A morning with Cheetah cubs

One very early morning in Ndutu we came across the same cheetah family featured in my first ever blog post, Cheetahs in the rain, which was about a Mum and her 2 young cheetah cubs who were caught in the rain storm. When we came across the Cheetahs they were just waking up to the sun peering through the trees. As they woke up the Cheetah cubs became a lot more active playing on the bank of the river and even chasing after hartebeest. As always the young cheetahs in Ndutu, Tanzania, full of surprises and amazing to watch!

A young cheetah cub yawning as the first rays of light woke him up!

The two cheetah cubs playing on the river bank

Mum watching over the cheetah cubs as they play fought

An over enthusiastic cheetah cub chasing hartebeest under the watchful eye of bat eared foxes

The cheetah Mum surveying the marsh, on the lookout for breakfast

Düsseldorf in the Autumn

I was lucky enough to be flying into Düsseldorf Airport for work, so got the flights booked 2 days early and spent the weekend exploring Düsseldorf. The visit was perfectly timed so the sun was shining all weekend, the leaves on the trees were a beautiful range of colours and Fortuna Düsseldorf only lost to Bayern Munich 1-3 so the locals were in high spirits. I found Düsseldorf  really easy to explore on foot, and got the chance to visit some of the spots at different times of day, which was great for photography!

A fountain on Königsallee, shot during the day

 The same fountain at night

A view from the K21 Ständehaus museum

The sun shining through a stain glass window in a church near the Rhine

The sun setting over the Rhine

The Rheinturm after dark

Noor and Sultan, Mother and Son

Today's post continues on from Sultan of Ranthambore where we left young Sultan patiently waiting while his mother was defending her territory from another female tiger. Once the roars died down Noor ventured out from behind the outcrop of rocks to lay down in the drinking hole to cool down. Upon seeing his mother Sultan ventured out towards her looking like an embarrassed teenager when she greeted him with a big lick! They rest together for a while in the pool before walking along the bank, pausing to pose one last time, before disappearing into the grass.

Noor (T39) greeting her cub Sultan.

Sultan resting on his Mum's head as if she were his pillow. 

Sultan and Noor walking along the bank towards the shade of the trees together.

Peering through the grass. 

The setting sun behind a water tower in Ranthambore - India.

The Big Five

The big five are traditionally the five most dangerous animals in Africa to hunt. It is also a sign of a good safari trip if you are lucky enough to see them all. As much as I enjoy capturing wild animals in situations which make them look particularly dangerous, it can be just as fun photographing them at their most passive and vulnerable moments.

A large male lion asleep a-top some rocks in the Serengeti under the watchful eye of a lizard.
The lizard was carefully capturing the flies that were landing on the lion's noise, hiding behind the rock
 whenever the lion opened his eyes.

A few week old baby elephant following the herd across a track in the Serengeti.

A 5 month old leopard cub looking for his mother through the grass in
Serengeti National Park, Tanzania. 

A Cape buffalo taking a mud-bath in the Ngorongoro Crater.

A family of black rhinoceros in front of the flamingos on the lake in the Ngorongoro crater, Tanzania.
Unfortunately due to the high value placed upon the rhino's horn there is still a level of
 rhinoceros poaching, and the Black rhinoceros in particular is critically endangered.  

A trip to the Holy Land

While out drinking with a good friend of mine, who was living in Israel at the time, we planned a great road trip going from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and then camping in the desert around Mitzpe Ramon.

Tel Aviv was great, nice and relaxing for a day or so at the beach. On the way over to Jerusalem my friend took me to a place famous for its humous. Jerusalem was an entirely different experience to Tel Aviv with the busy old town, fought over for millennia, split into 4 quarters allowing different religions to live side by side.

The night out camping in Mitzpe Ramon gave us a chance to sit around the fire and reflect on our trip, while trying to photograph the stars!

The roof of the church of the Holy Sepulchre - Jerusalem.

Night time in the Negev desert in Southern Israel

Sunrise over our campsite in the Negev desert with the backdrop of the Ramon crater

On my return journey through Jerusalem I discovered a hotel with a church spire with a viewing point -
giving wonderful views across the roof tops of the old town of Jerusalem.

The Dome of the Rock

Wall art in the Old Jaffa area of Tel Aviv

The last rays of sun over Tel Aviv

Derby Cathedral

On October the 5th I will be abseiling down the tower of the Cathedral in Derby city centre. A chance to abseil down the 212 feet tower as well as raise some sponsorship money for the Derby Mountain Rescue team. How could I resist! I always enjoy the veiws gained from the top of tall buildings, especially while traveling in a new city, so I'm really looking forward to the un-obscured veiw across Derbyshire. I've also never abseiled from the top of anything of significance before so it should be quite the experience!

The link to my just giving page is - http://www.justgiving.com/AmyLouiseJohnson - and any sponsorship would be much appreciated.

And of course I took a quick trip to the Cathedral to check how high it was and take some photographs.

The Cathedral bell tower

The Cathedral towering over the rest of the Derby skyline

The Cathedral, the moon and storm clouds