2024 Behind the scenes "Blooper Reel"

Hello again,

I'm recording this podcast at the end of 2024 (Boxing Day, actually) and thought I'd share a little background to my activities this year. I've referred to it as my 'Blooper Reel' because I share some of the less glamorous aspects of wildlife photography.

In particular, I thought I'd share the story of my trip to Namibia, to support EHRA. And, some reasons why I always hope for the best, but plan for the worst!

I hope you enjoy it.

Best wishes,

Graham

It's time for another podcast...

Transcript

>> Graham: 0:17

Hello again and welcome to the Last podcast of 2024 and what I thought I'd do last year I kind of I know did a bit more of a serious review I suppose. And this year I thought I would do something a little different that I haven't really done before. I've kind of touched it in a few times but is I thought I'd do kind of blooper reel. so really just share some stories, behind the scenes stories, mostly from this year but I'll also share one from a couple of years ago because it's very much etched in my mind and these things are all relevant as well to the realities of certainly photographing wildlife but I think also apply to travel photography, any adventure travel, any adventure activities. You're going to have these moments and they're all happening in the background and what you get as a final result, often there's a story behind in my case photographs that I don't share with the people who buy them. So I hopefully that's a good introduction. So I wanted to start with I guess a bit of background. So if you don't know me or if you haven't been listening to the podcast for a while. So I live in southwest France. I'ABOUT an hour, just over an hour east of Bordeaux. And basically I grew up in the uk. I've lived in Australia, I'm a dual Australian, British citizen and naturally I now live in France just to be different. And I live in quite a small place. I'm on the edge of a small town, or a large village depending on how you cut your cloth on that one. And that means that I have all usual things that everybody else has to deal with. So I've got my house to sort out my. I've got a 3,000 square meter plot here which is lovely but needs looking after. And the reason I'm sharing this is that when I speak to people about what I do often they conjure up an image of a wildlife photographer which I'm sure has me out photographing animals lots and lots of the time and not doing very much else. In fact in my case at least the opposite is very much true because I have my business to run which takes up most of the time and also alongside the photography I have another project that I'm working on. So basically I don't get to photograph wildlife that often. I have other projects. There are Some photography projects that I have kind of in the background that I once to do more with but haven't. And then the major project, the other project I'm working on is actually completely separate to photography. So I'm sort of bouncing between the two. And the reason for sharing that is I suppose to emphasize that when go to when I get the chance and I do grab the chances when I can. But when I get the chance photograph wildlife, I probably not that different to a lot of other people in as much as I have to think about what I'm doing, do my prep, get myself checked out medically, make sure that I have all the necessary inoculations if I'm running off old inoculation. So in the case of rabies, when I was going to Uganda, it's quite easy to find out information about what rabies shots you needs when you take the first shot. It'a little bit harder to find out what booster shots you need and when. And then after that I found it was pretty much impossible to work out what I needed. So that involved a blood test before I went to Uganda just to see how much rabies vaccine is still knocking around in my blood. So there's just things like that that I have to think about. And this is why when I talk about preparation for going on one of these trips, in podcasts or in webinars, whatever it might be, I'm very much speaking from experience because I have to do it the same as everybody else. So I guess the big thing for me this year, was the opportunity to go back to Namibia. And I really love Namibia. I've only been there a couple of times, but it's one of those places I've wanted to go to for a very long time. And it certainly didn't disappoint, the times that I've been. And in many ways it's a bit like Victoria Falls, which is another place I wanted to go to for long time, was lucky enough to spend a month there in 2019, sorry, I should say 2020, just before COVID And that's kind of in my plans, for 2025 to return to Zimbabwe, and not be very far from bigc fs. But that's something I'll come to later. But looking at the kind of blooper reel, I thought it would be perhaps useful just to talk a little bit about what went on when I went to Namibia. So just to sort of cherry pick, that particular trip. So that came about because if you don't know anything about me, my photography, one of the big things for me about photograph in wildlife is that I'm very passionate about wildlife. I think these animals are amazing. ever since I was a child I've loved reading about them, learning about them, loved people like David Attenborough, going back in years because obviously David Attenborough has been around quite a long time now and