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DeutschWe believe that The Chobe River and National Park is one of the best wildlife photography destinations in Southern Africa – This 9 day journey with its 7-day photo safari is the perfect opportunity to learn new wildlife photography skills under the supervision of your Photo Host. If you are travelling without a camera then we can also supply you with cameras and telephoto lenses to use for the duration of the photo safari free of charge.
If you have ever wanted to learn or indeed improve your wildlife photography skills but never found the time then this is the safari for you…in the greatest classroom in the world!
These safaris are offered on set departure dates, throughout the year, with no more than eight guests accompanied by a Photo Host for the photographic portion.
| Accommodation | Destination | Basis | Room Type | Duration | |
| Ilala Lodge Hotel | Victoria Falls (Zimbabwe) | B&B | 1x Standard Room (s) | 2 Nights | |
| Voyager Houseboat | Chobe River Front | FI | 1x Cabin | 3 Nights | |
| Chobe Hotel | Kasane | FI | 1x Pangolin Chobe Hotel Room | 3 Nights |
Key
B&B: Bed and Breakfast
FI: Fully Inclusive – Bed, All Meals, Fees and Activities
Price
High Season: US$3,968.- per person, sharing occupancy, single supplement US$1,788.-
Green Season: US$3,247.- per persons, sharing occupancy, single supplement US$1,288.-
Dates for 2021:
High Season:
11-17 July 2021
25- 31 August 2021
07-13 Oct 2021
Green Season:
09-15 March 2021
14-20 Nov 2021
Check with us as additional dates or changes might happen. Itinerary may feature either Chobe Hotel or Houseboat first.
Included
Accommodation and meals as per package, National Park fees, all transfers,
Photo Safari: Standard alcoholic beverages during photo safari, Twice Daily activities, photo tuition from photo host, cameras and lenses for use, memory cards, daily photo review session on your own laptop,
Victoria Falls Hotel: Guided tour of the Falls, Boma Dinner and Entertainment;
Excluded
International flight to/from Victoria Falls, visas, optional tours in Victoria Falls, premium drinks during photo safari; travel and evacuation insurance;
When to travel:
We destinguis between wet (November through March) and dry season (April through October); The riverfront is most busy during the dry season when the wildlife comes to drink at the rivers edge. October can be fairly hot. The wet season has prolific baby animals that attract predators. Birders will enjoy the wet season as migrants are present. Afternoon showers are likely. The scenery is bright and green with less dust in the air.
Day 1: Ilala Lodge Hotel, Victoria Falls (Zimbabwe)
Zimbabwe
A nation of spectacular natural beauty, friendly people and rich culture, Zimbabwe’s status as one of Africa’s leading safari destinations was dampened for years by its political instability. But now that the country is transcending its strife and returning to a state of equilibrium, it is once again emerging as a vacation highlight of the continent. Victoria Falls – known to locals as ‘The Smoke That Thunders’ – is one of the seven natural wonders of the world and the sheer power of this massive body of water plunging into the Zambezi Gorge is awe-inspiring and unforgettable. Lake Kariba, with its game-rich shores and islands, is an idyllic safari spot featuring mind-blowing sunsets; Hwange National Park is known for its huge herds of elephants; and a kayak trip down the Zambezi through the Mana Pools National Park will appeal to the intrepid traveller, providing close encounters with crocodiles, hippos and a host of other wildlife.
Victoria Falls (Zimbabwe)
Resting on the southern banks of the Zambezi river at the western end of the eponymous falls, this popular tourist town is compact enough to walk around and makes an ideal base for travellers exploring the seventh wonder of the world, the unfathomably vast Victoria Falls. About two thirds of the falls can be viewed from the Zimbabwean side and, while the falls are undoubtedly the star attraction, the area provides both adventure seekers and sightseers with plenty of opportunities to warrant a longer stay. Popular activities include scenic flights over the falls in helicopters or micro lights, bungee jumping off the Victoria Falls Bridge, white-water rafting (seasonal), and day trips to Chobe National Park. The town itself offers some excellent accommodation and restaurant options as well as an eclectic variety of African curios and authentic art sold by friendly Zimbabwean locals who are wonderfully welcoming and eager to help you enjoy your stay. Please check your itinerary for inclusions.
