Sally Hinton Wildlife Photography

The Ngorongono Crater in Tanzania is one of the natural wonders of the world and from my brief visit is highly valued by the Tanzanian people. It was an amazing experience slowly edging our way down into the crater via a very rough pot-hole infested dirt track - but to watch the sun rise over the crater rim as we gradually descended onto the crater floor was magic indeed. The zebra and wildebeaste were heading for their morning drink so line upon line of these beautiful animals passed us as they steadfastly approached the watering holes. It was the dry season and the herds of animals sent dust flying in all directions - the dust and sunrise did make for some atmospheric images! The crater is an oasis for the animals - no need for migration here. From the crater floor you can see the entire rim and as the sun rose the low clouds sat over parts of the rim as if they were spilling over from above - very beautiful indeed! We spent an entire day game viewing around the floor, having lunch at the springs surrounded by hippos! We saw mating lions, Rhino and many birds, gazelle and of course the zebra and wildebeest. We climbed very slowly out of the crater late in the afternoon again the dirt track was very rough and full of pot holes and rocks - definitely 4WD material! Overall a wonderful experience!

The 16th IAP (International Association of Phytoplankton Taxonomy and Ecology) conference was held at the Institute Agragio Di San Michele all'Adige in San Michele all'Adige (Trento) in the Italian Alps - some of the most stunning scenery I have ever scene! Unfortunately the district was experiencing a heat wave for most of the week I was there and for those who know me well will appreciate the irony! The temperatures each day sat around 37 degrees dropping to 30 degrees at night. The Institute was not air conditioned as they seldom have such extreme heat so we all suffered trying to think intelligent thoughts under such conditions. I walked each morning up the mountain behind the Institute to capture the mountains as they received the first light of the day - truly stunning. We had an excursion mid week higher up into the alps and visited Lake Tovel - an alpine lake which was amazing! The Lake was famous for turning bright red in years gone by and was attributed (mythically!) to be the blood of dead soldiers who died in a very bloody battle that occurred on the edge of the lake. The red colour was in fact due to summer blooms of a dinoflagellate called Glenodinium sanguineum (an algae) that occurred regularly - hence our visit to the lake!
Overall the conference, despite the heat, was a stimulating and inspiring experience for me as I head towards the completion of my studies! I enjoyed meeting many of the gurus of the algae world and appreciated their guidance and encouragement.