Arrival in India...

Arrival in Delhi



Well all the flights went perfectly. I didn’t even have so much as a layover where I had to sit down to wait. On paper it looked like the flights were spaced out well, but when you factor in the time that it takes to get through security and time changes, there was just enough time to get from one flight to the next. This flight plan could have been a disaster if any of my flights were delayed, but thankfully they weren’t.



The Turkish airlines that go over seas are still my favourite carriers. Their planes are awesome.

On my flight from Istanbul to Delhi we were about 30 minutes outside Delhi so I decided to use the bathroom one last time. I hope this isn’t an omen for things to come, but an Indian woman in her 50’s was coming out of the bathroom before I went in. There was urine all over the seat, she didn’t flush and there was water every where and the sink was plugged. ! I couldn’t believe someone of that age would behave like a pre-teenager. Actually that's not fair. Most children aren't nearly that inconsiderate or disgusting! Oh I hope she is the exception. I don’t know that I would want to deal with that kind of behaviour on a daily basis!

Arrival in Delhi- The first thing I noticed in Delhi is the smog. We got in at 4a.m. and the smog is just brutal. It is even bad in the airport and hotel. I’ve only been here two and a half hours now and already my throat is bothering me. The driving wasn’t a shock to me. The landscape, the traffic and pollution reminded me a lot of Kenya (except the pollution is worse and they have lots of these three wheel green motorized carts called tuk tuks).
Okay, so the travel wasn’t exciting…I’m glad it wasn’t! My only entertainment was the Indian checking my passport and declaration card on the way in. He must have had a long shift because he would flip through my passport, then fall asleep briefly, then he'd wake up and start flipping through it again. He did this about three or four times. I think it took him about ten minutes just to find the page in my passport that had my Indian visa.
Well, I should check out. I need to get a shower and some clean clothes before heading on to Agra.

India here we come...

It is "India eve" for me. Tomorrow I start on my journey to India. I will be leaving Saturday night and arriving in Delhi at 4a.m. on Monday morning. At 11a.m., four of us get in a van and head south six hours to Agra; home of the Taj Mahal. From there, we go south to two national parks to photograph Bengal tigers for the remainder of the trip.

I have never been to India before, so this will be new to me. At this point all I know is our main photo subjects on this trip are the Taj Mahal and Bengal tigers. I have my shots, took my dukorol, I have my antibiotics, diarrhea medication, malaria pills and two rolls of toilet paper. I have been here and there around the world but the last time I was asked to bring my own toilet paper was our trip to Tajikistan. At a rest stop, I walked into a bathroom, (witnessed what I don't think I will ever be able towipe from my memory), then went around behind the restroom and relieved myself in the bushes. You know you are going somewhere outside your comfort zone when you are told to bring your own toilet paper!

And so for good or bad, another adventure begins. I will blog from India every day that I have access to the internet. On the days that we don't have internet access, I will keep a diary and blog when I am online again. Sign up to my blog if you like and email posts and a few pictures from the day will go automatically to your inbox. I don't blog a lot, mostly just when I am on safari, but check it out. 


I hope this trip will go smoothly, but inevitably there is always some catch somewhere whether it is the France security guards questioning an "animal paparazzi", having visa "issues" in Russia or spending two days in a South African hospital because a cheetah attacked my step daughter, there is always something. Equally entertaining to Gaye was last year when I suffered the effects of food poisoning in a hot, bush plane ten minutes before landing in Tanzania. Seriously, does this stuff only happen to me?? (Well the cheetah thing didn't happen to me, but I have never heard of anyone else ever being attacked by a cheetah.) :)


In the land where bribes will be a necessity for us and toilet paper isn't taken for granted, I expect there will be a story or two. 


Pictures from previous safaris can be found on my website gallery. 

Harvey Wildlife Photography Scotia Place Exhibit; Bears, Bears, Bears

Three weeks after I got back from my Alaskan brown bear safari, my exhibit at Scotia Place was due. 

Three weeks wasn't quite long enough to comfortably go through 10,000 images from the brown bear safari, organize, them, print, treat, stretch and frame canvasses, while working 80 hours a week at my main business but somehow I found the time. 

This time I wanted to add a few City of Edmonton evening skylines for city people who don't appreciate wildlife. Watching people standing in front of the exhibit, the people seem to be split. Some ignore the brown bears and polar bears end, while others ignore the city pictures, while still others will spend time in front of both.

Sales are slowly trickling in now, but they never seem to be as much as I would like to see them be. That being said, I do get a genuine feeling of fulfillment when I see people standing in front of the prints enjoying the moments that were captured.

Time to stop procrastinating and get back to printing, treating, stretching and framing. Wildlife photography is rewarding. Setting up an exhibit feels great, but preparing prints for people's homes and businesses really is the best part. 


If you are in the Edmonton area, feel free to drop by and check the exhibit out. It can be found in the lobby area of Scotia Place at 10060 Jasper Avenue, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. My exhibit is on the wall of tower number one. The lobby of Scotia Place is open to the public from 5am. to 11p.m. The exhibit is best viewed during the day and will be up from August 1st to September 30th, 2011.

