When it comes to wildlife photography, a long lens is your best friend, but then every so often you get surprised and find yourself almost too close!

That is what happened to me in Sri Lanka. I was looking for leopards in Ruhuna National Park. We had spotted one far away in the distance in a tree, but still only a speck with my longest zoom lens. Then only minutes later as our 4WD vehicle turned a corner, this mother Sri Lankan Sloth Bear appeared and crossed our path.

She was so close that with my long lens I only managed to snap a few quick photos before she meandered away, into some dense shrubs. I’ve seen Grizzly and Black bears in North America, but the Sloth bears I saw in Sri Lanka remain my favourite.

Watching giraffes walk is one of the simple pleasures I enjoyed on safari in Africa.

These great animals quickly became one of my favourite animals, especially the Maasai Giraffe. Also called the Masai or Kilimanjaro Giraffe, this is the tallest land animal and largest of all giraffe species.

Interestingly, giraffes can sleep standing up, or lying down and only sleep for 4-5 hours a day. They’re about 6 feet tall at birth and once fully grown they have no predators to fear as their speed and kicking power can either outrun or kill animals such as lions. Their only moment of weakness is when they are clumsily bent over trying to drink.

Ahhh, birds.

For a long time I considered myself anti-bird. The only birds I enjoyed watching or photographing were ones that were flightless (penguins) or of immense size (ostriches).

Gradually my bird hatred has faded away. I blame those old feelings on the fact that amazingly bright coloured birds are rare at home in Canada. But the more I travelled, the more interesting birds I saw. Toucans, hornbills, flycatchers and all sorts of birds of prey – all different than what I was used to at home. As my interest and knowledge of photography has grown, so has my interest in birds, which often make for challenging photography subjects.

This one here is a simple purple swamphen in Sri Lanka. There were a few of these hanging out, and fighting, in a field on my way to the ancient fortress of Yapahuwa. I liked the contrast of the bright green background with the blue, purple and red colouring of the swamphen.

This is the first Grizzly Bear I encountered in the wild. It was a good-sized bear that was meandering through some meadows in Grand Teton National Park. If you look behind its front legs, you can see a lighter colour patch of fur associated with Grizzlies. You can also see a bit of the humped back Grizzlies have, one great way to tell apart Grizzlies and Black Bears from a distance.

I was on the wrong side of this bear to get any perfect pictures as I had to photograph it facing into the sun, but still managed to get some decent shots. Spotting this Grizzly is still one of the highlights from all of my travels to Montana and Wyoming.

The Grizzly Bear is sometimes called the North American Brown Bear and is one of many subspecies of Brown Bears around the world. At the top of my list for future bear adventures is to head to Alaska to see the largest of all brown bear subspecies – the Kodiak.

Surprising to many travellers is the fact that New Zealand is home to more penguin species than any other country in the world!

Most species are found in the hard to get to New Zealand Sub-Antarctic islands, however the Otago Peninsula on the South Island of New Zealand is home to a couple of species – the Blue Penguin and the Yellow-eyed Penguin.

Organized wildlife tours are popular from Dunedin, available during certain times of the year. There are also a number of public hides to visit and see them on your own. The Yellow-eyed Penguin is one of the rarest in the world and is listed as an endangered species with around 4000 left in the wild.

This photo was taken on some private land, near sunset, which made it tricky getting a crisp, clear image. The owners of the land often have to kill feral cats in the area to keep the defenceless penguins safe.