CritterGrams

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What follows below is a "near-real-time" travel log that we experimented with during our recent trip to San Diego to photograph the animals in the zoo and a side trip to visit a Meerkat locale near Palm Springs.

Monday, Oct. 20

Settling into our digs just two blocks from the zoo and looking forward to getting started in the morning. I could swear that I can hear the hippos calling, but it might just be Jeanie snoring....I'll have to check more closely. Disturbing this type of creature can be very dangerous and Hippos have a fairly nasty disposition also! Watch this space: more coming tomorrow.

Tuesday, Oct. 21

And the Zoo Adventure Begins…..

As a special treat for this trip, I arranged to rent a Nikon 600mm lens from George’s cameras here in San Diego and stopped by yesterday afternoon to pick up the beast. I was directed to the rental section at the back of the store where Brian the rental guru found the lens and put it up on the counter. We both stared at it for a minute or two and then I hooked it up to my D1x to make sure it worked OK. Hitting the focus, I was a bit confused to find myself looking into a dark, tangled jungle until realization dawned that I was perusing the nose hairs of one of the salesmen on the other side of the store.

This behemoth (the lens, not the salesman) was slightly larger and a few kilograms heavier than the Hubble telescope. Aside from terrorizing the local fauna, the main idea in renting the lens was to see if it would be suitable for traveling to Costa Rica and other locations before selling Jeanie on the white slave market and sending the proceeds off to B&H camera for a 600mm lens of my very own. It was quickly evident that I would probably not be able to carry the damned thing out to my car much less through the jungles of Costa Rica.

Attaching a small crane and gently lowering the 600mm monster back into the storage case, the rental dude said that I would probably be happier using the smaller and lighter 400mm lens and adding teleconverters to get the same or better magnification than the 600. This seemed to be a great plan and so bright and early this morning I headed off to the zoo with my D1x camera attached to the 400mm lens to see if zoo critter nose hairs are as exciting as camera salesman nose hairs.

I had been wondering if we had planned to spend too many days at the zoo, but after the first few hours flew by and I had only seen the gorillas and hippos, I knew that this is one place that could never become boring. I met Jeanie in the afternoon and we spent the rest of the day enjoying the feathered critters in the various aviaries throughout the park. The highlights of the day were the primates and watching two bird species playing musical nests. One bird would add straw to his nest then the other would steal the straw and carry it to his nest. All very confusing and probably contrary to most civilized zoning laws.

Tomorrow will definitely be a koala and panda day with a binturong or two thrown in for spice.

Here are a few images from today (just click on any thumbnail to see the full size image) :

This Handsome fellow is the boss in gorilla-land and leaves no doubt about it

Even the boss needs to relax and smile now and then

Here is one of the happy participants in the "Musical Nest" game

I think this fellow would like a napkin to wipe his beak

THURSDAY, OCT. 23

Greetings from Sunny San Diego. Sitting here in Starbucks with a T-Mobile internet connection and reviewing the shots from yesterday. Ok, I confess....I am now addicted to the 400mm lens. It is a brute and my right shoulder will probably be permanently lower than my left from carrying the damned thing, but the shots are worth all the effort. Now I have to figure out how to tell Jeanie that she will have to be sold on the white slave market to raise money to buy the darned thing. Anybody out there have any ideas on how to make life in a harem sound more attractive??

Yesterday was a BEAR day with a few other side trips. Here are a few images. Don't forget that if you click on the thumbnail, a full size image will appear. Be patient as they make take a while to download.

This is why Jeanie has to head for the harem, 400mm grizzly...up close and personal!

Here's where the grizzly meets the road. Quick, call the podiatrist!

Nap time for this handsome fellow

I'll be heading for this little dude's enclosure first thing this morning to get more shots

FRIDAY, OCT. 24 (Only one week 'tll Halloween, do you have your costume picked out yet?)

Here are a trio of couples picked out from yesterday's shooting. I'll probably spend the day in the aviaries and then off to Palm Springs to visit the meerkats tomorrow.

This couple is hard at work building their nest

One hump or two? Who knows....who cares?....this couple is in love!

Dreaming about getting a nose job? Maybe.....

SATURDAY MORNING, OCT. 25

Well, the animals can heave a collective sigh of relief as they will have a respite from us for the next couple of days. We will be packing up the rental car and heading off for Palm Springs to visit the meerkats tomorrow. There are two ways to go, the most direct on the interstate and scenic path through the mountains.....hummmmm I wonder which one we will take? Here's a little photo action from yesterday:

These little guys just love to bite the thorns off these vines, this is bird yoga position #6

Although their giant black and white cousins get all the publicity, these little Red Pandas are my favorites!

This must be the monkey version of dreadlocks

I just couldn't resist this guy, he had such a goofy smile!

