From the shelter of the flooded forest we emerge and cross the 50km of the Maracaibo Lake. Lake Maracaibo is the largest in South America. You can expect to see dolphins swimming and coastal birds like Osprey, Terns and other various water birds resident to the western mountain region of Venezuela. We stop and have lunch and will pick up dinner, fresh from a fisherman on the lake before we head to our first destination, Ologa.
It is here where we will prepare for your first experience of the natural phenomenon of the Catatumbo lightning*. This natural phenomenon has existed for centuries, yet many of us have never heard of it. The first written mention of the was in the 1597 poem "La Dragontea" by Lope de Vega, which recounts the defeat of Sir Francis Drake.
Imagine the most intense thunderstorm you may have witnessed in North America... now imagine increasing that intensity for 6 hours of a lightening show. During the first and second night you are positioned to witness massive, arching strikes that can exceed 250 times an hour. Your view will be over a pristine tropical lagoon that offers calm reflections of the action in the skies.
You lounge at water's edge under the palm trees having a BBQ of steak and soft shelled crab that you picked up from local fisherman on the boat ride that very day. The camera sits on the tripod and the remote in your hand... If you want, you simply compose, set the camera controls and capture the exact same scene that our tour leader has taken with his camera night after night after night... his photos have now been published in National Geographic and featured in numerous other magazines and an ABC News Primetime special.
Check out this exclusive tour in October of 2013. The Photogrpaher's Lounge will be running this tour with Rick Sammon and Kevin Pepper.
Here is my latest blog entry on how to take lightning photographs http://kpepphotography.blogspot.ca/2012/05/capturing-natures-fury-lightning.html
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