Highlights of Ivan's safaris (and occassional news)
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As Close As You Dare Television Show
Ivan has for the last several years been on safari with wildlife artist Becci Crowe and each time that they have been on safari they have videoed their experience in broadcast quality. Some of the resulting footage has been spectacular and I have just had the honour of writing the script for their television show, which will air sometime in the next six to eight months, it's an incredible adventure highlighting walking with elephants, meerkats in the Kalahari and adventure with the bushmen in Botswana as well as a myriad of other great footage. We are still in the process of finding suitable sponsors for the program, and the next step will be to get a date that the program will be aired…

Have a look at the website at: www.ascloseasyoudare.com

"In the dry season, the dust and the atmosphere in Africa is simply incredible and I found myself with a great friend and outstanding artist Tony Forrest, parked at the edge of a waterhole in Etosha National Park, Namibia ...Tony had often told me " Ivan I need dust and atmosphere and action" and thats what brought us here ..The harsh semi desert with it's scattered waterholes where any number of animals mix and compete for the precious resource that they all need and will walk miles to get.

We would get up at first light, choose where we would sit for the day and then spend the rest of the day sitting watching the animal arrive, drink and leave, it's one of the most peaceful yet rewarding ways to watch game and by watching so passively one sees game doing exactly what they would be doing if we weren't there, which is always a treat

The one day we had over 100 zebra in sight, lion, an elephant, several blackfaced impala and a handful of kudu and gemsbok, all within about 200 yards of the car!!! It was awesome to say the least and all in all, amid much humor, excitement and awe, I believe Tony managed to shoot off nearly 60 rolls of film to paint from later.

On one occassion I had lined the car up on an elephant trail, and we had several wonderful old elephant bulls just quietly swaying towards us , we kept low and achieved some great shots, one of which turned into a magnificent painting. In just five or six days we were treated to a constant stream of wildlife, amid the dust and heat and the general stress of the waterhole in the dry season...I asked Tony while we were in London together a while ago...So did you get enough action? ...His eyes went distant his face lit up and he just said...Wow!

Have a look at his website at: www.tonyforrest.com and I am sure that you will agree that he is a man of very rare talent and I feel honoured to be counted among his friends.

With Lisa Grubbs, from Austin Texas, we set off to some of the real highlights of Africa.

It was an itinerary of a lifetime, the Masai Mara, where the first few wildebeest and thousands of zebra were arriving; we were staying in my favourite camp there, Rekero Tented Camp, right on the Talek River. Our first day out, we witnessed a cheetah kill a Thompson’s gazelle, literally just in front of the car and then were privileged enough to watch the mother/baby interaction at the fresh kill, which was very entertaining to say the least, a balloon ride across the plains was right up there with the highlights and before we knew it, we were on our way to Tanzania to climb the highest peak in Africa, in fact the highest freestanding peak in the world!

Then it was off to the Ngorongoro crater, where Crater Lodge was a very welcome luxury stop, complete with personal butler and five course meals... a far cry from being huddled in a tent below freezing with a tin plate of high energy stodge!! The crater was very good to us and along with great rhino sightings we saw cheetah, lion, and of course the wonderful tuskers that are in the Lerai forest at that time of the year.

Our next stop was the northern Serengeti, where we just caught the tail end of the migration as they crossed into Kenya, we were in the Nomad Safari Camp, where we had the most awesome long walks and great game viewing, including a visit to a Masai village at which a wedding was taking place and the visit ended up with Lisa having at least ten offers of marriage!!

Our last stop was Botswana where we stayed at the famous Mombo camp, the game was totally up to expectation and we began our visit with a couple of hours spent watching a leopard and her cub playing in the evening light, along with loads of lions, hyena and all kinds of other game. We had a great four days to end the trip with. Then sadly, but inevitably, Johannesburg airport where we went our separate ways.
Ivan Carter

Everyone always asks me: “What is the best thing you have seen" or "What is the best thing you have done”

How does one answer that? Well, I thought I would write a page with a few of the highlights of my year. This will be updated from time to time, and those of you who have been with me, will remember some of the experiences; those of you who haven’t: Come on!

The Bushmen of Namibia

This has to be a highlight, along with some people who have been with me a couple of times now and we have become firm friends, we put together a safari and spent a few days in north western Namibia with these gentle people. It was a very real and awesome experience. Namibia has the policy that the bushmen may continue with their traditional lifestyle and may hunt any game as long as it is with traditional means.

We went out each day with them, their knowledge of the bush was awe inspiring. We saw them making and tending their trap lines and on one occasion we came across some wild honey that was a real treat for them I’ll let my photos tell the rest.

One of the highlights of my year was an afternoon in the Mara. We set off on our game drive at about 4 in the afternoon and ten minutes later we were watching a leopard asleep in a huge fig on the Talek river, the surrounding plains, as usual at that time of the year, were crawling with game. We watched him for a while and then moved to where there had been a lion sitting and there they were: Two lionesses and seven cubs, really little guys. We had the best light you could wish for and the cubs were as cute as ever. After that, a bit cocksure, we demanded of our driver guide that he find us a cheetah. He laughed and lo and behold an hour later we were 20 yards from a large female on her hunt. What a crazy afternoon, what I would call a ten roll (of film) activity!