Scenes from Etosha

Scenes from Etosha National Park, Namibia. The giraffes and rhinos were at a waterhole bordering the Okaukuejo Rest Camp, with the quintessential African sunset. We always spend a night at the Okaukuejo Lodge on our tours with the hopes of having an evening like this.

The greater kestrel and lions were taken the following day. You may recognize the "Lion Tree" from an image I took in 2022, framed by the Etosha Pan.

Dates for the 2025 Southern Africa Adventure Oct 19 - Nov 2 and once again include Namibia, Botswana, and Victoria Falls. Please give our page a follow - Nat Expo Tours, LLC - and visit our site for detailed itineraries: https://natexpotours.com/

We still have a few spaces open for Cuba in February and Arctic Norway in March - Tromsø, Lofoten Islands, and…🤞auroras!

As always, thank you for following my journeys. Please message me if you or someone you know might be interested in joining us in 2025!

Colin

 

Giraffes at the Okaukuejo waterhole

Giraffes at the Okaukuejo waterhole

Rhinos at the Okaukuejo waterhole

Greater kestrel

“The Lion Tree”

Southwestern Black Rhino

The southwestern black rhino - this photo was taken at the waterhole by the Okaukuejo Rest Camp in Namibia's Etosha National Park. Etosha is a stronghold for this critically endangered subspecies of rhinoceros. While the population is strong, the park does not release numbers as poaching remains a serious threat. We were fortunate to observe two rhinos interacting at the Okaukuejo waterhole on our first evening in Etosha.

The dates & itinerary for the 2025 Southern Africa Adventure with Nat Expo Tours are up on our site (Oct 19 - Nov 2): https://natexpotours.com/2025-namibia/

Please email me if you are interested in joining us - we have a few people on the roster already!

Colin

 

Salvin's Albatross, New Zealand

Salvin's albatross, Kaikoura, New Zealand. Taken on our recent excursion with Albatross Encounter Kaikoura.

I'm still editing through photos from both Africa & New Zealand and will have more to share in the coming days. We're also busy planning next year's adventures with Nat Expo Tours. Please give our page a follow on Facebook and Instagram and visit our site to see a list of 2025 destinations & itineraries, including Cuba in February, Arctic Norway in March, and Nepal in May: https://natexpotours.com/

As always, thank you for following my journeys!

Colin

www.colintyler.com

More from the Kaikoura Albatross Encounter Excursion

More images from our morning excursion with Albatross Encounter Kaikoura in New Zealand last week! The first is a giant northern petrel against the early morning sky. The second is a cape petrel, also called the pintado (painted) petrel. The third image is a wandering albatross, also known as the snowy or white-winged albatross.

We are working out the details for the November 2025 New Zealand tour. Please message me if you are interested or visit our site: https://natexpotours.com/. We also have spaces available for Cuba in February, Arctic Norway in March, Nepal in May, Croatia in September, and Southern Africa in October.

Cheers!

Colin

Giant Northern Petrel

Cape Petrel of Pintado (Painted) Petrel

Wandering Albatross, aka Snowy or White-Winged Albatross

 

Kaikoura Sunrise & Northern Royal Albatross

Northern royal albatross, taken last week with Albatross Encounter Kaikoura. The day began with a brilliant sunrise, which made for dramatic skies and backgrounds for our bird photography. We saw 5 different species of albatross and numerous other seabirds, many of them endemic to New Zealand.

We will be leading another New Zealand tour next November with Nat Expo Tours. Please email me if you are interested.

Cheers!

Colin

Sunrise in Kaikoura, New Zealand

Northern royal albatross

Beach Sunset, Nelson, New Zealand

Our New Zealand tour has now concluded and I have arrived in Maui, where I will be spending 5 days before returning home to Alaska. There will be more to share in the coming days from New Zealand and the Southern Africa tour, so please stay tuned for that.

Please email me if you are interested in joining any of our 2025 adventures with Nat Expo Tours, including Cuba, Norway, Nepal, Croatia, Africa, and New Zealand.

Cheers!

Colin

 

Elephants from the Onguma Ground Hide, Namibia

Bordering Etosha National Park in Namibia, the Onguma Private Game Reserve has a ground hide that offers an experience like no other. From the hide, your lens is level with the waterhole and gives you opportunities to safely view wildlife from a perspective that is unique and nearly impossible to duplicate without the use of a camera trap.

On my recent visit, we had three bull elephants visit the waterhole for nearly an hour, drinking and splashing, throwing mud across their backs to protect from the harsh Namibian sun. It certainly was one of my best days photographing elephants, and one of my most inspired moments of the 2024 Southern Africa Adventure with Nat Expo Tours.

