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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: 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 [...]

Wildlife: Wild dogs vs Eland – Sept 2019

I was recently talking to some of my guests about Mana Pools National Park since we could see it across the river when flying into the Lower Zambezi. While chatting about it, I was reminded of an amazing day that I experienced there back in 2019. I thought I would bring the story to the top of my wildlife blog in case anyone missed it the first time: "The next day turned out to be one [...]

Skills: Shooting into the Light, Backlight & Silhouettes

In a recent blog, I discussed the value of considering the background when positioning yourself for wildlife photography. Equally important to consider is the angle of the light. Sometimes the best position for the angle of the light and the best position for the background do not coincide and, in brief, that is why not all wildlife photography scenarios yield award-winning images! It is rare that we can coincide light, background, behaviour and angle of [...]

Photo Safari Report: Emerald Season Lower Zambezi | Anabezi Camp | May 2024

Some of Zambia's best light for wildlife photography occurs in the earlier part of the dry season -- there's enough dust in the air to create golden, angular light which is ideal for creating interestingly-lit scenes. It's not always easy to work with, as it gets bright in the middle of the day, but the opportunities for impressive photos are perhaps greatest in these early months. It's for that reason that I love the April-June [...]

Guest Report: Gavin Knight | Emerald Season Luangwa | Robin Pope Safaris | May 2024

Gavin has spent a lot of time travelling in South Africa, and more widely, for work and pleasure. He worked in Zambia some years ago and was visible thrilled to be visiting and spending time in Zambia's wild places once again. It was a pleasure to guide him for an extended Emerald Season safari in May 2024 and he kindly sent me a selection of his images to share here. It's clear he has an [...]

Photo Safari Report: Emerald Season Luangwa | Robin Pope Safaris | May 2024

The South Luangwa looks spectacular in the rainy season; green, rich and so beautiful. There is new life everywhere and everyone is recharging energy and fat supplies after the long dry season. The only problem from our point of view is access; the park becomes very wet and many areas are beyond reach of a vehicle due to the mud and the flooding rivers and streams. My Emerald Season safaris aim to give visitors an [...]

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