it just lapped up those stories. I also wanted to be an explorer when I was very young. To some extent I think I've kind of ticked that box. But wildlife has always been a passion. And then as I grew older I started to take an interest in volunteering projects and did my first one back in 1993. And I learned a couple of things that quite shock me. One was that we didn't know as much about animals as I thought we did. I kind of assumed we knew pretty much all there was to know about these animals. In fact it's almost the opposite is true. we're constantly learning, I say we but as a civilization I suppose, however you want to bracket it, but we're constantly learning about these animals are I think learning all the time that we underestimate a lot of them, m particularly their intelligence. And that to me is one of the things that makes it much more interesting to photograph animals because part of it is about photographing behavior. And certainly that was the case this year in 2024 in Namibia. I was able to photograph behavioiors that I hadn't seen before or certainly hadn't photographed before. So that was one of the things that was a big eye opener for me back in 93 when I joined some researchers, Cururt and Michelle Jenner, on a humpback while research project they were running and they were thinking their second year of it. They've now more than 30 years later, they are ah, very well respected and renowned in their field. They have made a massive contribution to our understanding of whales in general. Not just humpbacks, but at the time they're focused on humpbacks and it's really nice to have been involved early on with their work and I'm still in contact with them from time to time. So that was one eye opener. And the second thing that really struck me was how many of these animals, not just humpbacks and perhaps the story of whales is more known but how many of these animals are actually endangered and how few the numbers are. So for example I went to India back in 2018 and then while I was living in Sydney I was involved with a couple of other photographers. and together we made up. We're Observers. So we're Observers were started by Shane Rosario who's a professional photographer in Sydney. And working with him is Colin Winter Seaton who has was recently on a podcast with me. So Colin would describe himself as an amateur photographer but he teaches Adobe Lightroom, Photoshop, all of that stuff. And he is very very good with smartphones. So he is absolutely for me the go to person on anything to do with smartphones and anything to do with Adobe software. So between us, we or I was involved with photo walks that they would run. So initially it was every week and then when I was involved it dropped to every fortnight. but we would meet people in Circular Quay in Sydney and it was a free event organized through meetup and we would give people a challenge and we would take them around that area. And the challenge might be to photograph particular shapes or particular composition elements like leadaning lines for example. And the reason for that though was to help people expand their photography. And we were there basically to teach them, to help them to really see what was around and then convey what they were seeing through their photography. And this to me is a big thing in photography to show people their world perhaps in a way they'd never seen it before. The reason I'm talking about all that is that we did aim to run a trip to India, as part of we'observers a photography trip. Now that never came off. But when I was doing research for that, the number that came up was that for tigers worldwide there are less than or it's around 5,000 now. 5,000, what does that mean? It means that you could put all of them into a kind of medium sized, sports stadium, soccer stadium, whatever and you d still have plenty of room left. So to the point of all this is that this to me was a real eye opener and it is quite concerning to me that these iconic animals are in danger of disappearing completely. So a couple of generations from now, people who are children right now, they may never have the opportunity to see these animals in, in the wild. And this is down primarily to the actions of human beings, our actions. So one of the aims of my photography is to try and share that message. But also every time I sell a photographs, if you'been thinking about Buying one from me, Please do. But I always put a minimum of 10% of what you've paid as a contribution to a couple of projects that I support. And there are two at the moment. I would like to expand that, but toos all I can really handled right now with the volume of sales that I have. So one of them is based in Queensland. It's called Halfut. And the guys there buy up chunks of daint tre rainforest, which is ancient. And we really don't know that much about what's in the rainforest. That's the reality of it. So who knows what's lurking in there that could be a huge benefit to people. And yet, ancient rainforest gets chopped down with gay abandoned by people, who want to drill resources but get oil and all this kind of stuff, which we really don't need, frankly because that's caused massive damage, to the environment that we need to survive. So I'm not a big one for saving the planet because frankly, I don't think the planet needs saving because we know that there've been mass extinctions in the past and all