November 2022 and it was time to take our trip to Mashatu in Botswana – finally. Delayed initially due to the pandemic, things were open again, so we boosted our Covid-19 vaccinations, packed our cameras and took off. Mashatu Game Reserve is located in the Tuli Block of eastern Botswana, and it is home to a diverse range of wildlife. There are a number of ways to reach it, depending on your route and budget. We flew into Johannesburg, and onwards to Polokwane. There we met our professional photographer tour leaders, Ann & Steve Toon, for our road trip up to the border with Botswana. Cue the jeopardy. The original…
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A Stormy Return to Africa
It’s going up for three years since we were last on African Soil. Chobe, Botswana in the summer of 2019 was a game-changer. We learnt so much more about photography. Discovered new ways to compose, playing with exposure, or simply focussing on the little things. And with its abundance of wildlife, there was ample opportunity to keep practising. We came away with 12000 images and an even greater enthusiasm for our subjects (if that was possible). We immediately began planning our return to Africa. Then along came the pandemic. Travel came to a stop. Thank you SARS-CoV-19! It’s time Like many others, our planned and booked trips were postponed. For…
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How We Fell In Love With Africa On Our First Safari Experience
I think one of the strongest memories of our first safari experience was landing on a sandy airstrip convinced we were going to kill an Impala. Our two-hour flight into the Masai Mara had taken us over an amazing landscape, with views of the top of Kilimanjaro. I was literally glued to the window, desperate to spot my first ever elephant – from the sky. The excitement was making my heart thump right out of my chest. Even today, 16 years on, I still get butterflies whenever we fly over Africa, with views of the game reserves and national parks below. As we touched down, wheels skidding in the dust,…
