Your big cat photography workshop starts by departing Johannesburg from the small and private Airlink terminal, where you can sip a cappuccino and enjoy the lounge snacks. You will be met at the start of this South Africa photo safari leg by your host, professional wildlife photographer Greg du Toit. A short one hour flight will take you to the world-renowned Mala Mala Game Reserve for your Mala Mala photo safari to begin. The airstrip is just a 5 minute drive from Mala Mala,  your home for the next 4 nights.

Mala Mala was one of the first properties in South Africa to stop hunting, converting over to photographic safaris back in the sixties. For over half a century now, Mala Mala has been a mainstay of the South Africa photo safari circuit and is an absolute photographic mecca. The campgrounds are stunning, offering wide vistas of the African bush and many antelope wonder through the grounds unperturbed. Your Big 5 photo safari sometimes starts with you spotting members of the Big 5 from the camp and leopards regularly pass through during the night. Thankfully you will be sound asleep when they do!

The rooms on your South Africa photo safari all have air-conditioning and there is complimentary wireless internet connectivity. Drinks and water are supplied free of charge and there is a bar fridge in your room, which is stocked upon your request. Your room is luxurious, complete with his and hers closets, a lounge, indoor and outside showers plus a bath. Your room on this Mala Mala photo safari also has a desk and charging station for you to download and review your photographs.

On this Mala Mala photo safari you wake at 05h30 and depart camp in the dark at 06h00 (while all the other guests are still asleep). We will search for predators based on tracks and the sightings from the previous night and you will be deep in the African bush by the time the sun rises at 06h35. The first part of the morning will be spent with the predators or other members of the Big 5. Mala Mala is one of the best African photo safari destinations for leopards and it is not unusual to photograph a dozen or more different individual leopards on this big cat photo safari. Sublime predator photography is the order of the day until the light becomes too harsh. Once light levels are too high to create dramatic low-light imagery, we will move onto trying to capture birds in flight before we stop for a scrumptious bush breakfast picnic on your South Africa photo safari. Returning to camp by midday, you will then have time to download your images. For those avid photographers with big memory cards, the aloe flowers in the camp are flowering this time of year and there is wonderful bird photography to be done right in camp.

High tea is served early, especially for us, and by 3pm we are out on safari drive again tracking leopards.

This Africa photo safari will help you take your imagery to the next level as you build an entire leopard portfolio.

The safari trucks are completely open with no roof, which provides for maximum photographic freedom to photograph leopards up in trees. It is winter here in Africa so it is not hot, and there is therefore no need for the safari truck to have a roof. Having a private vehicle all to ourselves, will ensure that you are able to exercise the freedom needed to obtain exceptional imagery. With only 3 photographers on the safari truck, you will have an entire row to yourself, enabling you to shoot out both the left and the right on this big cat photo safari.

While your driver guide expertly tracks the predators for the evening shoot, there will be time to double check your camera settings and to make sure that you are ready to expertly capture the predator action to follow. With your own professional wildlife photographer in the front of the vehicle, you will receive expert and personalised tuition including exact settings and creative insights. Greg will ensure that you are best positioned for the light and wildlife action. You will of course be able to ask questions at will –  the purpose of this Africa photo safari is to ensure that you expand your personal photographic portfolio and horizons.

You will enjoy a night safari as you follow leopards and other nocturnal predators through the bush in the dark. There is also a great hyena den site which means that you have an opportunity to photograph all of Africa’s big predators.

You return to camp for dinner where we will meet in the bar for pre-dinner drinks and safari banter. From there, we will move into the ‘boma’ for dinner where you will dine alfresco under the African stars. There will of course be lots more talk about photography as we reminisce on the day’s sightings. An after dinner tea or coffee will see you turn in for the night.

This South Africa photo safari leg of this photo safari guarantees that you will return home with exceptional leopard images in the bag. Only Mala Mala vehicles traverse in the central game viewing area and this means that on most of our sightings we will be the only vehicle there and at the very most, there will only be another two vehicles on a sighting with us. You will therefore not get the clutter of vehicles at leopard sightings that you find in other parts of Africa, making this one of the best African photo safaris you can do. You will also enjoy longer periods of time on sightings. You will also enjoy spending time with Africa’s other splendid animals like giraffe, zebra, baboons, warthogs and elephants on this South Africa photo safari.

