The itinerary begins in Chobe. The meeting point for the group is The Chobe Pangolin Hotel, a short drive from Kasane Airport (transfers can be arranged). For those interested in visiting Victoria Falls before the safari we will arrange a 1.5 hour road transfer.

Your Photograpic host will meet you at the hotel, where you will also be introduced to your fellow travelers and enjoy some light refreshments before you move to the Pangolin Voyager, your houseboat and home of the next 3 nights.

Because the Pangolin Voyager is moored on the Namibian side of the river you will have to clear immigration again before boarding the boat. This is a simple but memorable experience.

The Pangolin Voyager is specially designed to maximise your game viewing experience without compromising on comfort. The houseboat consists of five cabins, all en-suite, which can be configured as double or twin rooms. The houseboat is split over three levels, with most rooms on the lower deck, a dining area and lounge on the middle deck and an inviting top deck to relax and soak up the views at any time of day. The rooms are air-conditioned adding that extra comfort in summer.

The Pangolin Voyager has three different mooring spots along The Chobe River and will be visited over the course of the next three days. Alongside the houseboat is a specially designed eight seater photo boats which will be used use for our morning and afternoon activities out on the river looking for subjects to photograph.

Having met the team and settled into your rooms you will depart on your first boating safari later that afternoon.

For the next two days you will cruise along the Chobe River on the houseboat and enjoy boating safaris from the smaller specially designed motor boat in the morning and afternoon- the most productive time for game viewing.

The game viewing along the Chobe River varies greatly with the seasons. In the (African) Summer months between November and April you will have amazing birdlife everywhere as the “migrants” take up their annual residency. There will still be large mammals around such as elephant, buffalo and hippo as well as resident crocs and antelope, so all in all an excellent time to photograph, with lots of bright green backgrounds and newborn animals everywhere. The (African) winter months, between May and October, will see larger numbers of elephants as the water becomes more scarce inland and the river becomes more popular with all animals.

There is always something to photograph in Chobe, making it the ideal spot to start your safari. No matter when you decide to join this safari, throughout the year, you are sure to start with a bang and plenty of “keepers”!

In between game activities there will be hosted image review and group editing sessions. For this to be truly effective you will need to have your own laptop with you with the latest version of an editing programme installed and updated. Our software of choice is Adobe Lightroom and we have a free online course you can start before your arrival so that you are familiar with its functions if you haven’t used it before.

This morning you bid farewell to the Pangolin Voyager and Chobe as you return to Kasane for your flight to the Okavango. The exact time will be schedule the day before, this is usually around 11am and takes about 60 minutes.

This is a very scenic flight. You will follow the river for a while before turning south west over the southern reaches of Chobe, to Savute and eventually to the Selinda Reserve - which lies between the Okavango and Chobe Reserve. On arrival your guide will be waiting to meet you. You safari begins on landing – so keep your eyes out!

Pangolin Photo Camp is a simple tented camp. This is a semi-mobile camp, moving regularly between seven sites on the western NG16 private concession – in southern Selinda. The camp will be moved between guest visits, not during. With this mobile nature in mind the tents and interiors are simple and lightweight in design, but very comfortable with everything you will need during your stay.

This is an authentic bush camp, with a simple design allowing you to experiencing the true essence of the wilderness around you. The ethos here is to forego luxuries of many Okavango Delta camps in favour of spending more time in the field with photographic experts. It’s all about the wildlife here!

Each large meru-style tent features a small outdoor veranda with a seating area as well as en-suite bathrooms with a flushing toilet and a hot water bucket shower. There are twin raised steel beds with mattresses and quality linen as well as solar power units to charge all camera batteries, electronic devices as well as lighting and fans during the warner months.

As a semi-permanent camp Pangolin Photo Camp will have the ability to move regularly making the most of sightings and animal movements in different parts of the concession. At this stage, seven locations have been identified as ideal camp locations. This mobility allows the camp to relocate to be close to exciting animal activities such as lion kills, resident leopards, and wild dog dens. Spending less time in camp and more time at relevant sightings is the goal, and essential for successful wildlife photography. Guests will have the opportunity to be in the right place at the right time during the best light.

Having met the team and settled into your rooms you will enjoy some light refreshments as you discuss the area and wildlife movements with your guide. You will then set out on your first afternoon game drive, stopping as the sun begins to set to soak up the stunning skies and enjoy the traditional sundowner drink.

