I actually have very little interest in hunting Africa (believe it or not!). But I would LOVE to go on a photo safari.

I know I'm being very general, but any suggestions? One country over another? Outfitters? Anything else?

Any of our booking agents here have any photo trips available, or can point me towards somebody?

Thanks!

Cold Bore,

Along with hunting we also have a photo company in Tanzania Tanganyika Trekkers. We cover all the attractions in Tanzania from the Crater to Kilamanjaro to Zanzibar and balloon rides over the Serengeti. Send me your regualr e-mail and I'll attach our brochure.

The prices are almost completely all inclusive from the time we meet you at the airport until we see you into the departure lounge.

Regards,

Mark

Ngorongoro Crater in Tanzania is one of the best places to see a wide variety of East African wildlife. Elephant, black rhino, lions, lionesses, lion cubs, pink flamingoes, cape buffalo, all sorts of plains game.

A trip to the Serengetti (Tanz) or the Maasai Mara (Kenya) too is worthwhile for the "plains" experience. Along the rivers, crocodile and hippo. At the right time of the year, around October (?) the wildebeest migrate which is a natural phenonemon.

It is much easier to see lions in East Africa and the plains than in Southern Africa in the bush on photo safaris. You hear them at night but rarely see them.

An island in Lake Naivasha in Kenya was fun as you can walk safely around unguided. Lots of waterbuck, plus giraffe and other antelope.

Ambroselli in Keyna is great too, lots of elephant which used to come into the camp at night, buffalo, cheetah, hippo, plains game etc. If Mount Kilimanjaro is visible in the clouds/haze (usually only very early morning) it makes a very photogenic backdrop to some photos.

A canoe or motor boat trip on the Zambezi is also good. I remember seeing crocodile, lots of elephant, chobe bushbuck, buffalo etc.

The Okavango Delta in Botswana is also worthwhile, photo safaris by canoe, boat or walking.

Some places to consider.

As far as photo safaris go, there is the blue train that runs from Cape Town to Tanzania or Kenya and I'm told does all of the stops and side trips that you would want in between like the Kimberley Diamond Mine, Jo'burg, Kruger, Vic Falls, the Serengenti, the Crater, etc. etc. We have been seriously thinking about doing that trip with another couple on our "off year" from hunting Africa. You might want to check that out.

Tanzania Game Tracker Safaris has a fantastic package for $5500.00 including a private camp with game viewing on horseback, Ngorongoro crater plus several days on the Serngeti.

Contact George Hartley at Legendary Adventures @ 713-580-7100.

quote:

Originally posted by DC300:
Tanzania Game Tracker Safaris has a fantastic package for $5500.00 including a private camp with game viewing on horseback, Ngorongoro crater plus several days on the Serngeti.

Contact George Hartley at Legendary Adventures @ 713-580-7100.

This would be a great trip. The other one to consider, as NitroX stated, is the Okavango Delta. Combine this with Chobe National Park, Kasane, and Vic Falls and it would be a great trip as well.

When I went to Ngorongoro, my friend and I borrowed a safari truck from my PH (Ridge Taylor) and we cruised all over the crater on our own. It was a wonderful experience; but I'll tell you, I would have been miserable on one of the little tourist buses in the crater.

If you go to TZ, you might consider climbing Kilimanjaro if you're in reasonable shape.

One thing for sure Cold Bore, if you have an ounce of hunter's blood in your system, you will be planning a hunting safari by mid way through your trip. Budget accordingly.

Thanks for the info guys!

This is something that I really want to do, hopefully soon....

quote:

Originally posted by ForrestB:
One thing for sure Cold Bore, if you have an ounce of hunter's blood in your system, you will be planning a hunting safari by mid way through your trip. Budget accordingly.

Yeah... thanks for the warning!

I was afraid of that part!

One step at a time....

Cold Bore,

How much you are going to get out of a photo safari depends a little bit on how much time you're willing to spend IMO.

Of the mentioned options, I personally have enjoyed the Okovango Delta in Botswana the most. Although we also greatly enjoyed the Serengetti, and various other areas in many other countries.

Another worthwhile place is Mana Pools in Zimbabwe, were walking is allowed. Do a seach here on AR for "Stretch Ferrera".

But the one single most outstanding photo safari experiance I have had would have to be tracking mountain gorillas in Uganda. Being surrounded by gorillas of all ages, including a huge silverback was simply amazing. And while in Uganda, it is not too far to get from southwestern corner where gorillas are found, and up to Murchinson Falls national park, were elephant, lion etc can be seen. All in all, Uganda remains one of my favorite African countries, out of the over 20 I've spent time in. I'd suggest you check out the possibilities there while you are doing your trip research.

I too hope to do a photo safari someday. Costs of a hunting safari w/ trophy fees and licences are way out of my legue! So I'd prefer to shoot all I can with cameras than miss Africa altogether. I to will wish I could hunt!

Cold Bore, what equipment will you take?

You absolutely can't go wrong w/TGTS (Legendary Adventures). They run a class operation from top to bottom.

Whoa!

There are lots of non-hunting safaris in Kenya and Tanzania for under $3500 per person including airfare from New York.

