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Trip Report: Ethiopia | Jun 2023
In June 2023, I ran a recce trip to Uganda to scout for a couple of photo safaris that I am running to that wonderful country in 2024. On the way home, I spent a week in Ethiopia's central area, visiting 3 areas in the Afar and Oromia regions. The purpose of my visit was to see more of this diverse continent and to assess whether Ethiopia is suitable for future photographic tourism trips. I landed [...]
Trip Report: Pan-Zambia Safari | Anabezi, Lion Camp & Busanga | Jul 2023
Two repeat guests and two new, plus three superb National Parks and excellent camps to explore from. This was a trip that I had been looking forward to for a long time. We met in Lusaka and stayed overnight at the excellent Latitude 15 hotel before leaving early to travel to the Lower Zambezi National Park the following day. Before we even arrived at Anabezi Camp, we had seen more than 100 elephants and endless plains [...]
Skills: Expose to the Right
In the beautiful forests of Zambia's South Luangwa, we have the opportunity to shoot wildlife among the big trees. It's an unusual setting by comparison with much of Southern Africa and makes for spectacular images. However, as the light starts to get stronger in the late morning, the contrast increases between the brightly-lit areas and the darker shadows beyond. Cameras are getting better at dealing with this high 'dynamic range' but the full potential of the [...]
Guest Report: Andre Erlich | Emerald Season | Robin Pope Safaris | Apr/May 2023
Andre has travelled with me once before and was returning this time to see the Luangwa's Emerald Season. He's a skilled and experienced photographer with many destinations in his travel history. But Zambia drew him back and we enjoyed a fun 12 days in the bush. Below are a few words from him about the trip and then a link to the album on his website: Finally my Emerald Season safari, planned in 2019 and Covid-postponed [...]
Skills: Choosing from a sequence of images
Whenever I see the chance to photograph an animal jumping over (or going through!) a channel or river, I move quickly to get the best angle possible and prepare my guests for getting the shots. Generally, we try to be side-on (or slightly 'ahead' if possible) so that the animal is jumping perpendicular to us (or slightly towards us) and we can see the obstacle that they are jumping. In this case, being slightly higher is [...]
Trip Report: Emerald Season | Nkwali Camp & Luangwa River Camp | May 2023
During the last couple of years, I really promoted the Emerald Season. Not only is it a pity that this special period of the year had not been busy for me in the past, but I wanted to share it with guests. Many agents are too focused on the supposed "best" time to visit certain areas and it's nice to break the preconceptions. I have now run 3 Emerald Season Safaris in the Luangwa this year, [...]
Trip Report: Uganda | May/June 2023
I have just returned from a tour around the beautiful and welcoming country of Uganda; in a 10 day trip, we visited an incredibly diverse and spectacular range of habitats and experienced wonderful wildlife and scenery throughout. I am running a photo-safari to Uganda & Kenya next year which will follow roughly this Uganda itinerary (and then a week with Laikipia Wilderness in central Kenya) and the tour has space for one guest in single occupancy. [...]
Trip Report: Emerald Season | Track & Trail, River Camp & Nkwali Camps | Apr/May 2023
I always really look forward to my Emerald Season safaris. It's a beautiful time of year, there are lots of great subjects around - including breeding birds as well as all the usual sightings we enjoy in the Luangwa - and the cool temperatures give a long window of safari time in the mornings. My group of 4 had all travelled with me, or met me while in the Luangwa, so it was great to see [...]
Trip Report: Emerald Season | Track & Trail River Camp | Apr 2023
Mike has travelled with me several times before. Many of you will remember his reports from previous trips, and shared in the sightings that we have enjoyed. This time, we changed the arrangements slightly and he visited in the Emerald Season so that he would see a slightly different time of year with change in light, sightings and subjects. We had a lot of fun and were beautifully hosted by Track & Trail River Camp on [...]
Tour Info: Single space on Two Valley Photo Safari in 19-28 Sep 2023
Due to unfortunate illness, I have a last-minute place on a safari to Lion Camp & Anabezi Camp later this year. These camps are sited in two of the best wildlife areas in Zambia. Lion Camp's privileged position on the edge of a grassy dambo in the private and game-rich northern sector of the South Luangwa National Park ensures us 4 days of great viewing of all the headline species of the area. The timing of [...]
Guest Report: Mike White | Track & Trail River Camp | Apr 2023
Mike White has travelled with me many times since 2017. It's really a pleasure to spend time with someone who loves this area as much as I do and is willing to return again and again to reconnect with the wildlife. He's very accomplished as a wildlife and landscape photographer in the UK, so it's fun to help him transfer those skills to the bush. This time, he visited in April, towards the end of the [...]
Photo Training Programme – Mjose Jozie
Alongside the thriving tourism industry of the South Luangwa is a community which is the rightful owner of the assets on which this industry depends. Their revenue stream is significant, in the form of employment, payments for goods and services bought in the area and, if all goes well, protection of that asset for the future. As the community grows and develops, there open up opportunities for new services which had not been offered before. I [...]
EDWARD SELFE
I organise & run photographic safaris in the finest wildlife areas on Earth since.