Returning to camp a roaring fire awaits, followed by dinner under the stars.

The next morning starts early, with an early morning wake-up call and light breakfast. As the sun comes up you are off, tracking the movements of the predators from during the night and looking for signs of any wildlife action. This is when predators are most active and you have your greatest chance of catching those special sightings. Your drives will last around 4 hours, depending on sightings, and will include a coffee stop with snacks for a chance to stretch your legs. Returning to camp around mid-morning you will enjoy a hearty brunch and then have some time to relax in camp before setting out in the late afternoon, as the day cools, for your afternoon game drive.

Pangolin Photo Camp is located on the private NG16 concession (known as Selinda) in the remote western sector of the Okavango Delta. This is a beautiful area of varied terrain and wildlife. The camp has traversing rights to approximately 30,000 hectares (100,000 acres) over an area crossed by the famous Selinda Spillway linking the Okavango to the Linyanti. Being on a private concession allows off-roading for productive tracking and optimising the position of the vehicle- important factors for wildlife photography.

The Selinda Reserve is a rich and varied ecosystem, and home to a fantastic variety of animals. The landscapes are very similar to those in the Okavango Delta. Open grass plains are dotted with palm trees and teem with plains game such as zebra, wildebeest and giraffe. Shady riverine forests are the perfect habitats for browsers like kudu, roan and sable and leopard too. In the dry season elephants and buffalo are found in good numbers. Predators include lion, wild dog, leopard, hyena and cheetah.

In between drives your Pangolin Photo Host will assist with editing sessions in the editing tent. You will also have some down time to enjoy being in this pristine part of the world.

Today you depart the Okavango for the Kalahari. You will bid a fond farewell to the team and perhaps enjoy one last morning drive before you fly south west to the Central Kalahari. A flight of about 60 minutes. On arrival your guide will be waiting to transfer you to camp, a short game drive of about 5 minutes.

Dinaka Camp lies on a private reserve bordering the Central Kalahari Game Reserve and delivers a fantastic desert safari experience, showcasing very different animals to those found in the Okavango. Dinaka is a beautiful camp and the most luxurious on your itinerary – you will certainly be ending your safari in style. The rooms are very spaciously and beautifully designed and the main areas under the high thatch are airy and inviting and look out on the busy waterhole.

Activities include morning, afternoon and night drives, bushman walks, photographic hide, viewing deck, guided walks. The vehicles all have beanbag camera mounts and again is maximum four per vehicle for the game drives with the photo host alternating between the two game viewers.

Having settled in and had lunch you will have some time to rest before you depart on your first activity. This is a very different landscape and the wildlife is different too. Desert adapted species include the Kalahari Black Maned Lion, brown hyena, aardwolf, cheetah, oryx, springbok and more. Rhino are commonly seen here. Birding is superb. A fantastic contrast to the Okavango.

Due to the dry nature of the environment here the animals tend to gather at the waterholes, making for a slightly more relaxed safari and superb photo opportunities. The photo hides in particular are ideal for capturing those special shots.

The sunsets in the Kalahari are particularly dramatic and the raised viewing deck makes the perfect spot for capturing those stunning images.

For the next two days you explore the reserve, with morning and afternoon activities.

As a camp Dinaka is very flexible with their timings and earlier starts or later finishes to game activities are all accommodated for to make the most of our time there. One activity not to be missed is a walk through the bush with the resident bushman guides where you will learn about their traditional subsistence way of life from what at first sight appears to be such a stark environment culminating in a demonstration of traditional fire making techniques and some story telling as the sun sets.

The waterhole hide at Dinaka is a sunken “bunker type” hide and can seat the whole group together with the host. You will be photographing out at water level as the animals arrive, to slake their thirst right in front of you. It’s a very special place to be and photograph from.

The night sky of the Kalahari is breath-taking especially at certain times of the month, when there is a new moon, and if the conditions are right we will take the opportunity to practice some astro and star trails photography.

Again during the day there will be editing sessions but also the opportunity to have some downtime by the pool or on a snooze with a good book on the deck…..with your camera close at hand in case something appears at the camp’s waterhole of course!

This morning you depart to Maun airport, a flight of about 30 minutes, where you bid farewell to your fellow photographers and host and continue with your onward arrangements.