Day Itinerary
Arrive at Victoria Falls Airport where you will be met and assisted to your hotel.
Overnight: Ilala Lodge Hotel View iBrochure
Ilala Lodge Hotel is ideally located only 8 minutes away from the spectacular Victoria Falls. A family run hotel, Ilala Lodge has 73 stylish, well-appointed spacious rooms, that offer the ultimate in comfort and luxury. As we are the closest hotel to the beautiful Victoria Falls, the spray makes for a perfect backdrop during your stay.
Experience a culinary journey at the award-winning Palm Restaurant at Ilala Lodge Hotel. Centrally located only minutes away from the Victoria Falls, The Palm Restaurant offers a magnificent à la carte menu for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Guests can choose from an extensive list of South Africa’s finest wines, cocktails and artisan gins. We offer an unrivalled al-fresco dining experience under the starlit African sky, with the sound of the Falls in the background. The Palm Restaurant is an adventure for the appetite that is not to be missed.
Relive the historical journey embarked by David Livingstone exploring the mighty Zambezi River aboard the Ra-Ikane fleet. Named after his instrumental guide, the boats represent the grace of a bygone era honouring the rich history of Victoria Falls and its explorers, adventurers and heroes. The Ra-Ikane offers a variety of cruises, including breakfast, lunch and sunset, as well as private charters.
Standard Room (s)
26 twins, with 2 large three-quarter beds in each room.
All rooms have en suite bathroom with separate shower, air conditioning, overhead fan, satellite TV hair dryer, safe and have individual coffee, free WiFi, room service and tea facilities. The rooms are spacious with railway teak furnishings.
All rooms look towards the Victoria Falls, and the National Park. There are often wild animals grazing on the lawn, and the windows and doors rattle from the force of the water from the mighty Victoria Falls.
All rooms have either a private patio or their own seating area on the lawn, facing the Falls.
Basis
Bed and Breakfast
Day 2: Ilala Lodge Hotel, Victoria Falls (Zimbabwe)
Activities
| Guided Tour of Victoria Falls |
| The Boma Restaurant |
Optional – extra charge
| Helicopter Flight over Victoria Falls |
| Village Tour near Victoria Falls |
| Batoka Hike and Ndbele Village Tour |
| Victoria Falls Bridge Tour |
| Rhino Encounter Game Drive |
Guided Tour of Victoria Falls
Your guide will pick you up from your hotel and take you on an unforgettable experience through the Victoria Falls rainforest, a journey that not only affords a view of one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World but provides a great deal of interesting facts about the geology, wildlife and history of Africa’s most famous landmark. Listen to magical tales of local legend while you enjoy the constant spray from the “The Smoke that Thunders”.
Your guide will also help ensure the best photographic opportunities of this breathtaking World Heritage Site.
The Boma Restaurant
The Boma – Dinner & Drum Show is a “must do” Victoria Falls dining and entertainment experience, specializing in traditional African food, drumming and dancing. The food is cooked and served in the style and quantity of a lavish feast, including irresistible desserts.
On arrival, you are dressed in a chitenge (traditional sarong) and welcomed into a vibrant atmosphere in which the tantalizing aromas of local dishes and game meat on the braai (barbecue) fill the restaurant, which is partially open to the star-filled African sky.
Your meal begins with a mouth-watering platter of starters whilst the buffet includes soup from the campfire, a range of salads, game meat cooked on a braai (barbecue), followed by desserts. Vegetarian options are also available, as well as local dishes such as peanut butter spinach
.