MONDAY MORNING, OCT. 27

It is a rare experience for a long anticipated event to far exceed our high expectations and yet visiting the meerkats in the Morongo Valley yesterday neatly accomplished this feat. We had arranged for the visit at the Earthlings' Wildlife Center and were sent a useful packet of information and directions to their site. About 20 minutes outside of Palm Springs, we pulled off highway 62 onto a dirt road and within a few minutes a beautiful green oasis appeared in the middle of the arid scrublands. We were greeted by Pam Wallberg who, along with her husband Philip, is responsible for this magical place. They make a home for themselves, two wonder dogs, four cats, the world's friendliest rooster and seven beautiful meerkats. The meerkats had been rescued from various zoos either because of age, illness or the inability to thrive within the zoo population. They have been neutered so as to leave room for more rescues as space permits. Pam and Phil take a refreshing view that the quality of the environment is more important than sheer numbers and they will only take on the number for which they are able to provide the best care. You can't save all the animals in the world, but these folks have made a wonderful home for a lucky few. You can read all about it by going to http://www.meerkats.com/index.html . Pam is a delightful lady with an encyclopedic knowledge of meerkats and intense interest and commitment to wildlife preservation.

I had hoped to get a few good pictures and perhaps touch one or two of the little devils, but later that afternoon with two little meerkats snuggled up and napping in my lap, I realized that this had gone far beyond and will remain in my memories as one of the most special afternoons of my life. Here are a few images:

Waiting for a mealworm tidbit

Jeanie puts out a mealworm snack. The gloves serve for protection as a finger and a mealworm look the same to a hungry meerkat!

After lunch, it's meerkat playtime

Is this little guy comfy or what??

A double decker meerkat snoozathon!

Why do I love meerkats.......any other questions????

Thanks again to Pam and Philip Wallberg for creating such a wonderful place and sharing their home and critter family with us.

TUESDAY MORNING, OCT. 28 (Although it's a little hard to tell with all the smoke and ash)

Well, Jeanie and I continue our time honored tradition of bringing disaster upon any region that we inflict our travel plans upon. We had heard of the fires around San Diego, but had not realized the severity until we returned here from Palm Springs last night. Looks like the fallout from a volcanic eruption...the only thing missing is the smell of sulfur. We decided to cut the trip short and will be flying back home tomorrow and may head down to Costa Rica a few days early..... at least the Arenal volcano is polite when it erupts!

The 400mm beast must be returned to George's Cameras this afternoon, but the word is that the zoo will be open today and so I'll spend our last day taking a few last minute shots. This may be my only opportunity to photograph Koala bears and Orangutans in full respirator masks!

Here are a few shots from our visit to the Living Desert near Palm Springs yesterday:

A Bobcat takes a snooze, although in this upscale area he prefers to be called a "Robert Cat"

A sleeping fox...this is the desert for God's sake, did you expect to see jumping jacks??

Here is one critter that was awake, a Bat Eared Fox. Only problem was that he is supposed to be

nocturnal......hummmmm, insomnia perhaps?

I love the great ear tufts on this Lynx!

The smoke causes brilliant sunsets.

WEDNESDAY MORNING, OCT. 28

One last cup of coffee and a pumpkin scone at my favorite Starbucks hangout and internet connection and then off to the airport for the trip back to Florida. The zoo was indeed open yesterday and because of all the smoke and ash in the air, it was an unusual day from a photographic lighting standpoint. My favorite times to shoot are early morning and late afternoon because of the warm light, but the peculiar atmospheric conditions provided this lighting all day yesterday. Bad for the lungs, but great for photos. Here are a few last images from yesterday's shooting:

The original Joe Camel poses between two of his buddy's humps

The Capybara is (with the exception of my ex-wife's lawyer) the largest rodent in the world

Morning playtime with a group of Dwarf Mongooses (Mongeese??)

A giraffe youngster grabs an afternoon snack

Here is a perfect example of the extraordinary lighting conditions yesterday

This parting shot of a momma Colubus monkey and her baby is one of my favorites

For the technically minded, all the images on this page were taken with a Nikon D1x camera, 400mm 2.8 lens, TC20 E II 2x and TC14 E 1.4 teleconverters. Lighting was provided by a Nikon DX-80 strobe and a "Better Beamer" flash extender. The whole monstrosity is mounted on an Arca-Swiss ball head with Really Right Stuff hardware and a Gitzo carbon fiber tripod. I use Photoshop 7.01 and Digital Pro software for editing. To carry the equipment while I am shooting, I have a party of five dedicated Sherpas, two Alpacas and very moody burro named Penelope.

Thanks for joining us on our Critter Excursion to San Diego and we hope to do this again soon. I'd love to do a log from Costa Rica, but the internet connections are slow and it would be impossible to upload the images in a reasonable time frame and getting the visas for the Sherpas and permits for the pack animals is very tricky. I guess you will just have to wait for the next DVD!

All Our Best,
Jean and Phil Slosberg
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