Don't get too hung up on the fancy shit to miss out on going.

I might do this myself next year.

If you go to Kenya, brush up on your Photoshop skills as you will have to remove the 6-10 mini buses that will appear in the background of every photo. A very crowded place.

quote:

Originally posted by D99:
Whoa!

There are lots of non-hunting safaris in Kenya and Tanzania for under $3500 per person including airfare from New York.

Don't get too hung up on the fancy shit to miss out on going.

I might do this myself next year.

Would you list some names and or websites, please?

Thanks!

quote:

Originally posted by Don Fischer:
Cold Bore, what equipment will you take?

My thoughts as well. You can come back with nothing but HO HUM pictures with the wrong equipment. Plus familiarity with photographing game properly and your proficiency with the equipment takes practice.

Don't discount taking good pictures as just luck. It's challenging all by itself.

I recommend you call your travel agent.

Last time I was in the states, they had a book with about 20 different programs for Kenya and Tanzania alone.

A mate of mine when to Kenya and Tanz to Masai Mara, the Aberdares, Nrgongoro crater and Serengeti and it was $2000 plus airfare. He saw all the big 5 and took some amazing photos. It was booked through the travel agent.

Most of the places like National Geographic and Land Rover are on the spendy side.

I would take a photography class. I have been a damn poor quality artist since high school, but I take decent photos because I remember composition. You don't always want the "main event" dead center in the fram.

If have a Canon EOS digital Rebel. I have a 50mm, a 80-300 macro-micro, and a 24mm wide angle. With the camera it's almost $2000 worth of shit. I took some really fabulous photos all over the world. The only bad thing about film is the cost of developing, I have taken some really great photos with film cameras.

This one needs work, but even in failing light you can take some good photos.

Wierd light off center tree, kalahari sands. Not spectacular but you can screw with the light in a color program. These ar raw.

Hard to take bad photos in Yosemite, thesen't super, but they are good enough to prove a point. A filter to get through and refind that bad air would have helped. About 90 percent of any photo is how you maniuplate the image in the screen and the other 10% is what you do with it afterworld.

I am sure someone that is a good photographer can give you some pointers. You can fix a lot with an editing program.

D99,

Very nice photos and thanks for sharing.


Hamdeni

DC300

D99 is absolutely correct in that you can buy a photographic safari quite cheaply if you look around.

When we did a photo tour of the Crater and Tarangire we had a stretch Land Cruiser to ourselves, a professional hunter as our guide, a very interested an competent driver and accommodations were first rate. Do I think a $3500 all inclusive tour is close to the same experience? Definitely not!!!!

I saw the folks on the really inexpensive tours. They didn't look comfortable and their guides looked bored out of their minds.

I'm not saying that everybody should buy the most expensive safari available but I'm saying that saving up for another year to able to do a better (I did say better) safari is going to be well worth it in all respects. You'll look back on it in the future as a wondeful adventure.

A photo safari is like a hunitng safari in that there can be much more to it than just taking pictures or killing animals. Safari is a total experinece and without some of the "fancy shit" you won't get that total experience.

Mark

Mark $3500 for your own fucking show? Yeah that beats sitting in a cramped 130 rover safari wagon with 20 assholes from Sydny, New York, London, and Paris, that have never spent a night outside.

Yeah I would do that. Is the guide native or English?

Mark,

Sorry mate, I figured you were booking for one of those big tourista outfits like National Geographic does with another 20 assholes in the same car.

$3500 for your own show, that's outstanding.

Mark,

Can a guy do that one alone? I mean without a group by yourself?

Cold Bore,

Our Hunters Guild has a business partner that pretty much offers exactly what you are after.

Have a look at www.pureafrica.com

Other than whats listed, can do customised trips based on your requirements.

For those of you who are interested in a less travelled National Park in Kenya, I strongly recommend Meru National Park. The biotope is quite different from any other National Park in Kenya and there are, as yet, very few tourists. No circled wagons situations will be encountered. There are two reputable lodges: Elsa's Kopje (quite upscale) and Leopard Rock which is more mainstream as far as costs go.

quote:

Originally posted by TheBigGuy:

quote:

Originally posted by Don Fischer:
Cold Bore, what equipment will you take?

My thoughts as well. You can come back with nothing but HO HUM pictures with the wrong equipment. Plus familiarity with photographing game properly and your proficiency with the equipment takes practice.

Don't discount taking good pictures as just luck. It's challenging all by itself.

I would be taking my Nikon F5 (yep, I still shoot film, and love it! ), as well as a D1X (some digital is OK ). Lenses would be an assortment from their 18mm up to the 80-200mm. May even borrow (or scrape my nickels together to buy by then) a 300 or 400mm as well.

As for practice, etc, no problems there. It's actually my job, and I'm quite comfortable with it. One reason that I'd like to take this trip so much.

quote:

You can fix a lot with an editing program.

This is a personal pet peeve of mine. Shoot it right the first time, and forget the "I'll fix it later in Photoshop" thinking.

So many of the photo mags now even include a "Fixes" column each month where they take a reader's image, alter it completely, and declare it "fixed". Wrong.

