CHOBE, DELTA, KALAHARI

Hi First name / everyone I hope this newsletter finds you well! I recently hosted a CDK (Chobe-Delta-Kalahari) trip for Pangolin Photo Safaris, and this newsletter is a snapshot into why this Botswana product is one of my favourite trips to guide. There is a new YouTube video as well as the next edition of “From the Archive”. I hope you enjoy #56!

 

- William

My latest youtube video is now live! There are some epic moments, so join me as I share what it's like to go on a photographic safari with me through Botswana. See the many sighting my guests were lucky enough to see on this 10 day safari across the country!

The Chobe section of the trip is based on the Namibian side of the Chobe river on the Pangolin Voyager house boat. These three nights are spent making the most of the amazing sights from the river. The Chobe river offers up some truly unique experiences and sightings. From the spectacular birdlife to the numerous Elephant that grace the floodplain. 

 

Chobe really is one of the most productive locations in Southern Africa. The number of different photo opportunities, as well as the special ability to get eye level from our photographic boats, is a perfect way to start the trip. My guests and I really got lucky in these first three nights with beautiful sunsets, numerous Elephant river crossings, and one of the most cooperative Malachite kingfishers!

On day four it is time for us to go to fly to our next destination, the Okavango Delta! Anyone who has been lucky enough to travel into the delta will know how special it is. An ecosystem so unique, that it inevitably results in some special and unexpected moments. 

 

This trip was fortunately timed perfectly with the peak of the flooding of the Delta. As the flood had made its way from the highlands of Angola, it had spread out throughout the Shindi concession giving us some exciting river crossings as well as a unique set of images to follow. We were very fortunate to also get a rare Aardwolf sighting!

Our final stop was the Kalahari! Growing up I travelled to Khutse and the Central Kalahari regularly, and as a result this part of Botswana has always held a special place in my heart. The lack of water and the incredible resilience of the animals that live there is a beautiful contrast to the two water focused sections of the trip. 

 

Well that in itself is not necessarily true! While the Kalahari is stripped of the abundance of water that the Chobe and Delta has, what makes the Kalahari special is the way the wildlife is drawn into the very little water that is there.

 

My guests and I spent nearly all our time in the eye level photographic bunker waiting for wildlife to come to us, and boy were we lucky! Not once, not twice, but on three of our four activities in the bunker we were lucky enough to have lion come down to drink. To get the real feel of this experience, make sure you watch my latest youtube video, it wont disappointed!

Last month I started a new section on my newsletter called “from the archives”. The premise is, that every month in the newsletter this section will look back at images from 5 or more years ago, giving insight into the shots and how I captured them. These will mostly be images that I love that have survived the test of time!

 

This months image comes from the Okavango Delta. In 2016/17 I worked within the wildlife documentary and nature film making industry. Working for an independent company that worked on documentaries for the BBC, National Geographic and NHK to name a few. This part of my photographic career gave me access to some amazing locations, and in this example Mombo Concession in the Okavango Delta. The concession is renowned for being the location where many incredible documentaries were filmed, one of the most well known being “Eye of the Leopard”. 

 

While working on a documentary “The Flood” for National Geographic, we were lucky enough to follow a family of Cheetah. One morning we found the female and her three cubs out in the marsh. After half an hour of following them we noticed that they would walk from one termite mound to the other, using there natural look out points to scour the environment for potential prey. Predicting the next move, we rushed to the next termite mound located in the rough direction of their travel, and I place my GoPro Hero 3 on it (set to timelapse mode of 1 shot every 2 seconds).

 

The rest was up to the cheetah! To my surprise (I have done this and failed far too many times!) they walked directly to the termite mound and straight to the GoPro. The cubs were curious about the smells on the GoPro and proceeded to sniff, and then knock over, the camera. There were around 6 or 7 shots from the brief moment, but the stand out shot for me was this one. 

 

While the quality will never be that of a “proper camera”, sometimes it isnt about the quality of the specs, but rather that of the scene. This image will always remain as one of my favourite memories, and frames. Thanks for reading, and I look forward to sharing another “from the archive” image next month!

 

I am thrilled to announce my image “Picking Flowers” was awarded in this years Nature TTL Photographer of the Year 2024 competition. Taking one look at the absolutely phenomenal images, it truly is an honour to be included on the awards list! You can see all of the photographs in the link below.

To date Bird Photographer of the Year seems to be the competition that I have the most success in. For that reason I am so happy to see my image “Eclipse” has received silver in the Bird Photographer of the Year 2024 competition! I cannot seem to shake the description of being a “bird photographer”. This is my second silver in the competition (the gold still continues to avoid me). With over 23,000 images entered this year it truly is a proud moment.

 

For those who read newsletter #40 you may laugh at the subject that has been awarded. For 5 years in a row the only images I have had awarded are very "common” and largely overlooked subjects! Proof that it is creativity often wins over subject matter!

Thank you as always for reading and I cannot wait to hear what you think of this months newsletter! The next newsletter is coming soon, so make sure you have signed up and feel free to forward it to your friends!

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