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Life in the Bush: Conservation South Luangwa Needs your Help

 "As you will already be aware, last month the new United States Presidential Administration issued an Executive Order that paused all US foreign assistance for 90 days. The order mandates a reassessment of programmatic efficiencies as part of a broader policy direction to reduce foreign aid. Unfortunately, this momentum affects many conservation organizations including NGOs like CSL, who have a long history and successful partnership with United States Federal Agencies. Together these partnerships have supported vital [...]

Photo Safari Report: Two Valley Special | Aug 2024

In the peak-season month of August, I ran one of my Two Valleys photo safaris which incorporates the South Luangwa & Lower Zambezi National Parks. In the South Luangwa, we stay at Lion Camp (one of my all-time favourites) and in the Lower Zambezi, we use Anabezi, a classy lodge in the centre of the park, with access to the best wildlife areas. August is a superb time of year, with the dry conditions leading [...]

Guest Report: Michael Thornton | Botswana Exclusive | Dec 2024

Michael Thornton first travelled with me in South Luangwa in 2019, then again in Kafue NP in 2022 and most recently he joined a trip to Botswana with me in December last year. He's a very interesting, enthusiastic and knowledgable guy with so much to offer on many subjects. He's also a consistently kind and considerate member of any group and is a pleasure to have on a trip. Michael is dedicated to his photography [...]

Photo Safari Report: Rajasthan, India | October 2024

In October, I travelled with my wife and daughter to India, to explore the SUJÁN camps in Rajasthan. This was part holiday and part recce trip because I have been asked by many of my guests about wildlife safaris to India. Perhaps because it was a new country - and a new continent - and likely because I was taking my family with me, I had been looking forward to this trip since the moment [...]

Photo Safari Report: Exclusive Botswana | Aug & Sep 2024

One of my most anticipated safaris of recent years took me to the stunning wildlife areas of Botswana, in August and September, classically the best times of year. The trip was 18 nights spread across 5 locations, using Kwando Safaris and Natural Selection's camps. We started with Lagoon Camp in the NW part of Botswana, followed by time in the Dinare concession at Rra Dinare Camp, 4 nights at Splash Camp in Kwara and then [...]

Photo Safari Report: Kafue & Busanga Adventure | July 2024

Back in July 2024, I led a photo-safari through one of my favourite areas of Zambia; the great Kafue National Park. I have been running this trip since 2021 and it's always been a massive winner with guests getting great sightings and unusual, special photos. This time was no different, with outstanding experiences at all 3 of the camps. We started with Busanga Bush Camp in the north of the park, where we met up [...]

Photo Safari Report: Uganda & Kenya Adventure | June & July 2024

Earlier in the year, I ran a 22 day safari adventure through Uganda and Kenya; we spent 2 weeks touring many of Uganda's south-western highlights, followed by a week in the central region of Kenya. Our main targets were the birds and primates of Uganda (which were extraordinary) and the highlands of Kenya, searching for the dry-country specials like Oryx, Gerenuk, Lesser Kudu, Grevy's zebra, Reticulated Giraffe and, in Laikipia Wilderness, the now-famous black leopard [...]

Skills: Shooting in the half-light

Modern cameras allow us to shoot in ever-increasingly challenging circumstances; weather-sealing makes rainy-day images possible, while image stabilisers facilitate sharp images at staggeringly low shutter speeds. Additionally, cameras' high-ISO performance improves each year -- so shots taken at 12,800 ISO are now certainly usable -- and the proliferation of mirrorless cameras has brought about a revolution in autofocusing capabilities. Photographers are making use of all these tools to document and record the natural world like [...]

Guest Report: Don Magin | Uganda & Kenya Adventure | June & July 2024

Don & Sharon have travelled with me several times in the last 5 years, exploring all of Zambia, some of Zimbabwe and - most recently - Uganda and Kenya. We will meet again in December when we travel to Botswana to explore the Okavango Delta at the start of the rainy season. Don kindly wrote a short piece as a report from our trip to East Africa in June this year to go alongside a [...]

Guest Report: Steven Segall | Emerald Season Lower Zambezi | Anabezi Camp | May 2024

Steve has been one of my most regular travellers since joining one of my first trips in September 2014. He relishes his time in the wilds and has a particular love of hippos. In May, he broke his traditional pattern of visiting South Luangwa NP and joined me on a trip to Lower Zambezi. We had a brilliant trip with a very cohesive small group of 3 guests, and Anabezi did us proud on that [...]

Photo Safari Report: South Luangwa Bespoke | Zikomo & Kuyenda Camp | June 2024

I met Faith and Suzanne some years ago at Zikomo Camp and shared some time on photo safari. Faith always said she would come back again some day. This time, she did so, and even better, she brought a group of her friends many of whom were involved in landscape, wildlife or national park management. Predictably, I guess, we had a very interesting and diverse safari where everyone engaged in the photography, the sightings as [...]

Skills: Separating your subject from the background

When photographing wildlife, in most cases we want our subject to create an immediate impact on the viewer. Whether we are shooting portraits which contain close up views of an elephant, or wider 'animal-scapes', the viewer's eye should be drawn to the subject first of all. There are several ways that we can do this - which include compositional techniques as well as angle of view - but this blog will look at the role [...]

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