that happens is the Earth just kind of resets itself and carries on. But the problem is when it does this reset, most of the species alive at the time, and in this instance it includes us, will disappear because they can no longer survive in the new environment. So, at the danger of getting a little bit preachy because clearly this is something I am passionate about. that's kind of what I want my work to contribute to. So. Cut. It's one of the projects and in the website there's more information on these if you would like, and links to their own websites if you would like to find out more and help them directly with what they're doing. You don't have to buy through me, you know, please just help. but the second project is Eror Elephant Human Relations aid. That's the HRA and I worked with them initially in 2019 and they do amazing work. And I got to know Rachel Harris who's the director of Erora in Namibia. And###eah I absolutely love what they're doing. So I'm not going to go into the whole history of that because that's another podcast and I've already covered that. But, they are essentially trying to make themselves redundant through education and just using volunteers to create protection around infrastructure that is desperately need by villagers and the people who live in what is a very harsh environment over there. So if You've never been. I absolutely recommend it. And do you please consider volunteering with error? and you can listen to the podcast with Rachel as well. That went out a couple of months ago. So, I think in, actually it may gone out in November because somewhere around there anyway you can find it. Okay. So that was a big driver though for this year because ERROR had been in operation for 20 years and they decided to do this 100k walk in the desert over 5 days. So it was s a volunteering thing and you payid to go and all that. So as I said, I wanted to be an explorer. I love the idea of wandering around the desert. And so I signed up and unfortunately, the way I am, I'm not very good at reading the small print. M very good at reading headlines and getting very excited, then diving in without really looking any further. So kind of happened and the walk turned out to be a lot tougher than I'd anticipated. I did a little bit of research and got all the temperatures completely wrong for what they would be that time of year in Namibia. I'm not quite sure how that happened, but, it was actually an awful lot hotter. So, going back to behind the scenes, that meant that for, a good chunk of this year, once I committed to doing, this walk, I started doing more walks locally. so I'm in the country. I was actually doing walks on the roads though. But, 20k'they'about about three and a half hours. And in the end I was fully loaded up as well with a camel backpack and extra stuff in there just so that I was used to carrying the weight and, making sure all my kit worked. so it's not just about the cameras, but I actually bought new walking boots because my old ones served me very well. Ah, but they were starting to look a bit tired on one of them. The kind of sole part was, I think, starting to show early signs of coming away. So I decided to, invest in new boots. And they've walked, at least 300Ks s now. but this is all part of it. So I did my prep, did all my walks, got ready to go, and I also took advantage of the situation. Being in a southern hemisphere, this is really tenuous. I really wanted to go back to Australia as well and read Sydney at least because it's five years since I lived there, since I left. And I really wanted to visit people. So I decided that as I was heading in that general direction, I would carry on once the thought was over and spend a few days in Sydney which is what I did. So anyway, with the walk. So that as I say was a five day walk in the desert. We walked actually was about 100, 506 k's in the end. So it was slightly longer. And I met some great people as well doing that walk. It was a really good bunch of people. Had a fabulous time. And then while I was in Theibby I hadn't been to aosa, I hadn't gone to a TOA when I was there before and I really wanted to go because I'd heard great things about it and in fact it absolutely delivered. And I was only there for two nights because it was kind of tacked onto this walk. I hadn't really organized anything because I was very busy with lots of things. And then I was heading off to Australia. so I decided I got in touch with the people e and they just put me on to a local company actually based in Windock who did saris. So it was a touristy thing which isn't what I normally go for to be honest. The vehicle we were in was awful. It was a kind of truck thing and I really disliked them. I like the really small open vehicles, ideally no sides, because then you've got. It's as unimpeded as you can get without actually getting out and walking. So I much prefer being in that kind of vehicle. But that wasn't the case. And then I did modify my plans little bit once I'd organized it. And these guys at Chameleon I have to say were really accommodating, helped me out. So I gave them a very good review on TripAdvisor. And this I guess is another part of it. And for sharing this sometimes you just take advantage of where you are and try and make the most of it. And that's what I was doing. So that was kind of behind the scenes. So as far as the walk went, that was a challenge. Much