Blog Category: Africa

Sabi Sand is one of the many private reserves adjacent to the understandably famous Kruger National Park, a 7 hour drive from Johannesburg.  South Africa’s private reserves are independently owned land that are directly connected to their adjoining national park without a fence.  What this means is that while animals may freely cross back and forth between the two, one can often estimate with some certainty which animals may be found in a given private reserve due to their territorial nature. While Sabi boasts regular viewings of all of the “Big 5”, if it is well known for one animal, it is its leopards.  Leopards are arguably the most challenging...

Etosha, while home to one of the world’s largest salt plains, is also a spectacular base for spotting wild game in a very Serengeti-esque landscape.  The Namibian government sponsored campsites inside the park are fantastic, some of the best we have seen in Africa, boasting excellent facilities at reasonable prices, located right inside the park.  The waterholes are where I shot most of the elephants below and offer some fantastic viewing opportunities over a few beers and snacks, including some very rare rhinos.

Chobe National Park, in Northern Botswana, was an interesting park as most of my travels on this trip have taken us to dusty, barren landscapes only occasionally dotted with water since we are traveling in the dry season.  The Chobe river adds lush greenery and you can witness many animals take their daily pilgrimages to the water on predictable routes and observe their interactions with one another.  Chobe also boasts an incredible variety of animals, I have included a few here that I don’t normally shoot.

The Stanley & Livingstone Private Game Reserve is one of the few private reserves in Victoria Falls and the only one that can boast all 5 members of the “big 5.”  Game drives are reasonably priced and well run with newer and higher quality trucks than most other game parks that we have visited.  Our morning drive was somewhat uneventful compared to South Luangwa but was still time well spent!

Victoria Falls, or Mosi-oa-Tunya, is the world’s largest waterfall, at the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe.  Hiking the trails near the falls on both sides of the border is an intense experience with the mist from the sheer volume of water falling resulting in a good drenching, despite being several hundred feet from the water.  However, to really appreciate the sheer size and layout of the falls, the best way to do it is from the air. While the flight is only 15 minutes, the views are incredible, and add an amazing perspective to the surrounding areas. As an added bonus, Victoria Falls was a great place to view the...

If there is one park to go to in Africa, this is the one.  Absent is the intense commercialization of the Serengeti, instead replaced with respectful and knowledgeable guides (some of the best trained in Africa), stunning landscapes, and much fewer people.  The park hosts a wide variety of animals – leopards and some substantial prides of lions along with many unique birds and an incredible hippo population. Similar to the Serengeti, we were able to camp right inside the park.  However, unlike the Serengeti where we simply heard some animals distant, the campsites are regularly visited by hippos and elephants and anybody who is curious can just watch from...

Ruaha National Park is Tanzania’s largest park at over 20,000 square kilometers in size.  The park is well known for elephants, but also has some of the largest prides of lions around.  At this time of year, the mighty river has been reduced to a creek with dry riverbeds strewn everywhere throughout the park. Besides the lions, there were scores of amazing wildlife throughout the park, although much more spread out than in the Serengeti.  We explored the park for a full 12 hours, the size and diversity of backgrounds is hard to fathom, it seems to go on forever.

Welcome to Stone Town, the unique old section of Zanzibar City.  Stone Town was the primary link to Africa for the spice trade and slave trade in the 18th and 19th centuries. Stone Town has an interesting food market that operates every night, with a dizzying array of local seafood, baked goods, and sugar cane juices. While the architecture is interesting, and the food delicious, it’s really the people that make for the most interesting viewing.  You can easily spend an afternoon with a coffee people watching!

Our entry permit for the Serengeti was only 24 hours – an impossible timetable to see the massive 30,000 square kilometre park often described as one of seven wonders of the African continent.  Unlike other parks, due to the massive size of the park, the game is much more spread out, which lends itself to lots of “what if I don’t see…” type thoughts, but then you turn a corner and you stumble across the next amazing image…

The Ngorongoro Crater is the result of a massive volcano explosion 2-3 million years ago.  At 610 metres deep and over 260 square kilometres in area, the crater boasts some of the most beautiful and unspoiled terrain in Tanzania.  While an incredibly busy site for visitors, cooperative agreements with conservation agencies and the local Maasai tribes have left the area reasonably unscathed and the crater is home to an astonishing number of types of plants and animals. The animals are incredible here, but the backgrounds are sometimes ignored in favour of spotting the biggest lions or the most brightly coloured birds, and in truth, the backgrounds are what makes this place...