Please message me if you are interested in joining us next year. Dates are Oct 19 - Nov 2, 2025, and we already have people on the roster. You can view the details on our site: https://natexpotours.com/

Cheers!

Colin

 

Giraffes in Bwabwata National Park, Namibia

The 2024 Southern Africa Adventure is drawing to a close. We added some new destinations to the itinerary this year and spent the past few days around Kasane, Botswana exploring Chobe National Park and today we visited Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe.

This photo was taken last week in the Zambezi Region of Namibia. Every year provides new experiences and opportunities to create unique images, even with familiar subjects and locations.

There will be much to share in the coming days, and tomorrow Mike and I are off to New Zealand to meet another group for a tour of that country.

We are working out the details for the 2025 Southern Africa tour and we already have people on board. Please email me if you are interested or visit our site: https://natexpotours.com/

As always, thank you for for following along!

Colin

 

Icelandic Horses, Up Close

Since my first trip in 2018, I’ve traveled to Iceland several times and have photographed the iconic horses in several locations under varying light, weather, and backgrounds, most often with a telephoto lens. This year I decided to switch to a wide-angle and shoot from a lower perspective to capture some unique images to add to my catalog. Most of the time I wasn’t able to see through the viewfinder, so it was a matter of guessing how the photo would be framed and hoping for the best. In the end, I captured some of my favorite photos of Icelandic horses to date!

We’ll be returning to Iceland to lead a tour in June of 2026. Please email me if you are interested or visit our website: https://natexpotours.com/. We do have a few spots left in this year’s October Namibia tour, as well as New Zealand in November…

Thank you for following!

Colin

 

Arctic Terns in Black & White, Hofsós, Iceland

On the last full day of the Iceland tour, if weather allows, we drive around the Troll Peninsula from Akureyri back to Reykjavik. It adds a few hours to the drive and the road is narrow and winding with tunnels, tour busses, sheep, and cliffs that loom several hundred feet over the Norwegian Sea below. But the north coast is stunning, rugged, and beautiful, and is one of my favorite areas to photograph, so it’s worth the extra hours of (very focused) driving. We always stop in Hofsós to photograph Icelandic horses framed by the ocean and purple lupine flowers.

This year, after photographing horses, I trained my lens on the arctic terns flying overhead. The sky was moody, so I envisioned black & white images that would convey the sharp lines and detail in the terns, as well as the Icelandic weather. I hope you enjoy the images.

As always, thank you for following, and please message me if you are interested in joining one of our adventures. The next Iceland tour will be in June of 2026.

 

Colin

 

Skógafoss with Lupine

Beginning last year, we moved our Iceland tours from August to June to take advantage of the abundant birdlife and wildflowers, particularly the lupine. Lupine is not native to Iceland and in fact, the seeds were brought over from Alaska. In 1945, a botanist named Hákon Bjarnason visited Alaska to select plants he thought would thrive in Iceland’s harsh conditions to prevent erosion and dust storms. He returned with a collection of seeds, including lupine, and from there it thrived and can now be found over much of the country. Pictured here is Skógafoss, likely the most photographed waterfall in Iceland, with our guest Natasha capturing various angles of the scene.

Beginning last year, we moved our Iceland tours from August to June to take advantage of the abundant birdlife and wildflowers, particularly the lupine. Lupine is not native to Iceland and in fact, the seeds were brought over from Alaska. In 1945, a botanist named Hákon Bjarnason visited Alaska to select plants he thought would thrive in Iceland’s harsh conditions to prevent erosion and dust storms. He returned with a collection of seeds, including lupine, and from there it thrived and can now be found over much of the country.

Pictured here is Skógafoss, likely the most photographed waterfall in Iceland, with our guest @tascheski capturing various angles of the scene.

We’ll be leading our next Iceland tour in June of 2026. Please stay tuned for details and me if you are interested in joining one of our adventures. We still have spaces for Namibia this October, New Zealand in November, Arctic Norway in March 2025, and more…

Cheers!

Colin

#iceland #icelandtrip #icelandroadtrip #skogafoss #skogafosswaterfall #phototour #icelandtour #icelandphoto #waterfallsofinstagram🏞️ #waterfallsoficeland #waterfall #waterfallphotographyStay tuned for details or email me if you are interested.

Cheers!

Colin

 

Icelandic Horses, Akureyri

I returned to the US yesterday and have begun editing through my photos from Iceland. This is one of my favorite images of the iconic Icelandic horses, taken in the north near Akureyri. I used a wide angle lens to get a different perspective this time, something different than in previous years. Once again, we had a great tour and wonderful group of people to travel with!

As of now, we are planning to take next year off from Iceland and looking at June of 2026 for our next visit to that country. Please message me if you are interested.