harder than I thought. As I'd said it was much, much hotter than I thought. and in fact when I got there, when we did get to the starting point, which was a few hours from Swockatond where we started on the coast, we drove up to Mount Bamberg which is, we walked around part of the base of that mountain and then headed off into the desert. And I must met myself and an Aussie guy who I met was great. And we both Kind of looked at one another when the word challenge came up because I think we both done the same thing. we hadn't really bothered to read any further. I just got it. Error. I want to support them. Oh, they're doing a walk. Let's go. so even despite the prep I had done, the walk was much harder than I'd prepare for because it wasn't on smooth road. It was all stones and rocks and things like that. Particularly the early part where we were up and down, little ridges and things. And, the second afternoon. So this is the behind the scenes thing that doesn't get shared is, I've been walking, I've been fine the first day and a half. But, and the way we worked it, we'd camp overnight, we'd leave early in the morning, have a bit of breakfast, leave early. the four wheel drive guys, we had a support crew, they would clean everything up and head off to where we were having lunch, where we'd meet them a few hours later. Then we'd be there for a couple of hours, two, two and a half, something like that, have some lunch, relaxed. Because it really was the hottest part of the day at that point. And then we would head off again and they would do the same thing, clean up and then go ahead of us and set up the camp for where we'd spend the evening and that night and then we'd repeat, sort of rinse and repeat for, a few more days. But the afternoon on the second day we started the walk, I was all loaded up. I had my three litress of water on me because I had two lititers in my camel back, another lre and another, water bottle that I have. And I started feeling a bit kind of off early in the walk. But then it didn't. Probably less than an hour into the afternoon walk, I just felt like my energy had gone and I then struggled and, we were stopping regularly anyway. But certainly on that walk I was the worst of the people who were actually on the walkll because some people had opted not to do that leg. They weren't feeling great, but I'd been feeling fine when we started. And, it really did come down to just being stubborn and determined and pushing on, which is what I tend to do. Which kind, of works for me sometimes, but other times it really doesn't. I guess on that occasion it did because I was absolutely determined I was going to see this through and complete it. So that is what happened. But it was a real struggle and somewhere along the way as well I managed to get a stomach infection or infection in my guts anyway, so it didn't really kick in until we'd finished the walk. And what happened when we finished the walk? So that was five days. we did a The final night was spent at Era'camp which is on one of the rivers actually. I mean it's dry most of the time. But it was the same camp I'd stayed in five years earlier when I was volunteering with them. Although some of it had been rebuilt because there had d been a big flood go through and it had damaged a lot of the old camps. So it had to be rebuilt, which is the nature of these places. And again met another group of people who were volunteering. They were going to do a volunteer project the following week. And then we headed off back to Swocatmont where we had a night. And then I got an early shuttle bus up to Windock and in fact met somebody who'd been on the walk. And when we weren't dozing in the bus we were sort of chatting about the walk. So that was all good. But it did involve a bit of bouncing backwards and forwards. and in fact my original plan was to fly and out of Wolves Bay, which is near Swockatmont, and there's a daily flight run by Airlink. so one of the smaller airlines that you'll find, I think they're part of South African Airways, but they're kind one of the smaller ones you'll find. but the problem I had was with the flights I had coming in from Europe and then heading off to Australia. The turnaround in Johannesburg was quite tight. It was around two hours from arriving on the incoming inbound flight and then leaving on the outbound. And if you've ever been to Johannesburg airport, now I've been in and out of there quite a bit and my experience generally is that it's really slow. And I decided that two hours was too tight and ended up just canceling my flights to and from Wolvis Bay and flying in and out of Windock because there were more flight Windocks capitals, Namibia if you don't know. And there are more flights every day. So again, exc me heads up. If you are doing this kind of trip, do make sure you've got comfortable turnaround at the airport. And if you haven't, I always recommend airing on the side of caution. And the main reason for me doing that is that when I've got all my gear packed up. So I don't do excess luggage generally because I've pack, I've got to carry it all around. But things like Air LK, their stowed baggage was a maximum of 20 kilos, whereas every other flight I had was 22 or 23 actually. so you need to obviously plan for that. And also I needed that bag to be with me when I headed off into the desert. So it's really important that I was able to make