If I can't "fix it" by traditional darkroom techniques (available in Photoshop, etc for digital images), not altering or changing the image to represent something different than was there, I took a bad shot and have to live with it.

The only time that I use PS for heavy changes is when it is *obvious* that the image has been changed and is not trying to be used to accurately represent reality at the time.

That's one reason that I've been slow to embrace the digital stuff, even though I have access to some of the best digital gear made (just picked up a new D2X at work to replace the D1x's...).

Thanks to everyone that is making suggestions!

I'm reading along and taking notes......

I went on a hunting safari with my husband in 2002 and have been back every year since for photo safaris. Just got back home last night from my 5th trip. The kids and I went a week early for a photo safari and then my husband flew over and we met up with him and went hunting for 8 days. It was a great trip.

The best photo safari was last year in Botswana. It was a mobile camping safari and was totally awesome. We went to Chobe, Moremi, Makgadigadi pans, and the Okavango Delta. Photos are here http://www.pbase.com/cjw/album_of_photos_from_botswana_africa_2005&page=all and a trip report is under the first picture. I went with 5 other photographers on this trip but I have contacted them regarding prices for a private 2 person or 1 person safari and they do those also. I used http://www.gametrailsbotswana.com/ but have also heard very good things about http://www.masson-safaris.com/index.htm. I definitely recommend this type of safari and plan to do another. October was too hot for me (100 - 120 degrees every day) so I will go earlier next time. Good luck with your planning!

CJW, those are really great photographs on your site. I especially like the lions at the drinking trough. By the way, what did you use to stabilize your camera: tripod, bean bag, anything?

I don't recall you saying what kind of camera you are using. If you don't have a digital SLR I would get one. They will make your life so much easier than 35 mm. I did one photo safari with 35 mm and another with digital. It took a backpack to carry all the film using 35 mm. A couple of gig cards will fit in a matchbook. Each will hold 2-400 shots depending on your megapixels. Good luck and post us a few pictures. You will have a great time. Get your own car and driver. You will not regret it.

Mark - I tried going to your website. The home page opens, clicked on photo or hunts and this comes up, but will not let me into the specific area for additional information. Am I doing something wrong? Please advise. Thanks.

Larry Sellers

quote:

Originally posted by MARK H. YOUNG:
DC300

D99 is absolutely correct in that you can buy a photographic safari quite cheaply if you look around.

When we did a photo tour of the Crater and Tarangire we had a stretch Land Cruiser to ourselves, a professional hunter as our guide, a very interested an competent driver and accommodations were first rate. Do I think a $3500 all inclusive tour is close to the same experience? Definitely not!!!!

I saw the folks on the really inexpensive tours. They didn't look comfortable and their guides looked bored out of their minds.

I'm not saying that everybody should buy the most expensive safari available but I'm saying that saving up for another year to able to do a better (I did say better) safari is going to be well worth it in all respects. You'll look back on it in the future as a wondeful adventure.

A photo safari is like a hunitng safari in that there can be much more to it than just taking pictures or killing animals. Safari is a total experinece and without some of the "fancy shit" you won't get that total experience.

Mark

Wink - sorry I didn't see your post earlier. At the beginning of the trip we braced the cameras on the back of the seats, our knees, whatever we could find. Then we got the safari company to bring us some board shelves that we wired/tied to the supports for the canvas top of the truck (you can see them here http://www.pbase.com/cjw/image/51468781) Some of the guys (with the 600mm lenses) had tripods that they tied to the side rails but that limited them to taking pictures on their side of the vehicle.

My wife and I had a great photo safari in the Luangwa Valley of Zambia. Very wild and uncrowded. May be worth a look:

http://www.robinpopesafaris.net/

In addition to open top LandRovers, they take you out on a true walking safari through DG country. We stayed in the Tena Tena camp.

Tim

quote:

Originally posted by D Hunter:
I don't recall you saying what kind of camera you are using. If you don't have a digital SLR I would get one. They will make your life so much easier than 35 mm. I did one photo safari with 35 mm and another with digital. It took a backpack to carry all the film using 35 mm. A couple of gig cards will fit in a matchbook. Each will hold 2-400 shots depending on your megapixels. Good luck and post us a few pictures. You will have a great time. Get your own car and driver. You will not regret it.

From a few posts above yours...

"I would be taking my Nikon F5 (yep, I still shoot film, and love it! ), as well as a D1X (some digital is OK ). Lenses would be an assortment from their 18mm up to the 80-200mm. May even borrow (or scrape my nickels together to buy by then) a 300 or 400mm as well."

While digital may be "easier", I still believe that film is superior.

I'd be taking both, but would count on my F5 as my "go-to" camera, using the D1X as a backup, or as a "supplement" to the film.

Call me hard headed, but I just can't make the jump over to digimagic with both feet....

Hello There

We specialize in Photo safairs too Kruger in South Africa, the Kalahari , in Botswana, as well as Chobe, Moremei, and northern Botswana.

Only one group booking at a time, so max 8 passengers

Give us a PM for more info and pricing

www.kwansafaris.com