Marie-France Grenouillet - Wildlife Photographer

Easter Island – Moaï

mfg — Mon, 20 May 2013 16:07:18 +0000

Rapa Nui is the local name of Easter Island, famous by its mystery Moai statues

The Moaïs are supposed to be the representation of the Chief of a clan or his Ancestor

There are about 887 Moaïs on Rapa Nui. The culture Rapa Nui was at the top between 880 after JC to around 1680. On the ceremonial places, the statues were bigger and bigger to show the power of the clan, which involved a kind of challenge between the different chiefs of the villages.

The biggest Moaï is 21,60m long for a weight of 182 tons and is called “the Giant”
The middle size is 4,05m for 12,5 tons

Apart rare exceptions, they are not facing the sea but the village to protect it.

Natural Bonsai

mfg — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 16:29:34 +0000

This picture shows miniature trees at the top of the volcanic chimney. What is surprising is that they are in fact adult birch trees of may be 20 years old or more. They should be of 20 to 30 m height with a trunk circumference between 40 to 60 cm. The composition of the chimney being of mainly scoriae, lava, cinders, rocks and so on, the roots cannot grow. It is the same principle used with the Bonsaï when men ligatured and cut the roots. The difference is that in volcanic area, it is a natural phenomena.

Africa – Zimbabwe

mfg — Thu, 27 Dec 2012 17:34:24 +0000

Little Makalolo in Hwange National Park was a great place to see wildlife.

The lodge is situated near a pond with a fantastic hide. I spent hours there looking at every movement from birds to mammals. It was hot, quite peaceful, with just few birds drinking. I was nearly wondering me what I was waiting for when I suddenly got the answer: a couple of elephants appears slowly in front of me with a small baby. The mother was pushing it with its trump to help it to go ahead while the male “father” was looking carefully at the situation. The elephants never imagine my presence and I could attend the entire scene without disturbing them.

The Panama Canal

mfg — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 14:35:56 +0000

In 1502, Christophe colon arrives at the Panama Isthmus. In 1510 Spain begins the colonization, but it is in 1880 that Ferdinand de Lesseps inaugurates the beginning of the works. The disease and the bad administration led to a financial bankrupt in 1889. In 1894, a new Canal Company begins the construction of a canal with locks, but they also have financial problems that compel them to sell the licenses to the American government. In 1904, about 75000 people, men and women begin a decade of work in spite of the tropical diseases and the landslides. At least, the inauguration of the canal took place on august 15, 1914. The “Torrijos-Carter” treaty is signed in 1977 between the States and Panama, allowing an increase of Panama people working on the administration and the transfer. On December 31, 1999, the whole administration is then from Panama.

The Panama Canal

mfg — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 14:34:57 +0000

The Panama Canal is long of 80km connecting the Atlantic to the Pacific; it goes trough the mountains and is at 95m above sea level. It takes about 8 to 10 hours for a boat to cross it. The canal is constituted of 3 main parts: the Gatun Lake which is the result of an artificial damp on the Chagres River and the Culebra trench, long of 13,7km and dug first on a width of 92m in solid rocs and also volcanic ones, it was widening in 2001 to 192m on straight line and 222 on curve, and 3 locks. The locks work as a lift and allow the boats to pass from sea level to Gatun lake (+26m). They are of 33,53m wide by 303,8m long, the boat can measure up to 294m. New works are actually thought to increase the canal capacity to support much bigger boats.

The canal is the most important sources of revenues for Panama

Surprising Gabar Goshawk South-Tanzania (Africa)

mfg — Sun, 28 Oct 2012 13:45:20 +0000

The Gabar Goshawks belong to birds of prey. They live in couples during the breeding period and “divorce” after to assume alone their own life…

When making its nest, it has been noticed that the Gabar Goshawk tries to keep spider webs around the nest to hide it and also to protect its chicks from the bites of insects which are eaten then by the spiders.

The Gabar Goshawk is different from the Goshawk by its size which is smaller.

Except with the immature moving away, the adult does not follow any migration roads.

Planetstillalive – Tanzania Birds

Zambia – Strange Hippo in Kafue NP.

mfg — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 10:50:13 +0000

We were on a safari in Zambia, Kafue National Park, the sunset was beautiful when we stopped near a pond to look around about animals as usual.

Everything was quiet; there was nothing special until one hippo strolling around decided to go into the water.

Its bath was then quite surprising! It began suddenly to roll on himself inside the water showing it’s pink belly, with its leg directed to the sky.

It repeated that rolling several times apparently with no special reasons, then stopped to find back its normal way of being.

planetstillalive-gallery of mammals

Zambia Kafue NP. – Hippo show (continuation)

mfg — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 10:47:13 +0000

We are still wondering what could be the hippo reasons to roll like a barrel? It might be because of some ticklings or insect bites that it could not scratch, who knows?

Planetstillalive-Gallery of Mammals

South Tanzania – Cheetah with cubs

mfg — Fri, 03 Aug 2012 16:01:28 +0000

In Africa, Cheetah lives in open areas like savannah, from there it can better observe its future preys, like impalas when hunting and it also has an overview on possible predators overall when it has cubs.

Most of the time, if there is a rocky bump, the cheetah sits at the top to look around.

It is a very slim mammal with long legs, it can run very fast (around 90 km/h and even a bit more) but on a short distance when trying to catch antelopes… during these moments the cubs are hidden in the grass.

It’s characteristic is the black “painted” tears from the corner of its eyes

The cheetah belongs to cats group; it is among the most endangered species.

Looking at the cubs on my picture, their long grey fur lets me think they should be around 2 months old.

Elands – Zimbabwe Hwange N.P.

mfg — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 15:49:30 +0000

This happened during a safari, we were waiting in the savannah to take pictures of a herd of Zebras, when suddenly some elands came running and jumping one after the other very close to us. These animals, at least the male can jump up to 2m and the young one 3m.

I am not enough expert to say if they were male or/and female as both have horns and they might have been disturbed by something.

For me it was exceptional to get these photos, as since I travel in Africa, elands are very shy and move far away as soon as they see a vehicle.

planetstillalive -gallery of Elands