As always, thank you for following along!

Colin

 

Arctic Fox near Vik, Iceland

Greetings from Iceland - 🇮🇸

Today we explored a glacial ice cave near the town of Vik on the south coast, famous for its black sand beaches, and after the guided tour we were treated to a wonderful encounter with an arctic fox! This is my sixth trip to Iceland, and previously I'd only caught a brief glimpse of an arctic fox, so this was a rare opportunity. Our guests were thrilled, as were Mike and I. Tomorrow we will make our way to Vatnajökull (Europe's largest glacier), then to the east fjords and eventually across the highlands to the north.

Cheers!

Colin

 

Hidden Leopard

Another master of camouflage, the African leopard. It's easy to see how prey could walk under a tree completely unaware of the predator directly above, and leopards are known to jump down from a perch onto their prey.

In this case, the leopard had been resting in the branches when, in this moment, it took notice of an impala passing by. We watched it stealthily descend the tree and stalk the impala, crawling on its belly at times. They were both soon out of sight, so we do not know how it ended up for either of them...

November 2023, Kruger National Park, South Africa 🇿🇦

 

Scenes from Svalbard, Norway, August 2022

Svalbard certainly is the most vast and wild landscape I've ever visited. It was a bucket list trip of a lifetime, though I believe I will make it back there before too long. It's also the furthest north I've been on the planet, at one point going beyond 82˚N latitude into the polar ice pack. Even in the latter part of summer, the sun never dipped below the horizon while we where there.

Colin

 

Our ship, the M/V Ortelius

Abundant birdlife on the ice bergs

Svalbard reindeer, a smaller subspecies unique to these islands

October 2024 Namibia Tour

Namibia just celebrated 34 years of independence and remains one of the best functioning democracies in all of Africa. With an array of beautiful scenery and wildlife, coastline, vibrant culture and more, it is one of my favorite destinations in the world.

I look forward to returning to Namibia this October, where Mike and I will be leading another tour with Nat Expo Tours. We still have a few spaces open, if you or anyone you know might be interested. We’ve added a few days to the itinerary this year to include the Caprivi Strip of northern Namibia, Botswana, and Victoria Falls.

Dates are Oct 11-25, 2024. Cost is $7,895 per person and includes all transportation & lodging in Namibia and Botswana, breakfast & dinner every day, all locally guided tours & park fees, photographic instruction (for those who would like), and more!

Please contact me if you are interested or visit our site for more info and a detailed itinerary: https://natexpotours.com/2024-namibia/

Cheers!

Colin

 

Sossusvlei dry ancient lakebed, Namib-Naukluft National Park

Etosha National Park

Himba community

Flamingos in Walvis Bay

Elephant herd in the Caprivi Strip, northern Namibia

José, El Hombre de la Guitarra

José, El Hombre de la Guitarra, "The Guitar Man." José was a sweet man who always entertained us with his guitar at his restaurant in the countryside near Trinidad de Cuba - it's a regular stop on our horseback ride. In 2020, my good friend Joleigh Rainwater, who had traveled to Cuba with me the year prior, brought him two sets of guitar strings and a copy of her photo "José's Hands", which received an award at the Alaska State Fair in 2019.

 

During the pandemic years when I was unable to visit Cuba, José tragically passed away after an accident while working on the roof of his restaurant. When I showed my photo of José to his son, Andy, he became very emotional and told me the story of losing his dad. I was able to email the image to a guest in the second group this year (2024) to be photo printed and put into a frame, as a gift to Andy. Here is my tribute to José, with contributions from our tour guests, and Joleigh.

 

Cuba 2024

Another Cuba trip is in the books! We had two wonderful groups this year and look forward to returning in February, 2025. We have two time slots available again next year.

Looking at this year's schedule, we still have a few spots open for Iceland in June and Namibia in October. Please email me if you have any questions or visit our website for more info and itineraries: www.natexpotours.com

Cheers!

Colin

 

Near John Lennon Park in Havana

A tobacco farm (finca) in Viñales

Sunrise over Viñales Valley

African Wild Dogs in the Rain, Kruger National Park

African wild dogs in the rain, Kruger National Park, SA.

This pack of wild dogs (painted dogs) had a litter of puppies and gave us some great photo ops. The falling rain added a nice element and made for great expressions on the dogs' faces. These are some of my favorite images of the endangered canines.

Have a great weekend out there. It looks like we might have a bit of aurora borealis - perfect timing for my aurora & nighttime photography class at the Eagle River Nature Center tomorrow night (Feb 20). I would have shared the registration link but the class literally filled overnight, before I had a chance to post it. I will look into offering another class in late March.

As always, thank you for following,

Colin