In August of 2013, we will guide a small group of photographers to find exciting wildlife and landscape photography opportunities in Botswana!  We’ll capture images at Victoria Falls, Chobe National Park, and the Okavango Delta!  We’ll travel by safari vehicle, boat, mokoro (canoes), and foot!

Our journey will begin at Victoria Falls on the Zimbabwe/Zambia border.  Known as “smoke that thunders”, Mosi-o-Tunya is considered the largest sheet of falling water in the world (it’s only rival is South America’s Iguazú Falls) and one of those “must see” World Heritage Sites.  We’ll have time to play with cameras on both sides of the falls!  And we’ve timed things to have a good chance to see and photograph both rainbows and moonbows!

Then we’re off across the border into Botswana where we’ll begin our explorations in the Chobe National Park.  We’ll start on the Chobe River where we’ll be able to explore for wildlife by both boat and safari vehicle.  We’ll be on the river for late day light, a perfect time to photograph silhouettes of animals coming to the water’s edge in sunset light! 

We have timed things for full moon at the Chobe Safari Lodge – and should be able to see it rise while we are out looking for wildlife against the sunset! 

We’ll move to the Savute Marsh, the remnant of an ancient large lake cut off from its source of water.  Here, we’ll find extensive savannas adorned with a broad selection of hoofed animals and elephants.  And, of course, those wish to eat them! Chobe National Park is best known for its elephant concentrations – perhaps the highest in all of Africa.  This should be amazing country to stalk with cameras and safari vehicles!

Then it’s time to move into the Okavango Delta! 

Rains in the Angola highlands make their way south until they reach the Okavango Delta, where they spread out over the flat delta bringing life.   

When those waters flood the dry delta, they become a magnet for wildlife.  The delta is rich in hooved animals.  Buffalo, giraffes, wildebeest, zebras, red lechwe, warthogs, impalas, kudu and sable antelope are the most noted of these. 

They are joined by hippos and both black and white rhinos.  And Chacma Baboons! 

And they are chased by an exciting group of predators including the Nile crocodile, lions, cheetahs, jackals, leopards, brown and spotted hyenas, and endangered African Wild Dogs. 

The waters of the delta attract 400 species of birds!  We’ll be looking for African Fish Eagles, Crested Cranes, Hammerkops, Ostriches, Sacred Ibis and Lilac-breasted Rollers – among others!

We’ll start in the Moremi Game Reserve, an area that has both “permanent waters” and some of the seasonally flooded delta.  The reserve hosts a diverse ecosystem that includes dry plains, savannas, woodlands, dry delta water channels, and lagoons – and the mix of species that comes from that diversity.  The cool nights of this time of year combine with the strong direct light to create great early and late photographic opportunities.  We may be able to photograph a lion’s breath or a puffed out bird in the morning light – and the wildlife is apt to bask in the final light of the day!

We’ve worked hard to find just the right moment to visit Botswana.  The flooding of the Okavango Delta will have reached its maximum, concentrating wildlife.  The prey and predators will be deeply engaged in the game of hunting and fleeing!  We’ll have great opportunities to know where the action is – and get to the action.  The temperatures are perfect – and we’ll enjoy a full moon!

Then - you have the option to fly with us to the Kalahari Desert where we'll explore the Makgadikgadi Pans on an exciting extension to this adventure!  Brace yourself for more exciting wildlife photography!

Botswana bucks some of the basic assumptions of African safari travel.  First, the country was not desperate for foreign exchange, so was able to approach ecotourism in a rational and thoughtful manner.  This has yielded visitor experiences that are natural and unspoiled – giving those who come a true sense of what Africa is about. 

Second, Botswana is far enough from the equator to have a temperate climate and seasons.  Our adventure is planned for when the waters have expanded as far as they will go for the season into the delta, when the wildlife concentrations are maximized, and when it is comfortable.  It may be downright chilly at night some of the time – but it’s unlikely to be blistering hot during the day!

 Images (except for lilac breasted roller) provided by African Safari Company