10th October

As every year since 1920, Lower Carinthia celebrates the vote which determined that this part of Austria remained Austrian and did not become a district of Slovenia.
The vote was very close, yet, decisive.
Something like 22,000 to 15,000.
A great deal of bad blood was generated then. 
Some of it still lingers.

Tonc Feinig Trio

This is Tonc ( pronounced: Tontsch ) Feinig.

Arguably one of Europe's finest Pianists.

We were fortunate to hear him and his two excellent side men

yesterday in Klagenfurt.

Tonc plays Jazz, no, Tonc plays Music with a capital M.

Robert Jukic, 

one of the great bassists who can make his bass sing

like you have probably never heard it sing before.

If you need a drummer, par excellance, go for

Klemens Marktl.

You won't find better.

So, here we have it:

A Dream Trio

who play as if they had played together for years and years.

Gentle and soothing one moment,

Aggressively driving, the next.

TONC FEINIG

Diverse Citizens of Kenya

The tallest of them all.

"Big Brother" is watching you !

A true relationship in height.

 The Serval Cat

This long legged, beautifully spotted, shy cat 

hunts most often during the night hours, 

is  rarely seen during the day and I consider myself

very fortunate to have bagged this picture.
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                     The Lapped faced Vulture...

...ranks as the longest and largest vulture.

It attains a body length of up to 115 cm 

and a wing span of an astonishing almost 3 meters.

This one seems to survey the countryside in the hope 

of seeing or smelling some carrion.

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The Hippopotamus 

gladly tolerates the cleaning crew, 

sent by the "Oxpeckers Corporation".

One would think that this Hippo was yawning.

One would be wrong, however.

This Hippo, in fact, is warning you not to come any closer.

up to 120 km/h on four legs

From a distance we spotted a Cheetah chasing down a female Impala at full sprint, finally catching up with this very fast gazelle, slaying her in seconds and dragging her into the underbrush.
We approached this efficient killer slowly and cautiously, coming close to where she lay panting underneath some protecting bushes.
For a long while we observed her as she scanned her surroundings. The one thing she obviously did not want, was competitive company at her dinner table.
After several examinations she must have accepted us as "not dangerous" and concentrated her vigil in the opposite direction.
We had remained in place for almost an hour, when the Cheetah disappeared into the bush, re-appearing at once, dragging the carcass of the slain Impala.
She began to feast, always casting suspicious glances in our direction.
Afraid that we were a bother to her, we slowly and cautiously backed away and gave her her well deserved peace and comfort  for a leisurely dinner.
During this entire episode I shot well over 100 pictures.
Here are a very few of them.

(I have not urged this for a long time, but with these images I will ask you to click on the image to enlarge it.)

Cheetah keeps watch over her Impala-victim

Having been assured that no dangerous competitor lurks nearby

she dragged the Impala from her hiding place in the underbrush.

Shortly after she started devouring her catch, we left the scene

to give her peace and quiet.

Nature's Coloring book

A Baobab in the Sunset.

In the Pottery

Along the road from Zimbabwe to Botswana:
Proud Potters display their ware.
Unfortunately it is most difficult to transport such large and heavy items in our Land Cruiser and then, per plane, back to Europe or Canada.

Two Batswana amidst their creations.

There is a Showman in all of us.

John, the Potter, Ant (our guide) ( from l to r )

Saddle-billed Stork

I promised you a better shot of a Saddle-billed Stork.
Well, here it is:

                      As promised: A good image of a Saddle-billed Stork.