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WILDLIFE BLOG
Trip Report: Predator Luangwa | Shenton Safaris | Jul 2022
Liz & Paul had booked this trip way back in May 2019. It was great to meet them finally after all the delays of the last 2 years. Their remit was clear - simply to enjoy spending time in the bush and to get some great photos along the way. In many ways, this is the best approach of all; by taking time to appreciate all aspects of nature, we slow down and notice the small [...]
Tour Info: Kafue National Park in October 2022 – 25% discount
I first visited the Kafue National Park in 2019. Coming from the Luangwa Valley, which is always reported to be Zambia's best wildlife destination, I was prepared to be underwhelmed by Zambia's largest park. I was not just pleasantly surprised, but in fact blown away by the experiences on offer there. Excellent guides, thriving and diverse wildlife populations, a range of landscapes and the privacy on sightings which is increasingly the hallmark of a luxury safari [...]
Trip Report: Pan-Zambia Safari | Busanga, Anabezi and Lion Camp | June 2022
Zambia has much to offer visitors at any time of the year. But the dry season months -- from May to October -- give the most opportunities to access the rich wildlife areas that draw most of the tourism interest in the country. I was therefore very excited to be running a 2-week safari with time in 3 of the best wildlife areas in the country; the Kafue National Park, the Lower Zambezi and the South [...]
Trip Report: Bespoke Luangwa | Track & Trail River Camp | June 2022
As with so many of my 2022 trips, my safari with Alex, Jean and Steve was postponed from 2020. By the time we met at Track & Trail River Camp in early June 2022, we had traded so many emails that it felt like we knew each other pretty well already! Over lunch on the first day, we talked about cameras, safaris, wildlife and how we could get the best from the trip; it was clear [...]
Guest Reports: Botswana with the Africa8 | May 2022
It give me great pleasure to share links to my guests' images and videos from the Botswana safari that I led in May 2022. While I always make sure that my safaris are a wildlife experience first and foremost, I work hard to get the vehicle in the right position, give accurate advice on camera settings and offer pointers on composition ideas too. To see all these factors being combined into great images makes me really [...]
Trip Report: Bespoke Luangwa | Track & Trail and Lion Camp | May 2022
The Luangwa Valley is a special place to visit at any time of the year. I love the early dry season months of April, May and June for the clear light, cool mornings and the active animals which do not have to take shelter from the intense heat. There is more vegetation around which limits the viewing at times, but generally, this is a superb time to visit. It's also considered shoulder season by many camps [...]
Photo Safari Report: Bespoke Botswana x 8 | Okavango Delta | May 2022
I just returned from leading a 12-night adventure through 3 camps in the Okavango Delta with a group of repeat guests from the USA. It's a familiar story, but this trip had been planned in 2018 for 2020, then been postponed twice and finally taken place in May 2022. The group had to carefully consider the risks of travelling again, even as COVID begins to impact the world less heavily, but decided to go ahead with [...]
Wildlife: Spider-wasp takes on a large baboon spider
I was walking with my family yesterday and I heard an aggressive, hissing, rattling noise in the bush just off the path that we were using. I stopped and quickly found a large pompilid wasp dragging a huge baboon spider carcass. The wasp had hissed at us in defence of its prey. I went to collect my camera, and a flash since it was getting dark, and returned to find the wasp preparing to cross the [...]
Black Rhino Rescue in Zambia – 8 April 2022
It was a huge thrill and a privilege to be part of an operation to recover a black rhino called Chilunda and return him to the North Luangwa National Park. Over more than a decade living in Zambia, documenting this memorable day is a massive highlight. The success of this audacious rescue is a credit to the expertise and dedication of individuals and organisations in Zambia (and beyond) who are committed to conserving wild landscapes and [...]
Wildlife: Luangwa’s Changing Seasons
It is a time of dramatic seasonal change in Luangwa; the days are shortening, the evenings are cooling and there is a freshness in the air. I start to think about dry season, and make ill-advised comments like "it feels cooler today; maybe the rains are coming to an end...!". Inevitably, there will be more rain, but the showers are less frequent and there is certainly a dry feel which has been absent for months! The [...]
Tour Info: Gonarezhou National Park
It's been a long time coming, but it looks like we will have a safari season this year! I can't express my excitement about this, and also my gratitude to all my guests who have stuck with me over the last 2 years while we've navigated through the ever-changing challenges of the pandemic. Special thanks to Emma Seaman at People & Places Travel in Lusaka who has flawlessly juggled the thousands of emails which have been [...]
Wildlife: African Green Pigeons
I spent a very enjoyable hour at a fruiting Bird Plum tree yesterday. There was soft light, created by a haze of low cloud over the morning sunshine, and an array of fruit-eating birds were feating on the ripe green plums. Initially, I was focused on a Grey Go-away Bird which was making faces as it tried to swallow the large fruits...but then I saw that the African Green Pigeons, which are usually so shy, were [...]
EDWARD SELFE
I organise & run photographic safaris in the finest wildlife areas on Earth.