my connections. So that was, I mean that didn't screw up happily and that'll work. But again behind the scenes just make sure you've got all of that lined up. So anyway, we got up to Windock, that's where I was going to be flying out of a few days later after I've been up to Etosa. but by then this stomach infection or my gutever, it was getting worse. So I ended up using a fair bit of Immodium. but that meant that while I was able to shoot during the day I was up most of the nights. certainly that I was in aosa. I didn't get a lot of sleep prior to that. I hadn't had too much sleep on the walk either. I just wasn't sleeping well before I'd even left. I hadn't been sleeping well for all sorts of reasons. So basically through that trip I was pretty tired. I was getting up, not having had a good rest and just having to sort of step up and force myself to do what I had to do to be with these groups and then go. So the photographs that you see that were taken in E Tosha, I hadn't had a lot of sleep. I was using the Imodium pretty heavily because I had very active nights to and from the bathroom. And also I'd hurt my back. So I've got an older back injury that I had aggravated before I went to Uganda a couple of years ago. And in fact I was trying to get back into running to get fit and I absolutely damaged my back and I was still in a fair bit of pain when I went to Uganda and ended up doing three hour hikes in the rainforest with a backpack laden with photography gear. And would have paid really good money when I found the gorillas to just have 10 minutes sitting in an armchair to sort myself out. but that again is the nature of it. So the back did kick in Again while I was in a Tosha. So it was actually quite painful. I found just getting myself positioned so that I could take the photographs. And the original shots, again, definitely behind the scenes stuff. A lot of them weren't particularly well lined up, they weren't level, all that sort of stuff. So these are things I just deal with in post. But the important thing is to get the shot and then you deal with the rest later. So that was sort of what was going on. So that really was I mean atosa was absolutely brilliant. The colors are fantastic because of all the salt, it's actually on a salt plane. And because some of the trees, the leaves have gone orange like they would in autumn. And these were shot in September, so it's actually spring in the southern hemisphere. But the colors were just amazing and it almost looked like a lot of the animals were on snow. So I've got these mean. I love them, particularly some of the elephant photographs, because you've got them on this kind of white, almost white, ground, the color of the ground. You've got these stunning kind of orange, bronzy, leaves and it's completely different. I'm just trying, I mean I haveot photogr photographs of elephants in the desert before, when I was in Namibia before. But it's pretty much sand and brown rocks because it's iron ore that you get that kind of coloring. But it's to a degree it's what you'd expect. Whereas up in the Tosha it was quite different. It was you know, no green or very. Not so much in the way of greens, around, which is other. Where I've taken photographs of elephants in other countries, there's always a lot of greenery around. so I love that. I was very pleased with those photographs, and got to take photographs of giraffe, drinking, which is actually fairly rare. I haven't seen it before, but I wasn't able to get much the way photographs of it. And zebras as well, doing very olddd kind of nuzzling behaviors going on. So I managed to photograph some of that. So I got really excited by that. That was great. But again, the sort of whole backdrop to doing these shots was very much on the imoium. So do take. So I guess the lesson from this is do take stuff like that with you because even if you're a good traveler, if you don't get sick very often and I'm generally. I don't get sick very often, I'm very lucky in that Respect. yeah, get a bit of I've got an allergy to something which I think might be either dust or pollen, possibly manual labor, not sure. but I do take antihistamines with me. But just make sure you've got the right medication with you should something go wrong. Because again if you are going to places that are a bit more remote, I can guarantee you that where we were in the desert in Namibia, there were no pharmacies. So yeah, go prepared, Just think ahead, think of worst case scenarios and make sure you're covered. hopefully they won't happen but if you do have something like that happen, do make sure you got something. So that was it. I guess the final thing I was going to say on this from a behind the scenes perspective is when I. So I did get back to Johannesburg I was really worried about the flight but luckily I was starting to recover. I wasn't fully recovered on the flight but again by working my way through my modium supply I was good on the flight, was fine. I didn't actually sleep on any of the flights I had from leaving France. I feel out of Bordeau initially. so I think pretty much getting back. But definitely on the flight to Australia I didn't I get aisle seats these days because I try and drink because I do get problems with. I have had kidney stones a few times now so they're quite nasty. And I like actually drink a lot of fluids but of course on a flight it means you're up and