Paul Rist Photography

September 15, 2013, Kongakut River, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska

I recently returned from a rafting adventure to the Kongakut River in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in Northeastern Alaska. After a long day of a few commericial flights from Halifax, Nova Scotia, I landed in Fairbanks the day before our trip departure. The next morning we (myself, two guests "John" and "Sparks" from Santa Fe, NM and our guide "Country") flew 1.5 hours on a 10 seater commuter plane from Fairbanks to a small native village known as Arctic Village, also headquarters for the refuge managers of ANWR. From there, we took another 1.5 hour flight, this time on a 5 seat bush plane to the Kongakut River.

The fall colors were a bit delayed this year, according to the locals likely due to the warm weather earlier this year. However, just before our arrival, fall had definitely set in with temps in the 20's F and wind chills in the teens. The skies were mostly clear for our bush flight in to the river. We set up camp and prepared for our rafting journey down the river (north to near the Arctic Ocean) over the next 9 days. The weather stayed pretty cold and cloudy for the first half of the trip, often with snow flurries in camp, and with it accumulating in the mountains just above us.

Our general routine was to raft from 3-6 hours on a given day, find a camping spot on the tundra above the river and set up camp. We would generally stay in a site for 2 days and do hikes, fish or relax before moving on. The river initially was cloudy due to rain/melting snow from the week before, but cleared to an awesome emerald green towards the second half of the trip. We were surrounded by awesome scenery throughout the trip. Initially, we were paddling through small canyons with the walls directly against us at times. But as we traveled further north towards the Arctic Ocean, the river valley was miles wide and vast with endless scenery.

We encountered a small herd of bull caribou swimming across the river near our campsite, spotted a black wolf on a river gravel bar, a grizzly bear and lots of Dall Sheep in the mountains above. Finding animals close enough to photograph on this trip was challenging, but the scenery was amazing. We also did see the Northern lights on one night. In addition, the fishing for Arctic char and Arctic grayling was spectacular, so we had fish for supper almost every evening. At the end of our rafting journey, we could see the Arctic Ocean in the distance. The fog that rapidly rolls in from the Ocean can make flying back south to Arctic Village challenging, but our bush pilot managed to squeeze through the clouds and pick us up right on time. This was truly an amazing journey and adventure in a land that is still completely wild. I hope you enjoy the photos.

Thanks,

Paul Rist

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January 26, 2013, Osa Peninsula of Costa Rica

I set out a couple of weeks ago to travel to the Osa Peninsula of Costa Rica. This is one of the more remote and wilder areas of Costa Rica, and just north of Panama on the Pacific Coast. To travel to this region, one must fly into San Jose, Costa Rica, then either drive for 8 hours or take a 50 minute domestic flight to Puerto Jimenez. After reaching Puerto Jimenez, you must then take a 1-2 hour drive on a bumpy road with a 4-wheel drive safari type vehicle to reach your final destination.

There are multiple lodges to choose from or you can even stay at the ranger station of Corcovado National Park. I traveled to Corcovado NP about 6 years ago and hiked in 10 miles to the ranger station with a 60 lb backpack full of camera gear. But after dehydration and severe crippling blisters, I decided to make this trip a little easier.

I stayed at Bosque Del Cabo Lodge for 1 week, a fantastic lodge with lots of hiking trails that intersect both primary and secondary rainforest. Bosque is famous for the amount of wildlife that is seen there, including several species of cats such as puma or ocelot. The food served there is excellent and the staff is outstanding. Bosque does offer a few very informative guided hikes if you wish to participate, such as a night hike to look for animals, or you can be as independent as you want to hike on your own.

I saw all 4 species of monkeys native to the area (Howler, Spider, Squirrel, and White-faced Capuchin), colorful birds such as Trogons, Toucans, Mannakins, or Scarlet Macaws, various birds of prey, snakes, frogs, toads, tamandua (anteater), agoutis, tayra (weasel-like animal), peccaries (pig-like animal), coatis (similar to a raccoon) just to name a few. The highlight for me was getting to take a few pics of a red-eyed tree frog. These are pretty tough to find during the dry season (Dec-April), but one of the staff guides and biologists named Philip kept an eye out and helped track one down. He also found a few snakes and got bit in the process of showing a Tiger rat snake to me (non-venomous).

