Group size
Inclusions
Length
Who it’s for
You know your camera and you’ve done a few safaris. Tell me what you’re hoping for, whether that’s raptors in flight, a particular behaviour or the landscape, and we’ll plan the week with it in mind. Your guide and I will be thinking about your picture before it happens, and putting the vehicle where it needs to be.
You don’t need a magazine cover in mind. If you’d like to come home with photos you’ll actually want on the wall, a real step up from the usual holiday ones, you’ll fit right in.
Binoculars are as welcome as a 400mm lens. If you’re travelling with a photographer, you already know how long they’ll happily sit waiting for a bird to do something. You’ll probably spot half of what they miss, and take the credit.
The approach
Your host
I have photographed African wildlife for 14 years and trained in South Africa as a FGASA field guide, so I’m reading the animal alongside your guide. Where I come in is the picture: composition, what’s behind the subject, how much of its world to keep in the frame, and what it’s about to do next, like which way a bird will take off, so we’re set up before it goes.
Settings are as much or as little as you’d like. For some guests that’s a hand moving off auto, for others a quick word about spot metering for a dark bird in contrasting shade. Getting someone the shot they came for is the best part of my day.
The vehicle
Gimbal heads and beanbags are fitted, and there’s room to shoot without leaning round anyone. When there’s a leopard above us, using the gimbal saves us having to hold the weight of the lens in the air at an awkward angle, and could be the difference between getting and not getting the shot.
Batteries charge as we drive, there’s Starlink if your images need backing up, and there’s always something cold in the cool box.
Your guide
Your guide has spent years reading this bush. Tracks in the morning sand, an alarm call that means something’s on the move, which crossings the flood has closed this week. Finding the animal and knowing what it’s about to do is their craft, and watching a great guide at work is one of the best parts of our week.
“We were born there with those animals, born right into the Delta. That is where our school is. That is where our university is.”
Joe, licensed guide in the Delta since 1992
How we work it
A few frames
F5.6 · 1/1000 · 800MM
Cattle egrets heading home to roost after sunset. A slower shutter would have let in more light and lifted some detail in the birds. I went faster and darker instead, and let them fall to silhouette. The shapes were the picture.
F8 · 1/1000 · 300MM
A spotted bush snake, handheld and close. Framed so it’s looking into the clear space.
LEOPARD
She was lying on the ground beside the vehicle, and a full body shot from that angle is rarely flattering. So I went for the paw, with her face asleep behind it. It says calm, which is what she was.
LIONESS AND CUB
The cub’s paw, playful and caught in the sun. Mum’s face, rather sterner. Between the two of them, it’s parenthood in one frame.
F8 · HANDHELD · MACRO
Shot handheld, at f8 to find just enough depth of field. The subject was close and I wanted all of it sharp, but the background was noisy so it still needed separating. All of that going through my head alongside the eyes, which swivel independently.
ZEBRA
Black and white to bring up the dust, because the dust is the mood. It also leaves you wondering what they’re running from. Or to.
Before you arrive
Before we go, I’ll ask what you’re hoping to photograph and what you’re bringing. I shoot Canon, but I’m happy to learn my way round your menus, whatever you use.
Most evenings, if you fancy it, we can go through the day’s pictures together. I edit in Lightroom and I’m glad to help with yours, whether that’s a crop that changes the whole feel of a frame or a mask that lifts the animal from its surroundings. I like to keep things true to what was there. And if you’d rather have a drink by the fire, that’s fine too.
None of it stays in Botswana. The habit of watching before you shoot, and the bits of behaviour you pick up along the way, come home with you, to the birds in your own garden and the wildlife on your doorstep.
THE PRICE
PER PERSON
Full board, the bar, all park fees, all game drives, two mokoro excursions, a canvas tent you can stand up in with a proper bed and fresh linen, private ensuite bathroom, solar lighting and charging, a night in Maun on arrival, and road transfers to and from Maun. No ‘from’ prices, no hidden extras.
Not included: international flights, travel insurance, visas, your first dinner in Maun, and tips.
Travelling alone? Your own tent, no supplement. Two solo places on each departure.
We do not take card payments online. A 25% deposit confirms your place, with the balance due 90 days before departure, both by bank transfer.
DEPARTURES
5 to 12 June 2027
FOUR PLACES AVAILABLE
17 to 24 July 2027
FOUR PLACES AVAILABLE
MAXIMUM FOUR GUESTS · BOOKING OPEN FOR 2027
Tell me a little about you and what you’re hoping to photograph, and I’ll reply personally, usually the same day.