You can also look forward to outstanding performances by traditional singers and dancers, and enjoy an energizing interactive drumming show. A face painter, storyteller, hair braider and fortune teller also form part of this festive evening.
Optional:
Helicopter Flight over Victoria Falls
The “Flight of Angels” is an amazing journey over the 1700m vast curtain of water known locally as the “Mosi oa Tunya” (the smoke that thunders) and along the Zambezi River and the Zambezi National Park. Passengers are treated to an unforgettable helicopter journey comprising of 4 circuits (2 on either side) offering unrivalled spectacular views, photographic, and filming opportunities and putting the full breadth and height of The Falls into glorious perspective within the surrounding environment.
Apprximate flight time is 12-13 minutes.
Village Tour near Victoria Falls
Prepare to be amazed as you enter a different world, where a way of life continues as it has done for centuries, enabling you to go back in time.
You will be taken to an authentic African village approximately 20km from Victoria Falls town where you are given the opportunity to watch local villagers going about their daily tasks. The tour enables you to see tribal life first hand, visiting rural homes, watching their fields being tended and possibly getting the chance to help in some of the day-to-day chores.
Batoka Hike and Ndbele Village Tour
A 40-minute drive through the countryside of Zimbabwe on off-road terrain will offer picturesque scenery. The hiking continues into an authentic beautiful Ndebele homestead where you will get a chance to interact with the local headman and his family while you have brunch under the thatched shade of their decorated mud huts. The graceful hosts are keen to show off their home, share their cultural way of life in relation to family, education, livestock, diet and anything you may find interesting.
Includes brunch.
Victoria Falls Bridge Tour
The Victoria Falls Bridge was built in 1905 using revolutionary engineering methods for its day. The Historic Bridge Tour is a journey through 100 years of Victorian engineering to the heart of Cecil John Rhodes’ vision of a Cape to Cairo railway.
The Tour includes a light hearted but informative talk on the history of the bridge, magnificent views of the rapids, rainbows and majesty of the Victoria Falls and Batoka Gorges on the walkways actually underneath the bridge and an opportunity to see a bungee jump up close.
The Historic Bridge Tour is a wonderful family experience full of theatre, facts and adventure set against the glorious backdrop of the Victoria Falls which can be enjoyed by all ages.
Rhino Encounter Game Drive
Savour a sunrise Game Drive on the Stanley and Livingstone Private Game Reserve in Victoria Falls, home to over 2,000 head of game and a rich variety of bird life. The guided safaris will take you through natural African woodland featuring frequent sightings of Wild Dog, Sable, Eland, Giraffe, Hippo, Crocodile, Hyena, Bushbuck, Impala, Baboon, Kudu and Waterbuck among others. At least three of the Big Five are sighted on almost all Game Drives with the highly endangered Black Rhino being the most exciting and rare, making this the best place to view game in the Victoria Falls region.
Basis
Bed and Breakfast
Day 3,4,5: Voyager Houseboat, Chobe River Front
Botswana
Botswana is well known for having some of the best wilderness and wildlife areas on the African continent. With almost 40% of its land area devoted to national parks, reserves and wildlife management areas you can travel through many parts of the country has the feeling of moving through an immense Nature wonderland. The first – and most lasting impressions – will be of vast expanses of uninhabited wilderness stretching from horizon to horizon, the sensation of limitless space, astoundingly rich wildlife and bird viewing, night skies littered with stars and heavenly bodies of an unimaginable brilliance, and stunning sunsets of unearthly beauty. Experience here the stunning beauty of the world’s largest intact inland Delta – the Okavango; the unimaginable vastness of the world’s second largest game reserve – the Central Kalahari Game Reserve; the isolation and other-worldliness of the Makgadikgadi – uninhabited pans the size of Portugal; and the astoundingly prolific wildlife of the Chobe National Park. Botswana is the last stronghold for a number of endangered bird and mammal species, making your safari experience even more memorable, and at times you will feel simply surrounded by wild animals.