On the last morning of your Mala Mala photo safari you will enjoy one more safari drive, then breakfast before your departure to Botswana. The travel time is approximately 3 hours as we need to land to clear South Africa customs before carrying on to Botswana for the Mashatu photo safari. Arriving in Mashatu, you will be met by your Mashatu guide and a 40 minute transfer will take you into the heart of Botswana’s Northern Tuli Game Reserve. This little known corner of Botswana is also her best kept secret.

Once arriving at camp you will settle in before heading out on your first Mashatu photo safari drive. This Mashatu photo safari itinerary has been carefully designed so that you do not need to miss a safari drive on this transfer day. A campfire, scrumptious dinner and cosy bed will bring an end to your first day in Botswana.

Mashatu Game Reserve is an enchanting wilderness in south eastern Botswana. Situated at the confluence of Kipling’s ‘great grey green greasy‘ Limpopo and Shashe Rivers, this area is unlike any other in Africa. If you are looking for a different and exciting part of Africa to explore on an Africa photo safari, then look no further:

The ample plains on this Mashatu photo safari range from arid savannah, to riverine forests and sandstone outcrops. Dubbed the Land of Giants, Mashatu takes its name from the locally-sacrosanct Mashatu tree and the giants that roam the terrain. As one of the largest private game reserves in Southern Africa, Mashatu is a fitting setting for the world’s largest land mammal, the elephant. Mashatu is home to the largest herds of elephant on privately owned land on earth and it also provides sanctuary to the world’s tallest mammal (the giraffe); the world’s largest antelope (the eland); the world’s largest bird (the ostrich) and the world’s heaviest flying bird (the kori bustard). Add the lion, the king of the beasts, and the iconic baobab as well as a thriving population of leopard, and you have a spectacular location for the best African photo safari.

This extraordinary place possesses an ecological diversity that is uncommon in other reserves. Mashatu is not just a great location for big cat photography but it is also home to the more uncommon and smaller predators including the honey badger, bat-eared fox, African wild cat, genet, porcupine and black-backed jackal. That’s right, this Mashatu photo safari does not just include Africa’s large predators but its smaller ones too.

Mashatu is also a bird paradise and plays host to more than 350 bird species. The photographic opportunities at the drying river pools are splendid. There is also a large breeding colony of bee-eaters that will challenge the reflexes of even the most experienced photographers.

Your Mashatu photo safari routine takes the same shape and form as it did in Mala Mala, except that the scenery and photo opportunities will be totally different as you explore the wilderness in an open Toyota safari truck. With the dry season starting to take effect, the colours of Mashatu have changed to orange, interspersed with soft greens, which all makes for excellent backgrounds to your photographs. Along the rivers it remains very green and it is not uncommon to find a leopard reclining in one of the large Mashatu trees. This is an awesome photo to add to your portfolio. Predator viewing is at its best at this time of year and the soft sun’s rays of the winter make lion, leopard and cheetah really glow.

On this Mashatu photo safari there is an underground hide, designed and built especially for photographers. From this hide you will get a low angle perspective on your subjects and, combined with your regular safari drives, you will assemble a dynamic collection of incredible photographs. The hide offers incredible elephant viewing and some of the best elephant photography in Africa. If you have not photographed an elephant’s toenails yet, you have not lived!

It also offers a plethora of other photographic opportunities like having the world’s largest antelope, the eland, drinking at eye-level. Shots of a leopard drinking at the hide are also a possibility on this big cat photography workshop and to help you get this shot, we have booked an evening hide session. This underground and eye-level hide makes this Mashatu photo safari an even more unique and incredible photographic experience. Elephants and a host of other animal species are also drinking and this is great news for your photographic portfolio.

After a last morning safari drive on your Mashatu photo safari, you return to camp for brunch, after which you will catch a 90 minute flight back to Lanseria Airport in Johannesburg, for your onward travel home. Transfers and overnight hotel bookings can be arranged depending on your travel schedule. This is the official end of this Africa photo safari.

For those wanting to continue on with your Africa photo safari there are these exciting extensions on offer to make your safari the ‘best Africa photo safari‘. These extensions include the Okavango Delta, Mana Pools, Skeleton Coast and a Meerkat photo safari. Add any one or combination of these extensions to your safari and make this the best private Africa photo safari experience!

Please note that we only get back into Johannesburg after the Mashatu photo safari leg in the evening, so if your homeward flight is before 9pm, it will be necessary for you to overnight in Johannesburg and these arrangements can be made for you when booking.

Browse the portfolio of photographs below, all taken at Mala Mala and Mashatu on this Big 5 photo safari. Click own any image to enlarge.