It was an outstanding trip. The humidity was ovewhelming making it physically challenging and tough on camera gear, but other than that it was a great escape from the cold winter in Prince Edward Island. Enjoy the photos!

Thanks,

Paul Rist

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February 22, 2012, Nyungwe and Volcanoes National Parks, Rwanda

I recently returned from a week long photo trip to Rwanda, Africa. It was a long journey with about 30 hours of air travel to get there, but well worth it. My arrival city in Rwanda was Kigali, and I stayed there one night before embarking on my photo quest.

My first destination was the Nyungwe Forest in south western Rwanda, a spectacular high elevation old-growth rainforest. Tourism in this region is still in the early stages, and my goal was to view and photograph wild chimpanzees and black and white colobuse monkeys. The altitude ranged from 7000-9000 feet, so hiking was very intense if you are not used to the elevation. The good news was there were very few mosquitoes, although lots of biting ants.

After an all day drive to Nyungwe from Kigali with multiple near death driving experiences, I rested at my lodge and woke up early the next morning to go trekking for chimpanzees. After a 2 hour hike in the forest, the trackers discovered the chimpanzee location and we were able to watch them for about an hour. The chimpanzees were high up in the canopy, tough to photograph, but awesome to see in the wild. Later that afternoon, I trekked to a large group of black and white colubus monkeys.

The next morning, I left Nyungwe for a long drive to Volcanoes National Park in northwestern Rwanda. This park is one of the most amazing destinations on earth due to the animals within-- the mountain gorillas. All of the remaining 700 mountain gorillas in the world live in Volcanoes National Park, which spans the adjacent borders of Rwanda, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

I did three gorilla treks, the next 3 mornings. During each trek, you are allowed to spend only 1 hour with the gorillas. The treks to find the gorillas can be anywhere from 2 to 12 hours, which can be grueling given the high altitude location. There are 8 groups of habituated wild gorillas in Rwanda that are allowed for tourist interaction, and only 8 people can visit a given group per day. Gorilla trackers monitor the gorillas' location every day until the gorillas nest for the night. The nesting site is where the trackers start looking for them the next day early in the morning. This is how the trackers direct the gorilla guides and accompanying guests to view them daily.

I visited 3 different gorilla groups, Amahoro, Kwitonda, and Agyasha. All 3 groups were very enjoyable, although the Amahoro group was my favorite. The Amahoro group was a long trek (9am-3pm) but the extra effort to the higher altitude ensured we rose above the thick bamboo forests to an open shrubby area where we viewed the gorillas. This was perfect for photography, unlike the dark thick bamboo thickets which can be tough to get good photos. Our gorilla guide for this trek (Francois) was a hilarious guy and has been guiding for many years. He also used to help Dianne Fossey with her gorilla research years ago.

Oftentimes, we were less than 6 feet away from a given individual gorilla, whether a silverback, female, or baby. It's hard to describe this powerful and emotional experience, and it's one that will be hard to top.

I found the people of Rwanda to be very nice and overall the country has come a long way in a short time since the 1994 genocide. It is now a safe, stable destination, and I highly recommend it if viewing mountain gorillas is on your life list...

Enjoy the photos! Please feel free to share my photos with friends and you can join Paul Rist Photography on Facebook to stay posted on any photo updates.

Thanks,

Paul Rist

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July 11, 2011, Canadian Rockies (Banff, Jasper and Kootenay National Parks)

In late June, I went to the Canadian Rockies to do some wildlife and scenic photography. June is considered the "shoulder season", as the temperatures are still chilly and snow is not unusual especially at higher altitudes. In fact, it snowed 2 of the 9 days I was in the Rockies. This can limit some of the trails that are accessible, but the advantage is that the cooler temps mean fewer people and more animals.

The long daylight hours mean early rising (5:30am sunrise) and late to bed (10:00pm sunset) to get good photos of the mountains. But the June light can be quite spectacular.

Although the animal this time of year can be quite shaggy as they lose their winter coats, the benefit of photographing animals in June is that there are often spring babies present with the adults.

I split my time between catching good light for scenic photos and trying to find mountain goats, bighorn sheep, bears, or elk along the trails and roadways.

It was an awesome trip and hope you enjoy the photos!

