Okavango Delta Photo Safari
This Okavango Delta Photo Safari takes you to Africa’s number 1 wilderness safari destination, the Okavango Delta. Extend your Botswana photo safari by adding a 3 night Salt Pans extension (details at end of this page). This is no ordinary Botswana photography tour, scroll down to see a portfolio from this photo safari in Botswana.
Scroll down to see the guest testimonials at the bottom of this page and watch this fun YouTube video from this safari, made with my iPhone.
Book your spot now by filling in the form at the end of this page.
An Okavango Delta photo safari experience
I am very proud to add yet another UNESCO World Heritage Site to my safari offering and this time on a Botswana photo safari! As a professional wildlife photographer, based full-time in Africa, the question I am asked the most often is, “Where is the best place to go on an African photo safari?” This is a tough question because Africa has so many fine photographic safari destinations, but if you really press me for an answer then I will say an Okavango Delta photo safari is Africa’s top wilderness safari experience. Keep reading to find out why this Botswana photography tour is the one to do…
The Okavango is not only one of Africa’s last great wildernesses and the jewel in the crown of any photo safari in Botswana; it is also totally unique, a place where the water, desert and sky meet. It feels like the furthest place from civilisation and yet, the safari camps are luxurious and intimate. The area consists of private wildlife concessions, each the size of the game reserves and parks that you find in other African countries. There are only one or two camps per concession, making this Botswana photography tour an exclusive experience. On this Okavango Delta photo safari you will search for your wildlife subjects in splendid isolation, driving for hours without seeing any other vehicles.
Not only is Botswana’s Okavango breathtakingly beautiful with big skies, lots of water, lush bush and beautiful birds; it is also the ultimate location in Africa to combine painted wolf and big cat photography. All of this unites to make a Botswana photo safari one of the finest safaris in Africa.
For this ultimate Okavango Delta photo safari we have secured bookings at two different camps in adjacent concessions. Both camps are located close to the heart of the Okavango Delta, the Moremi Game Reserve, but by spreading ourselves across two neighbouring concessions, we drastically increase our chances of seeing the big cats and especially the painted wolves and cheetah, whose home ranges are larger.
There is a very special 3 night ‘Botswana Salt Pan’ extension to this Botswana photography tour: The Makgadikgadi Salt Pans are just a short flight away and this extension offers everything from Meerkats and Bushman cultural photography, through to zebra aerial photography over what are believed to be the largest salt pans in the world. What could be better than photographing the watery delta and desert pans all on one photo safari in Botswana?
Sign up now for your ultimate Botswana photo safari by completing the form at the bottom of this page.
OKAVANGO DELTA PHOTO SAFARI DETAILS
This is a 6 night (7 day) Okavango Delta photo safari with the exciting option of doing a 3 night Botswana Salt Pan extension.
- Ultimate Okavango Delta Safari
- ON REQUEST ONLY
- The cost and dates of this safari will depend on whether you are traveling alone or in a group, and if you choose to do any of the exciting safari extensions listed at the bottom of this page.
Cost for this Okavango Delta photo safari includes all internal flights from Maun Airport (Botswana); meet and greet services; 3 nights’ accommodation in Chitabe Camp and 3 nights’ accommodation in Qorokwe Camp located in the Okavango’s most productive wildlife area; meals; laundry; house drinks; conservation/community fees; additional luggage allowance; private safari drives with exclusive vehicle use; photographic tuition and guiding services of professional African wildlife photographer Greg du Toit.
Not included in the cost of this Okavango Delta photo safari are visas you might need (depending on your nationality); purchases of a personal nature (like curios); staff gratuities (at your discretion); personal travel and medical insurance; your international flights and any adhoc activities not included on the itinerary.
40% deposit confirms your booking on this Okavango Delta photo safari.
Your Ultimate Okavango Delta Photo Safari Itinerary
Into the Okavango
To commence your Okavango Delta photo safari, you will be met at Maun Airport in Botswana by your personal photographic tutor and safari host, Greg du Toit. For those of you needing to overnight in Johannesburg the night before (depending on where in the world you are coming from), this can be arranged for you with the necessary meet and greet transfers. The Ultimate Okavango Delta Photo Safari however officially starts in Maun where we will check in at the Wilderness Air desk at the airport and get our luggage weighed. Don’t worry, an extra luggage allowance has been booked and is included in the cost of your Botswana photography tour. We take to the skies and leave all remnants of civilisation behind.
Flying north into one of the largest inland deltas in the world, you will land at a small dirt airstrip about a 40 minute drive from our first camp, which will be your home for the next 3 nights. To be more specific, your home on this Okavango Delta photo safari will be a large canvas tent built on a raised wooden deck under a giant tree and overlooking the vast floodplains of the Okavango Delta. Although you are in a tent, you will enjoy fine safari luxury with hot water and electricity.
