of perfect composition, but also looked up at the chick, and amazingly was about the same focus distance to keep both sharp. It could not have been set up better in a studio. I took three shots, and amazingly the digital records produced by my camera, which show, down to a tenth of a second, when the image was taken, show, like the Sunbird, that the three images were also taken during a four second window, after which both flew away. The features that distinguish the young from the adult are the lack of the white breastband, dark instead of white eye, and also the yellow skin at the base of the bill, which is clearly visible. This is the remains of the bright yellow gape that chicks have, which acts as a stimulus to the adults, encouraging them to feed the chick. This disappears as they mature.

July - Lion 'The PAW':

This image was given the nickname 'The PAW' for obvious reasons. This image is the second in the calendar taken on the first day of the safari in Samburu National Reserve. A group of half a dozen or so Lions were all lying dozing in the late afternoon sun. As they were all lying close together I could see immediately that it was going to be difficult to show the whole Lion in an image without having the limbs of one of the others as a distracting and unwanted addition. That decision taken, I quickly looked for other 'clean' options and immediately saw this fabulous head and paw forming a great diagonal through the image. I knew it would be great. I only had to slightly crop it for even more emphasis. Another point of interest here is the light. Photographers are always talking about wonderful golden light. If you compare this image to the March Lion image, you can see the difference in the fur on the chin of each animal, both images were taken in the late afternoon, but this one, in soft sun is a creamy golden colour, whereas the other taken under cloud, is almost blue-white in colour.

August - Saddle-billed Stork:

This bird is huge, half as big again as a Heron, ie five foot tall. The enormous bizarre bill had to be the element to concentrate on. We only saw these birds in the Masai Mara, probably due to the damper habitat, and this one was particularly obliging. After following at a discreet distance in our vehicle, it soon got used to us, allowing us to approach close enough to get some fabulous full frame images. The reason for it's name is clear: the yellow saddle sitting on top of the bill with the yellow stirrups hanging down on either side. As this was taken in full sun, the biggest photographic challenge here was the contrast between the black feathers and the bright yellow bill. I managed this by deliberately underexposing the image in order to stop the yellow becoming too bright and losing all detail.

September - Jacksons's Hartebeest:

Hartebeest are part of a group of large antelope that includes wildebeest and roam in large herds grazing on the plains. Indeed they are such specialised grazers that one of their outstanding features is the incredible elongated jaw which seems to place the eyes much higher up the head than they should be. This is what I was hoping to emphasize in this image which is a circa 50% crop of the original. It was also taken in the Masai Mara on the penultimate day of the safari.

October - African Fish Eagle:

This image was planned back in the UK nine months before it was taken in Kenya. I had always wanted to photograph a Fish Eagle stooping to take a fish out of the water. It is quite common behaviour around the world that when fishermen throw back fish that are too small, fish eating birds will often swoop in and take them and Eagles regularly exhibit this behaviour. I had read somewhere that this happened on one of the Rift Valley Lakes in Kenya so when I was planning the trip I enquired and was advised that the only Rift Valley Lake where this happened was Lake Baringo. So guess what, we went to Lake Baringo. I went out on one day with the fishermen but it became very windy. Eagles, unlike an Osprey which plunges into the water, cannot afford to become submerged as they are too heavy to take off again and would drown. They swoop round and pluck their prey off the surface, keeping their wings well away from the water. With such strong wind the lake was very choppy so the Eagles would not come down for the fish. I agreed however to go out with another fisherman, also called Peter, the following morning. Peter soon spotted an eagle on a tree stump on the bank. Under my direction he positioned the boat to ensure the best angle of light, and to enable me to follow the eagle in flight, he then threw the fish in, gave a loud whistle, the Eagle lifted off its perch, reached the required speed swooped down from left to right in front of the boat and took the fish. I took a series of six shots, this is the second in the series, to see the fifth in the series, the one showing the fish in the water the split second before impact, you need to look on Image Gallery Kenya 2 on my website.

November - Grevy's Zebra and Red-billed Oxpecker:

There are three species of Zebra, Plains (also called common Zebra), Mountain Zebra and the largest of them, the Grevy's Zebra. This is the rarest animal depicted in this calendar, so it is fitting that this is also the cover image, although it wasn't chosen for the rarity of the subject, but because it was the most popoular image. Grevy's Zebra can be identified by the beautiful thin stripes, much thinner than on other Zebras, which fade into the white on the belly. These beautiful thin stripes are the reason the animal became endangered. An increase in poaching to fuel the production of handbags, purses, slippers, rugs, and even clothing. Although Kenya has banned all hunting and export of Zebra products and the poaching has been reduced, the animal has still not recovered to sufficient numbers to remove it from the endangered list. This is the third image in the calendar taken on the first day of the safari.The Red-billed Oxpecker is one of two Oxpeckers that are endemic to Africa (Yellow-billed being the other). Often called tick birds, they associate with large wild animals and spend a lot of time removing unwanted parasites from them. This may seem like a win:win situation, but on closer inspection the dark nature of the birds is revealed as, after removing the tick or other parasite, often they deliberately keep the wound open and sometimes make it worse in order to get a free meal of blood.

December - Secretary Bird:

The Secretary Bird is an extraordinary long-legged raptor. It is endemic to Africa and is totally adapted to a terrestrial predatary lifestyle. It walks across the plains hunting anything that is not too large even including the most venomous of snakes which are quickly stamped to death. The bird is huge, around five feet tall, and has long legs with small feet that have toughened pads which enable the prey to be efficiently despatched. The two birds in the image were a courting couple and were building a nest on a small acacia bush in Lake Nakuru National Park.

Unknown celebrity: Halfway between Samburu and Lake Nakuru in the middle of nowhere miles from any human settlements, Peter stopped the vehicle to confirm directions from a man herding his goats. Initially the man had his back to me and I presumed that his red tee-shirt was a Manchester United shirt, as Manchester United seemed to be very popular all over Kenya. When he turned round I saw the logo on the shirt and nearly fell out of the car. One of the supplier relationships I manage in the UK is Office Depot, the global stationery giant. I had travelled thousands of miles into the middle of nowhere and we had stopped to ask directions from a man wearing an Office Depot tee-shirt. The chance of this was just incredible. I asked if I could take a photograph and he agreed. When we left the man I explained all this to Peter and we were all dumbfounded at the chance that this could have happened.

When I got back to the UK I sent a jpeg of this image to David Soppelsa, my relationship counterpart in Office Depot, joking with him that it was nice that he had come all the way to Africa to surprise me. He and his colleagues were equally amazed that this could have happened.

This all happened in July and I then thought nothing more of it until yesterday (20th Oct) when I rang Dave to talk business. He told me that he and his colleagues had been so amazed by the chance of me taking this photo that after he had received it he had sent it to his boss and from there it had gone up and up the chain of command within OD. Anyway to cut a long story short the image went right to the top, not only to the CEO in Office Depot UK but from there to the Executives in the USA. The photograph won the first prize in an internal OD photo competition and David who had sent the photo in won a digital camera.

This is where the incredible story turns into a wonderful one as David donated the camera to me either to auction it or raffle it and to add the proceeds to our charity fund. I really do work with some wonderful people! The only sad thing is that this man's image has travelled to the other side of the world and amazed many people, and he is unaware of his stardom, and I am unaware of his name. Although I know it will be futile, I will try to find him when I return to Kenya next year.