Kicking off our trip in Johannesburg with a flavorful welcome dinner, we were soon on our way. The next morning, a one-and-a-half-hour flight landed us in Kasane, Botswana, the first of our two destinations. Here we would spend the next four days photographing along the game-rich shores of the Chobe River. Our first evening found us plying the waters of the Chobe in custom-built photo safari boats. The boats soon became our favorite and daily way of making eye-level images of hippos, cape buffalo, and elephants as they mingled and foraged along the flow of the life-giving river. Capping off our first evening on the river with a sunset shoot with a family group of elephants as they drank and swam the width of the sunset waters of the Chobe itself.
By the evening of day two, our game drive at Chobe delivered our first leopard resting, draped over a large and weathered snag of a tree, just minutes after sunset. The next morning, our group of photographers would observe, and photograph lions and hippos engaged in a taunting game of cat and mouse, except the cats were a pride of lions weighing between 300 and 400 pounds each, and the mice were hippos running closer to 900 pounds apiece. All along the Chobe River, elephants in significant numbers and of all sizes continued to capture our attention with their presence. Each day was filled with time spent photographing elephants, hippos, giraffes, as well as many of the diverse bird species, not to mention some great eye-level photo opportunities with crocodiles.
By the fourth day, the lions were back in our cameras again, this time along the riverside, checking out and testing a large group of buffalo. Only to retreat to the shade of some well-weathered bushes for the remainder of the day. Evening brought the lions back riverside again, but this time to make an unsuccessful approach on a small group of water bucks before the wary antelope decided to head to safety on one of the river’s small islands.
Before leaving this river realm, we allocated our last morning to another river excursion to an area of fast water where birds of all sizes and shapes make their home for the nesting season. This year, the colony was alive with African darters, spoonbills, cormorants, and yellow-billed storks, just to name a few.
Our two-and-a-half-hour charter flight delivered us to our destination, set in the eastern corner of Botswana along the Limpopo River. Here we would spend the next five days alternating between game drives and the property’s well-positioned waterhole hides after two consecutive parched years. The 2025 rainy season did not disappoint here in Limpopo Valley. In a landscape that usually appears barren and scorched, with dry riverbeds and dusty trails, more greenery survived, and the wildlife was full of energy. A short rain from the previous week, already had new grasses sprouting, and the grazers were already about it. Impalas and wildebeests expended energy galloping about when in dry years would move with a sense of purpose, conserving all energy with hopes of the coming rains. The rivers in the area still contained ample water, somewhat reducing the number of animals visiting the waterholes, but still providing opportunities to photograph them up close, with daily visits from growing numbers of elephants.
The twice-daily game drives yielded ample opportunities to photograph game. Kudu, Elan, Impala, giraffes, zebra, and elephants in scenic African backdrops were often close at hand, while predators like Lions, hyena, and leopards became daily photographic subjects. Speaking of leopards, our location, being centered on one of the most productive areas in Africa for leopards, was right on target, as we had multiple sessions locating and photographing leopards each day of our visit. I would never tire of photographing these charismatic cats, but if there was one place one could find their leopard photography satiated, this could possibly be the place to do so. The thorny desert location isn’t particularly the best for finding and photographing cheetahs, but keeping our ear to the ground and our eye on the bush each day paid off with a grand photographic session with an adult female the last morning of our stay.
As usual, Botswana never disappoints. Besides all the mentioned wildlife photography, we were all additionally thankful for the chance to photograph the myriads of African birds, troops of baboons, and groups of patrolling jackals that call this area of Botswana home.
For a wildlife photographer in Botswana, time goes by way too fast. Fortunately, we will all depart with plenty of images captured along the reflective ribbon of the Chobe River and in the shadow of ancient Baobab trees to keep the memories of our photo adventure alive for a long time. Our trip wound down with a comfortable charter flight back to South Africa, where we all said our farewells to continue to the next adventure.