down a bit. So I get an AISC each time and we were kind of squashed in on these. It was a QANTAS flight to Sydney from Johannesburg and none of us were particularly big but we were. But everyone's a little bit on the wide side so we were. There was physical contact basically between everyone. Theseats, everyone was fine, there was nothing nasty. But it did mean that any time anyone moved you're awake again. So I didn't get much sleep. And the fun part on that flight was we were a couple hours out of Sydney so they were doing the breakfast service and the trolley had just passed me. We'd all set up with breakfast. We're on the little trays on the back of the seat in front, all lined up, ready to go and the guy next to me nudged me because I headphones on and I sort of took them off to hear him and he said I think I'm going to throw up. Nothing focuses you when you're asleep, than somebody in the seat next to you telling you they think they're about to throw up. So that was, my breakfast, tray ended up on the aisle as I'm desperately trying to get all this stuff out of his way so I can jump out and he can jump out. So that was, an exciting end to that flight. And I have to say, when I got to Sydney. So if you've been to Sydney on an international flight and you've got the digital passports that we have these days, they have these little machines all the way through. So you don't. So passport control, you can, I think you fast trackc. I can't remember now. That's how TIDA was. But anyway, you've got the little machines and they're sort of all the way down to passport controls. You't have to grab the very first one. You can walk down. And, there are more machines down there. But I jumped on the machine because there was one free and, st my passport in. And, I can't remember now what it'd asked me, but a couple of questions came up. have I been to the wilderness? To which I answered yes. And then have I been to. I think it asked me if I'd been to Africa, and I said yes. And it asked have I been to any of the countries on the list? And I looked at this list of countries and honestly, I could not remember which country I'JUST come from. I was pretty sure it began with an end, but this was just how tired I was. And luckily, remember, it was Namibia came back. But, I'm really pleased it wasn't a person because I think I would look very suspicious if I couldn'have remembered where I'JUST come from. It was purely down to really, not having a good night's sleep for at least three weeks at that point, and it was possibly longer. So I thought I would just share this as a story. It's just, sort of silly stuff, but obviously somebody's relevant as well when you're thinking of your trips. And I just thought it gave you. It's just sharing a little bit of background about the realities of my life. When I go and do these things, they definitely don't always go smoothly. and I guess one final thing I'll just add, it's just another little story that I'm pretty sure I have shared before. but I might not have done. Who knows? but this is actually going back to 2022, when I went to Uganda. So one of the things I always recommend is that you make sure you have a local guide. And when I went to Namibia I could have organized somebody but I had lots and lots of other things going on. I just didn't get around to it. And I thought I just went the easiest route, the path of least resistance, which was just to jump on a regular tourist thing and hope for the best. It kind of worked out. It wasn't too bad. But ideally if I thought about it I would have either just hired something myself, but because I'm on my own, I would really ever hired a guide as well. Just so there's two people I don't like. I think when you're in that sort of environment it's probably a little bit foolhardy to go on your own unless you really know the area. Unless you're really confident you know what you're doing. So when I went to Uganda, you have to go with organized tools anyway because the interactions with the gorillas are very strictly controlled. So they, I think it's a dozen people a day. That's it. You can go and visit the gorillas. so it really means you've got a plan in advance. Go with somebody who knows what they're doing and they have to organize it all for you, all this kind of stuff. if you're go to one of those locations. So if you are going to visit and go and see or hopefully go and see, mountain gorillas in Uganda, you do have to go down that path. Someone will have to organize it with you. So you get on one of these official groups. but the thing I want to share there is mean we did these big long hights that I've already mentioned. And when we got to where the gorillas were. So they're moving around every day and if you're lucky they're going to be close to where you start the walk from. From the sor of visitor center thing. unfortunately when I went we were unlucky. They were about as far away as they get. They were three hours away through the mountain gorilla. So they're in mountains, it's forest, it's wet because it's rainy season. That's when they come down and eat the bamboo shoot. So that's the best time to them. But it does mean it's slippery, it's very muddy in places. definitely take a walking pole. I didn't and they gave us a bamboo pole but walking pole. We absolutely needed them. And A walking pole really would have been better. And in fact one lady in our group did slip