My next adventure is photographing the Taj Mahal  and bengal tigers in India in November, 2011.

Brown Bears- Heading back to Edmonton...

Bye Bye

They are so hospitable in Alaska that even the bears see you off. We took a small plane out from Lake Clark National Park directly to Anchorage. We left at about 11a.m. The flight took about an hour. From there I had enough time to check in, get some lunch and board my flight to Vancouver. I had a comfortable amount of time in Vancouver to stretch my legs, then caught my flight back to Edmonton. I was home by 11p.m. Not a bad travel day. I will definitely be going back to Lake Clark National Park. It was a great experience.

Video from the passenger seat of a small bush plane leaving the Lake Clark National Park runway (the beach).

Brown Bears Last Day...

There were five people in our group all week. Three of them were leaving this morning, so after our first game drive and lunch we saw them off. It was quite a dramatic departure as two boars were sparring on the beach. 

Boars fighting on the beach

Although that was a nice farewell for them it must have been bitter sweet for them as all of their good glass was packed, so they just watched and enjoyed the show.


After supper I decided that I would stay at the lodge rather than going out on the last game drive because the bears inevitably came back to the lodge area in the evening anyway, so I thought I would wait for them. Sure enough, the blonde twins showed up. I got my camera gear together and went out to photograph them. I was just a few feet away from the driveway of the lodge. I decided I wasn't going to wander too far off on my own. I was photographing one of the twins when out of the blue he ran at me a bit, so I yelled at him and he backed off. At this point he was far too close for my big lens so I thought I would back up a bit. I got a little distracted as I was trying to focus through my lens and didn't realize what he was up to. Thankfully a guide on a quad from the lodge next door came speeding to my rescue and scared the little trouble maker off as he was running at me and I didn't realize it. You really have to pay attention to the bears as they can really cover a lot of distance in just a few seconds.

Starting to Charge

In retrospect I should have known better. This teenager is last years cub, so is about 16 months old. He started walking like he was bowl-legged. This was an aggressive walk. One second he was eating grass, the next he started walking like in the picture, then stupidly I took my eye off him and the next thing I knew he was coming at me at a good clip. He ran off pretty quickly when the quad came speeding up. Thankfully I was able to learn this lesson unscathed. I will know better for next time.


That's it for the brown bear and puffin photography for this trip. I invite you to visit our  main gallery and website. In addition to brown bear and puffin prints, I will be making brown bear greeting cards shortly. 


If you are an Edmontonian, my next exhibit goes up in Scotia Place from July 29th to August 31st. I hope to see you there.

Brown Bears (And Puffins!)- Day Six

This morning we went out to see the puffins at Duck Island. I am not a bird person but this was a welcome break from the bears. As much as I have enjoyed photographing them, we have had limited subjects in a lot of different environments. Moms and cubs in the fog, in the sun, in the field, on the ocean, in the field... Moms and cubs are great subjects and I have been delighted with the results, but the birds at this point were definitely a welcome change.

We still managed to get out to see the bears for a couple hours before and after supper. Again, we had some interesting sightings. This time I videoed mom and triplets as the babies nursed. I got a kick out of how they viciously fight over their favorite nipples:)

This trip has been fun. Long days, nice people and great bear activity. One last day of bear viewing before coming back home. Although I have enjoyed the bear photography, I will be delighted to be back home.

Brown Bears- Day Five

Cubs on the beach at low tide.

Today we were all over the place. First we spent time with a mom and triplets right near the lodge, then as far down the island as we could and watched a mom and single cub for several hours. The bears were in tall grass, so we couldn't get good photographs of the cub, but he was fun to watch as he entertained himself by playing with a stick, weeds and just about anything else he could find. After lunch we spent a couple hours on the ocean floor at low tide filming the mom and triplets clamming. After supper as we were leaving the yard the blonde twins and mom came strolling into the yard. They were trouble makers this afternoon. Apparently a couch was purchased for a new cabin that they just built. It had to be specially wrapped and was put on a boat to get here. It was wrapped up in plastic to protect it from the journey, but the twins didn't care and ripped through the plastic and chewed at the corner of the brand new couch before the had a chance to get it into the cabin. In the field we found a blonde mom and single cub that we hadn't seen before. The light was good and they were great looking bears, so hopefully the pics will be good. On the way back I wanted to go home early as we were passing the lodge anyway, I figured I would call it a night as there wasn't much action. That was the plan.


When we got to the lodge the blonde twins were there playing and chasing each other across a creek and back, then fighting. It was too cute,

Yearlings Fighting

 so we stopped for them. I must have taken several hundred pictures just of them playing tonight. From there, I went back to the lodge to start downloading my pictures when out the window in my room we see a mom and triplets. It was 10p.m., but still fairly light, so I videoed the triplets for 45 minutes or so. They are pretty addictive to watch.


Our puffin trip got postponed due to the rough ocean today, so we are going out tomorrow morning. I love the bears, but the puffins will be a nice change. In the meantime, I put together another small facebook brown bear gallery for you to check out. You can find our main website here.


Til' tomorrow...