Chobe River Front
The Chobe River forms the northern boundary of the Chobe National Park, renowned for its diverse and abundant game viewing opportunities. This section of the park is best known for its dense concentration of wildlife including elephant and hippo populations, but the waters attract all manner of game including large herds of buffalo and the lions that prey on them. A visit to this area guarantees close encounters with an array of African wildlife. Visitors can look forward to some exciting activities such as: driving along the game-dotted river banks in a 4WD; cruising along the river in a motorboat, spotting rare birdlife and for a unique, luxury safari experience, hire a houseboat.
Day Itinerary
After breakfast enjoy the scenery during a road transfer and board the Voyager, your floating lodge. You will cruise up and down a long stretch of the Chobe river with three dedicated mooring points at which you will spend one night. The order in which we visit the mooring points depends on water levels and the conditions of the river.
Approximate daily schedule:
The order of the day is very relaxed. We get up early and have a coffee and a snack before heading out on the 8-seater photo boat which is moored alongside the houseboat. Everyone has their own seat which rotates 360 degrees and has a camera mount built into the chair. The boats are very wide and stable and this allows the photo host to interact with every client to help them with their photography. Whether you are just getting started in wildlife photography or are more accomplished the photo host is able to tailor his or her tuition to suit your requirements.
After the morning cruise looking for subjects along the river, we return to the houseboat for a well-earned brunch as we set sail for our next destination along the river. We encourage our clients to keep their cameras ready and accessible as we often come across photo opportunities during these cruises.
After brunch, you are free to relax in your cabin, the lounge, the sun deck or join the photo host at the dining table for an image review of the pictures you have taken so far. These sessions are less about post-production and editing and more about analyzing your images and seeing how we can help you improve on your techniques. We do not have computers or laptops for you to use so please bring your own to join in these sessions.
A couple of hours before sunset we head out again from our new mooring point to see what we can find to photograph leading up to the “golden hour” at the end of the day. On all our cruises we take refreshments with us to keep you well hydrated – especially for Sundowners!
The dinner is a three-course meal taken around the dining table lovingly prepared by the galley staff from fresh local ingredients. With the National Park on the other side of the bank you can often hear the call of lions and hyena at night! Truly Africa…
Houseboat:
The houseboat is built over three floors with the 4 cabins at the bottom, a lounge and dining area in the middle and a glorious sun deck on the top floor – a beautiful place for an early morning coffee, mid-afternoon relax with a good book and to admire the African night sky after dinner.
Each of the cabins can be configured as either one double bed or twin beds. There is an ensuite shower and toilet as well as air conditioning, plug points and storage space. The lounge and dining area doubles as an editing suite during the day where you are free to attend image review sessions with the photo host.
Overnight: Voyager Houseboat View iBrochure
There is simply nothing more relaxing than cruising down one of Africa’s most iconic and game filled rivers and the Voyager is the perfect vessel.
The Chobe river is the natural border between Namibia and Botswana and the Voyager is actually based on the Namibian side of the river with the Chobe National Park as the opposite bank. The Chobe is unique in that it flows in both directions at different times of the year depending on the flood in the mighty Zambezi with which it converges a few kilometres further downstream.
The houseboat has five cabins which can be configured as double or twin beds. Each has an ensuite shower and toilet as well as air conditioning. Please be aware that the aircon is controlled centrally to cool the cabins throughout the day and night when you are most likely to be in your room but cannot run 24/7 as we predominantly rely on solar generated battery power.
Cabin
Each cabin can be configured as a double bed or two singles. They are all ensuite with a shower and each cabin is fitted with centrally controlled air conditioning.
The beds are made up with quality linen and there are plenty of towels in the bathroom. There are several plug points in the room some of which have a 24/7 supply which is enough for charging small electronic devices such as camera batteries and laptop computers.