Your first camp on this Botswana photography tour lies in the most wildlife rich part of the Okavango Delta, adjacent to the famed Moremi Game Reserve. Here you are not in the public reserve but in a private concession, where you can photograph African wildlife with exclusivity and freedom. After settling in to your tent, we will meet in the lounge area for tea. During this time we will check your camera settings and prepare for the afternoon safari drive, where photography will commence with immediate effect.
After your first afternoon safari drive on your Botswana photography tour, you will return to camp where after a campfire and scrumptious dinner, you will turn in for the night. The camp is located in one of the busiest concessions, from a wildlife point of view, and as such you will be lulled to sleep by the wild sounds of Africa.
Okavango Delta photo safari exploration part 1
Waking early on your Okavango Delta photo safari, when the nightjars and owls are still calling, you will meet around the fire for a cup of coffee or tea. It will still be dark and just as the faintest blue and orange hues appear in the East, you will head out on a full morning safari drive.
The concession you will be photographing in on this Botswana photography tour is simply sublime and offers a mosaic of habitats ranging from palm-fringed floodplains through to beautiful woodlands. Surrounded by water, you will explore and photograph the Okavango Delta’s very best wildlife concession. In April not only are the temperatures pleasant and moderate, but the flood waters are at their lowest, allowing you to penetrate the heart of the Okavango Delta and to photograph the wild creatures that call the Okavango home.
The good news is that almost every type of African animal calls the Okavango home. All the big cats like lion, cheetah and leopard are seen in this concession. Spotted hyenas and even honey badger and bat-eared fox sightings are a possibility. This concession is traditionally the best concession for wild dogs in the entire Okavango Delta. It is also rich in general game, including Cape Buffalo; giraffe; lechwe; tsessebe; warthog; zebra; elephant and much more.
The other good news is that you are on a small group Botswana photo safari and this means that not only do you have a professional wildlife photographer directing the guide in front, so as to be best positioned for light and animal behaviour, but you have an entire row in the safari truck to yourself. There is therefore lots of space to have your gear next to you and you can shoot out the left and the right.
After lunch you will have time to download your memory cards before heading out again after tea, to photograph the great afternoon light. This ultimate Okavango Delta photo safari is specifically designed for photographers and everything will revolve around getting you the very best photographs possible. Finding subjects in great light and in action will be our focus. Taking in the sights, sounds and smells of one of Africa’s last great wildernesses, will happen by osmosis. For this day and the upcoming days on your Botswana photo safari, you will immerse yourself in the Okavango Delta and with a professional photographer on-board to give recommendations and to answer any of your questions, the big African sky is the only limit.
Returning to camp in the dark, you will enjoy a fire and delectable dinner before turning in. The good news is that you wake up the next day only to do it all over again, except with different sightings and photo opportunities. No two days on a Botswana photography tour are ever the same.
Transfer to new spectacular concession
After a last morning safari drive, there is no need to pack your cameras away. This is where this itinerary differs from all others in that you do not fly to a completely different part of the delta, wasting time and having to start from scratch. On this Okavango Delta photo safari, we take a safari drive to the neighbouring concession, where you continue your photography tour. So keep your cameras out and ready as we transfer to your second camp.
This private concession in even bigger than your last and situated in a high-density game area. Your tent is also bigger, complete with an outdoor shower! The camp overlooks a lagoon and is impressively 100% solar powered. Arriving for lunch (the exact time depending on what we see on the way) you will settle in to your new home and meeting at tea again, you will set out to explore our new concession. By now we have ironed out your photographic creases and the photography on your Okavango Delta photo safari goes up a gear!
Your afternoon safari drive will end back at the campfire. After dinner, you turn in with the excitement of being able to explore further afield the following day on your Botswana photography tour.
Okavango Delta photo safari exploration part 2
With the same routine as in your previous camp, you will set out each morning before sunrise, in search of photographic subjects. This concession is very diverse, as place where giraffe-filled acacia savannahs give way to zebra-filled floodplains and riverine forests and groves of palms await, all filled with an abundance of birdlife.
This is a concession where you never know what is around the next corner. A birth of a baby elephant has even been witnessed in this concession! A big lion pride calls the concession home as do all other predators and giraffe; kudu; waterbuck; reedbuck; buffalo and hippo. Don’t forget about the smaller predators, like dwarf mongooses and side-striped jackals!
Breaking for lunch before heading out on the afternoon safari, you will search for any predators that you missed when at our previous camp. This concession, like our previous one, is excellent for painted wolves, also called wild dogs.
Day 5 and 6 on your Okavango Delta photo safari will be spent exploring and photographing one of the Okavango’s newest and most exciting concessions. As if by osmosis, the Okavango Delta will penetrate your heart and soul and your memory cards too! You will experience real, wild and wonderful Africa on this Okavango Delta photo safari as you photograph one of the most exclusive concessions in Africa’s most exclusive safari destination!
