Lunar Eclipse 2011

While most of you are probably aware that today a total Lunar Eclipse took place, some of you may have missed this wonderful sighting! It was visible rising over South America, western Africa, and Europe, and setting over eastern Asia. In western Asia, Australia and the Philippines, the lunar eclipse was visible just before sunrise.

The Washington Post provided an interesting article about the screengrab from Google and how Google had a doodle that showed the eclipse in real time, from cameras in South Africa, Dubai and the Canary Islands.

This Lunar Eclispe, was the first of two such eclipses in 2011. The second will occur on December 10, 2011. Mark you calendars to avoid disappointment! 

This was a relatively rare central lunar eclipse where the center point of Earth's shadow passed across the Moon. The last time a lunar eclipse was closer to the center of the earth's shadow was on July 16, 2000. The next central total lunar eclipse will be on July 27, 2018.

To view the images that Snapshot Africa took click here.

Chance Sighting

The game drive started off unusually slow that late summer afternoon. We had attempted to track a pride of seven male lions, however as the sun began to set it became more evident that they had given us the slip. With the light fading Alfie (My Tracker) and I had decided that it was becoming too dangerous to track these lions in low light, so we resided to the fact that we would move out of the area and go in search of something else.

The drive progressed and we only had a few more minutes of game drive left, I took a well known road called Nyati drive (Nyati means Buffalo in Shangan) that lead back to the lodge. If there is one thing I have learned over the time I have been in Africa is that you can never know what to expect. When you least expect it something spectacular happens. This was one of those drives! It was along this road that we came across one of Africa’s rare mammals know as a pangolin.

A pangolin also known as a scaly anteater can be seen to be very similar to an Armadillo. Pangolins have large scales covering their skin and are the only mammals with this adaptation. They are found mostly in regions of Africa. These special animals are mainly nocturnal, and use their well-developed sense of smell to find insects very often in ant hills or termite mounds. Pangolins spend most of the daytime sleeping, curled up into a ball.

It was for this reason that we were all very excited to see this animal. Alfie who has spent his entire life in the bush had mentioned to the guests that, in fact the last one he had seen was 13 years earlier. We spent a long time sitting with it and waiting for it to move, finally it did. For those brief seconds it was well worth it. We ended the game drive on an all time high and it is most certainly a sighting that Alfie and I still talk about to this day. For more images click here.

South African Tourism - Exceptional Tourism Performers

Exceptional tourism performers recognized at Welcome Awards 2011.

This recent article, posted on the South Africa.net website, www.southafrica.net, on May 8, 2011, highlights this year's top tourism performers. The top performers were announced as Welcome Awards winners, in the different categories listed below:

1. Accommodation: The Cape Milner Hotel

2. Car Rental: Economic Car and Bakkie Hire

3. Meetings, Exhibitions and Special Events: The Plantation

4. Restaurants: Hemingways Restaurant at Leriba Hotel and Spa

5. Tour Operators: Western Cape Tours

6. Tourist Attractions: SAB World of Beer

7. Tourist Guides: Greg Lederle

8. Travel Agencies: Sure Zorgvliet Travel

9. Best Tourism Website (online): Sandton Sun Hotel

Mr. Pieter de Bruin, Head of Tourism: FNB Commercial, sponsors of Welcome Awards, had this to say:

Welcome is the catalyst to get South Africans talking about and embracing service excellence as a way of life.

This is definitely an initiative to get the South African Tourism industry striving for excellence. To review the entire article, simple click here.

Disney Nature: African Cats

On April 22, 2011 a new Disney Nature film was released called "African Cats". It captures the life of Mara, a lion cub who strives to grow up with her mother's strength, spirit and wisdom; Sita, a fearless cheetah and single mother of five mischievous newborns; and Fang, a proud leader of the pride who must defend his family from a once banished lion.

Did you know that during the film’s opening week (April 22-28), a portion of the proceeds from that week’s ticket sales was donated to AWF through the Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund to protect the Amboseli Wildlife Corridor, a passage between the Amboseli, Tsavo West and Chyulu Hills National Parks that is frequently used by lions, cheetahs, elephants, zebras, giraffes and a host of other animals in the African savanna.

The Washington Post provides a great review on the film "African Cats" and we really liked what they had to say. To read the review click here, or to view our spectacular portfolio of African Cats, simple click here or Shop Images Now. "African Cats" rated a 3 out 4 according to The Washington Post. 

To view the trailer, simple click here.

Our Latest Newsletter: Welcome to Snapshot Africa

Just incase your email address did not make it onto our mailing list, here's the information that you missed out on. 

To those of you who have already received our newsletter, here is what some of you had to say:

Amazed by the photos taken of African Wildlife: www.snapshotafrica.com

We got the email last night, awesome stuff!!

Hi John and Tracy, nice to see that it is finally up and running; looking forward to see more from you! All the best! 

Good job on the site :) Beautiful pics!

A big thank you to everyone who is campaigning along with us!