In the bathroom we supply you with biodegradable luxury toiletries in both the shower and at the basin. The water is heated by solar panels on the roof in keeping with our environmental policies to reduce carbon emissions onboard.
Basis
Fully Inclusive – Bed, All Meals, Fees and Activities
Day 6,7,8: Pangolin Chobe Hotel, Kasane
Kasane
Tucked away in the northeastern corner of Botswana, on the banks of the famous Chobe River, the scenic little town of Kasane rests on the doorstep of the spectacular Chobe National Park. There are no boundary fences separating the village from the park and game such as elephant and hippo are often spotted roaming around the town. If on the lookout for elusive game, pay a visit to the Sedudu Valley Road, where large dead trees provide temporary homes for leopards. Within Kasane, an ancient baobab tree stands on display, once serving as a local prison. Visitors can look forward to a multitude of activities including: enjoying a game drive through the park, taking a sunset cruise down the Chobe River, visiting a local village or jumping on a day trip to the breathtaking Victoria Falls.
Day Itinerary
Disembark your houseboat after brunch and head to Chobe Hotel in Botswana.
We have access to the Chobe National Park for game drives as well as the Southern Channel which is inaccessible from the Namibian side. We will divide our time between game drives and a couple of cruises on the channel so that you get to experience the river in its entirety.
By this time you will have improved your photography and will be feeling confident shooting on the manual camera settings. This will allow you more creative control over your images and we spend more time at sightings perfecting various photographic techniques.
The vehicles that we use in The Chobe National Park also seat all eight guests with everyone having a window seat and camera rest to support the lenses. Again you will be accompanied on the activities with the same Photo Host.
In between the activities you can relax at the eco-pool or make use of our air-conditioned editing room. Your photo host will be on hand during the day to help you with image review sessions. Access to computers is limited in the Chobe so we suggest that you perhaps bring a laptop with you for image review sessions. Otherwise, we will give you plenty of memory cards to fill throughout the safari to take your images home with you.
Meals are taken as often as possible out on the deck or the inter-leading dining room with our fabulous chefs dishing out wholesome meals with locally sourced ingredients wherever possible. The evening meals vary from Braai (Barbecue) Nights to gourmet pizzas cooked in our wood-fired oven. Most dietary needs can be catered for.
The Pangolin bar on the upper floor has spectacular views and the best cocktails in Kasane and is a great place to relax after dinner with your fellow travellers. Alternatively, the sunken fire pit is always a hit!
By the end of this safari, you will be a far better photographer than when you arrived. You will have a full understanding of the camera functions and how to employ them in different situations for maximum creative effect. Not only that but you will also have a fistful of memory cards full of beautiful images and memories that you will treasure forever. All of the photographic skills you will learn will be applicable to all photo situations going forwards even away from the wildlife. If you always meant to sign up for a photo course and never found the time then this is the perfect safari for you.
Overnight: Pangolin Chobe Hotel
The centrepiece of the building is the wildlife photography gallery, of which all fourteen rooms lead. The gallery features an array of images from our resident photographic guides and other top wildlife photographers who visit us frequently with their guests to enjoy The Chobe. Each image has been chosen to showcase differing photographic styles and techniques to inspire budding (and seasoned) photographers to think differently about their compositions. At the end of the gallery, you will find the editing suite for post-production sessions.
Pangolin Chobe Hotel Room
At the Pangolin Chobe Lodge, there are 14 identical bedrooms. The bedrooms are configured as either double beds or two singles and all ensuite with the toilet and shower. Each of the rooms has a private balcony with spectacular views across the Chobe floodplains. The rooms are all air-conditioned with plenty of plug points and places to store camera gear and luggage.
Basis
Fully Inclusive – Bed, All Meals, Fees and Activities
Day 9: End of Itinerary
Day Itinerary
Transfer back to Victoria Falls today for your flight back home. Options available to continue to other destinations such as Cape Town.
Basis
Bed and Breakfast