End of Okavango Delta photo safari and on to the salt pans
After a last morning safari drive, you will say goodbye to the Okavango Delta from the air as you catch your flight back to Maun. This is sadly the end of the official safari itinerary and you will commence your onward travel home from Maun.
The great news though, is that if you want your Botswana photo safari to continue, you can sign up for the Botswana Salt Pan extension. You can read more about this extension at the bottom of this page!
See the Okavango Delta photo safari portfolio below and click on any image to enlarge.
Photographic possibilities on this Okavango Delta photo safari
Why this Ultimate Okavango Delta Photo Safari is the safari for you…
– The concession we base ourselves in on this Okavango Delta photo safari has consistently, for the past decade, provided the very best wildlife sightings of any concession in the Okavango Delta.
– This Botswana photo safari is unique and different to any other because you will photograph two adjacent concessions. This continuity means that your chances of finding predators increases as you cover a wider area, one that includes entire predator territories like painted wolf and cheetah home ranges.
– By driving from the first camp to the second on this Botswana photography tour, no time is wasted having to pack your cameras away and flying to a new camp, just to start all over again. This itinerary offers continuity and exposes you to two different top-class concessions.
– You will receive expert personal tuition that larger group safaris cannot offer.
– With our own private safari truck, you will spend quality time at each sighting. Off-road driving is allowed and having an entire row to yourself, you will have maximum freedom to capture exceptional wildlife images.
– No one wants to see loads of vehicles and masses of tourists on a photo safari in Botswana. That is why this Botswana photography tour plays out on two private concessions with a limited number of vehicles.
– This Botswana photo safari offers a feast of unique photo opportunities and as such we cannot expect you to leave any of your equipment at home. We have booked an extra luggage seat for your flight in and out of the Okavango Delta.
– On this Okavango Delta photo safari you will receive help, guidance and advice on camera settings when it matters most – in the field, so that you go home with that award winning shot.
– Your photographic host is the author of a book titled ‘Getting it right in camera’ and if that title is exactly what you want to do, then this is the Botswana photography tour for you. With a complete photo workshop on his laptop, you can request lessons from Greg on any and every aspect of wildlife photography.
– The Okavango Delta is the best place in Africa to photograph big cats and painted wolves (wild dogs) making this Botswana photo safari one of the best on the continent.
– Besides the excellent photo opportunities, this photo safari in Botswana allows you to experience one of Africa’s most beautiful, unique and pristine wilderness wildlife areas.
– Professional African wildlife photographer, Greg du Toit, has spent the last decade exploring the Okavango and he will be your personal host and guide on this Botswana photo safari.
– Photographers of all levels are welcome, and you will receive expert tuition based on your level of experience.
– The green season is the best kept secret in the Okavango. Not only does the delta offer a plethora of life at this time but the flood waters are low, allowing you to penetrate the floodplain. The green season rates are also lower, so get in touch now to book your Okavango delta photo safari anytime between Nov-April.
– The Okavango delta is a UNESCO World Heritage site. It is also one of the largest inland delta systems in the world. So, what are you waiting for? Book your place now on this Okavango Delta photo safari by filling out the form at the end of this page now.
* Still got questions? See the FAQ I wrote about African photographic safaris.
Botswana Salt Pans extension
This Kalahari photo safari exciting extension dovetails beautifully with your Okavango Delta photo safari to make this the ultimate Botswana photo safari. Once back in Maun, you will take a short flight to central Botswana, where you will stay in a camp on the edge of the famous salt pans. For the next 3 nights and with African wildlife photographer, Greg du Toit, as your expert guide, you will photograph one of Africa’s most unique wildlife settings.
To do this you will fly by helicopter over the salt pans where Zebras journey to the last remaining pans of water, making for dramatic wildlife imagery. You will also take a flight over one of the very few flamingo breeding sites in Africa. Other activities on this extension include photographing adorable meerkats as well as joining in on a Bushman cultural experience. Photography is allowed on your African culture photo safari. You can also book a night of fly camping to photograph baobabs and stars (available from late June through to Sep only). The second half of this YouTube video will give you a good idea of what this extension is all about.
It makes all the sense in the world to add this unique extension on to your Okavango Delta photo safari, so just do it. Please mention when booking on the form below, if you are interested in doing this extension on your Botswana photo safari.
*With the salt pans extension, your Botswana photo safari is now a 9 night itinerary. Extend it and make it a 12 night odyssey by adding 3 nights in the legendary Linyanti region of northern Botswana or 3 nights searching for brown hyena, honey badger and black-maned lion in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve. If you add all these extensions together what you have is a 14 night ‘Bespoke Best of Botswana‘ safari.
Guest Testimonials