Paul Rist

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July 26, 2010, McNeil River
State Game Sanctuary and Refuge, Alaska

I was fortunate enough this past winter to win a permit by lottery to McNeil River Game Sanctuary for 4 days in July. Only 10 people are awarded permits for each 4 day time slot between June and August, and my slot was during the peak spawn of chum or dog salmon. The sanctuary is only accessible by floatplane, 100 miles southwest of Homer, Alaska. This remote state-owned sanctuary was created to help protect the highest known worldwide concentration of brown bears, as they come annually to feed on the spawing salmon.

The float plane ride to the sanctuary was an adventure in itself, as we flew adjacent to Augustine Island, an active volcano. The float plane can only land at the sanctuary during high tide, as tremendous tidal fluctuations occur. All 10 guests stay in a sanctuary tent campground, roughly a 2 hour hike from the bear viewing area. A comfy cook shack is provided for cooking, eating, and warming up in the evenings.

Starting the morning after our arrival, we left daily around 10am (low tide) to hike across tidal mud flats and grassy terrain to the bear viewing location. The hike was pleasant and we often had close encounters with bears. Around noon, we would arrive daily at the viewing pads overlooking the McNeil River itself. From that time forward to the early evenings, we witnessed an awesome natural event.

The first day of viewing, we were very impressed to see nearly 25 bears within a short (75 yard) stretch of river stalking and devouring the chum salmon during their upriver migration. However, as the chum salmon numbers peaked, we witnessed 64 bears along this same stretch on our last day. It was a moving, incredible experience. We not only watched an amazing and surreal spectacle, we were immersed within in it. There are no barriers between the humans and bears at the viewing platform, and it was very common for bears to walk and pause within 4 feet of our viewing pad en route to the river to fish. The McNeil River staff have developed and enforce very strict protocols for ensuring our safety, and no human has ever been harmed at McNeil Sanctuary by a bear.

Due to the high numbers of bears in such a small area, one of the more unique aspects of the viewing experience was being able to distinguish the various bears based on physical appearance, behavior or fishing styles. We witnessed virtually every possible behavior imaginable-- eating, sleeping, playing, fighting, mating. It was truly like seeing a lifetime of bears in 4 days...

Special thanks to our guides Tom, Drew, and Tony for their expertise and leadership in keeping us safe.

Hope you enjoy the photos and thanks for viewing my site,

Paul Rist

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September 9, 2009, Denali National Park:  

I recently returned from a 10 day trip to Denali National Park in interior Alaska. Although I have been to Denali once before during the summer, this time I chose to go during the peak of fall colors (end of August and early September). This is also a good time to photograph the wildlife, as they have grown their full antlers and winter coats by now.

The weather was overcast, rainy, and cold the first 4 days or so, but I luckily managed to get a few sunny days towards the end of the trip. I spent my nights in a small tent in several different campgrounds throughout the park. As you cannot drive your car into the park, I took a shuttle bus in the morning from my campground to my hiking destinations to do day hikes.

I hiked up several different small mountains in search of Dall Sheep rams. On my 2nd to last day, I finally had success in finding 4 rams, so the strenuous hikes paid off. They were relatively fearless and accepting of my presence, allowing some good close-up photos. Other highlights were seeing a caribou herd on a river gravel bar, and a spectacular sparring between 2 bull moose during the peak rut (breeding season). I saw lots of grizzly bears, but most of them were too far away for photos.

The colors of the fall tundra were beautiful and shone their best on the sunny days. I was fortunate to see Denali Mountain (Mt. McKinley) during my stay. Denali Mtn., at just over 20,000 feet, is the highest peak in North America. The mountain is usually covered by clouds, and seeing the mountain in its entirety is a rarity. On average, the mountain is completely visible only 2 days per month during the summer.

All in all it was a great trip, and I hope you enjoy the photos.

Paul Rist

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May 19, 2009, New Paul Rist Photography web site online:   

Paul Rist Photography is back online with an all new web site!  The new web site is more streamlined with easy navigation for viewing images in the photo galleries.  You will need Flash installed on your computer to view the galleries. The galleries may take a few seconds to load initially, but once loaded, you can quickly browse different images.

The galleries contain images from recent trips over the past couple of years which have not been displayed previously.

Soon, I will be posting a "trip log" of my recent adventures. Stay tuned for the updates and let me know what you think of the new site.

Paul Rist