on just a path. It wasn't even the dangerous part. And she fractured her, her wrist. Didn't realize until she got home, but it was very painful and she had to bind it up. So, you know, the lesson there is, have all the right kit with you, but even so, be very careful when you're there. But going back to the guides and the reason for sharing this, I was there before we met the Gorilas. We met with the group of trackers who were with them. So there was a little bunch of, I think maybe three or four of them who'd actually been with the gorillas. They go out first thing in the morning, way ahead of the tourist group going, go to where the gorillas were the previous day and then track them and find them. And then they've got radios, they can talk to the guy leading the tourist group if you like, the visitors and tell them exactly where they are and keep them updated. If the gorillas move, they actually do the same thing with chimpanzies as well. so we had this huge hike. I'GOT a bad back, not the happiest of bunnies. But on the other hand, I was about to see these. You go face to face with these amazing animals. They really are. If you get the chance, see gorillas, they're fantastic. They're absolutely amazing, lovely animals. So, went and did all of that and we got briefing, we got briefed about what to do if a gorilla ran at you. So this does happen with more the young males. And it seems to be setting a status thing as far as I can work out. If you know better, please correct me, give me a comment or an email, whatever. And we were told that if one does run at you, just stand absolutely still and just stare at the ground, st your feet and definitely do not make eye contact with them. And of course I'm wandering around, being very careful, very respectful of the animals, trying to get different shots. And I was standing there in. This young male ran at me and he came right up close to me and I'm just standing there as I was told. And I was studying the grass. I've never studied grass as much as I studied it on that occasion. And then, he decided it was all good and he wandered off. But he was a big chap compared to me because I'm not a big chap. And yeah, that was an interesting experience. But again this is why I recommend, going with a guide. So I have, I've been for walks in the, Okamaango. We camped overnight there and went for a walk and the guide briefed us about what to do if there was a lion and things like that. I've been, tracking in Zimbabwe, in fact, where my plan is to go this year. But hopefully that will eventuate and I'll be able to share more, work with you and share more stories. but Dean, who I will be meeting if I go to Zimbabwe, was the Dean on the occasions where I was with him tracking, elephant and rhino on the ground. And again, he knew exactly what to do and we got good briefings. So that is really important. Okay, I'm going to stop talking and, if you are listening into this live, I hope you've had a great Christmas. I hope you have a great year in 2025. if you're listening to this much later, I have a great year whenever you're listening to this. so thank you to everyone for your support and, if you've enjoyed the podcast, please buy me a cup of coffee. You can donate or subscribe or join my Patreon. but it does all go to help me to carry on doing what I'm doing if you are enjoying it. So thanks again. I'll speak to you in the next podcast by. For now, well, we're getting close to the end of another year, so 2024 is starting to, come to an end as I record this. So I hope it's been a good year for you and I hope you get a bit of a break over the coming weeks. Maybe have a cool yul or whatever it is you celebrate, if you celebrate. I particularly just wanted to record this to thank everybody for their support. the podcast is really growing and, obviously that's down to people listening and hopefully sharing. so I do thank you for that. I particularly want to thank my Patreon supporters because they, contribute to, what I'm doing financially, which is great because that helps me to keep going. And if you haven't contributed or if you're thinking about it, don't be shy, that you can. It doesn't have to be a permanent subscription. You can also just buy me a coffee if you've enjoyed the podcast. But everything is appreciated. And I also wanted to remind you that the 2025 calendar, My Wildlife, calendar is still available, so you can order those online on the website. So if you go to www.ge.photography. you'll find, the calendars there. so whether they're for you or if you just want to give one to somebody as a present, I think calendars are, a pretty good present to go for. And of course there's also the fine art, print and my online training courses. Now if you are serious about photography and you're not ready to commit to a course and, I am giving 100% money back guarantee on those as well. So I'm taking all of the risk on the courses. but there's also challenges you can do for free, like the 14 day challenge that's there. There's also a PDF you can download, that gives you 10 tips to just help your photography. So whatever you're doing, over the next few weeks, I hope you enjoy it. And I'll be looking at, my plans for 2025, which at this stage I'm hoping to get to Zimbabwe. So, I'll keep you informed on that. But whatever you do, I hope you have a great time and thanks again for your support throughout 2024. So bye for now.