9 Night African Wildlife Photo Safari

The cost of the 2024 Uniquely Chobe safari is US$7,950 per person sharing. The 2025 cost is US$8,550 per person sharing.

Single supplements:

A limited number of single rooms are available, on a first-come, first-served basis. Single room supplement is US$500 in 2024, US$600 in 2025. We do not make a profit on single supplements, which are less than the cost to us.

Gratuities:

We understand that knowing who, when and how much to tip can be a headache, so we now include gratuities in the cost of the safari. We’ll make sure everyone deserving a tip, from photo guides to kitchen staff, receives an appropriate amount, so you don’t have to worry about it. Of course, if you wish to reward individuals with something extra for excellent service, then you are welcome to do so, but there isn’t any expectation or need that you do this.

The cost includes:

The cost excludes:

Giving back

To see how your booking helps engage disadvantaged young people in South Africa with wildlife and conservation, visit our Giving Back page.

Our safaris aim to place you in the best places, at the best times, for the best photographic opportunities, but that doesn’t mean we have to rough it. We’ve chosen accommodation that is very comfortable, with excellent food and great beds.

This safari gives you the chance to explore Chobe national park and the Chobe river on land and water. Four nights will be spent on the Pangolin Voyager houseboat on the Chobe River. We’ll have exclusive use of the houseboat, which is very comfortable, with well appointed double/twin bed cabins, a spacious lounge and dining area, and a sundeck. It’s a great spot from which to explore the river, and we’ll be using custom-built photo boats for our photography.

A new houseboat is currently under construction, and we may be using that instead of the original houseboat, if it is completed in time.

For five nights we will be based in Pangolin Chobe Hotel, in Kasane. Only opened in 2018, the hotel is modern, trendy and very comfortable, with large rooms, super beds, and excellent food. It’s perfectly located for easy access into the park by vehicle or boat. There’s a pool, free WiFi, and a gallery of wildlife photography.

The Chobe river forms part of the border between Botswana and Namibia’s Caprivi Strip, and marks the northern boundary of the national park. The park, a vast 11,700 square kilometres of protected area, is famous for its huge herds of elephant. More than 120,000 are estimated to roam in Chobe and the surrounding area. But it’s also home to high densities of lion and leopard, specials such as cheetah and wild dog, and large herds of buffalo, zebra and antelope.

The greatest concentration of game is found along the Chobe river front, where we’ll be operating. Elephant, buffalo, hippo and huge crocodiles are all abundant.

The bird life is impressive too (some 460 species have been recorded) and the river banks, low islands and shallows are alive with photogenic and colourful species such as herons, storks, kingfishers, waders and waterfowl. African skimmers nest on small islands mid-stream, and majestic African fish eagles perch on trees along the river bank. Chobe has arguably the highest density of these magnificent raptors on the continent.

May to September is peak photography season on the river. It’s dry season, so the animals are forced to move from the arid interior of the park to the river, in search of grazing and water. The weather is reliably fine, and while it can get hot in the afternoon, we’re assured of golden light around dawn and dusk, and a chance to photograph great wildlife subjects against the famous Chobe sunsets.

Flights are not included in the cost of the safari. The safari begins and ends at Kasane airport, in northern Botswana.

The most direct and cheapest route to Kasane is to fly from Johannesburg, and this is also the cheapest and quickest entry point to South Africa from the UK. A number of airlines fly to Jo’burg from the UK. KLM and their partner airline Air France are generally one of the cheapest major airlines and have generous hand baggage allowances (12kg). Emirates also operate competitively priced flights via Dubai, but beware of long stop-overs at Dubai, and limited hand baggage allowance. British Airways are another popular option with guests, and have a generous hand baggage allowance.

You will need to book regional flights between Johannesburg and Kasane,  operated by Airlink. Bookings open approximately one year ahead, and we highly recommend you book as early as possible, to ensure seat availability. There is only one flight per day each way.

In order to catch the JNB-Kasane flight, you need to check-in at JNB airport no later than 10am. Unless you can find an overnight international flight that arrives very early at JNB, you will probably want to fly into JNB the previous day and stay overnight at an airport hotel. We recommend the City Lodge O R Tambo, which is within the airport complex, walkable from arrivals.

The return flight to Johannesburg lands at around 16.00. Be sure to allow at least three hours for your connection with your international flight, as passport control and security at Johannesburg can be slow, particularly in early evening.

Day one: Guests arriving at Kasane airport on the lunchtime flight from Johannesburg will be met by ourselves and transferred to the Pangolin Voyager houseboat for a four night stay, passing through Botswanan and Namibian border controls – the houseboat moors at various stops on the northern, Namibian side of the Chobe river. With the houseboat as a base we’ll be exploring the unique photographic opportunities of the Chobe, using a special custom-built photo boat to photograph the river’s abundant wildlife.

Day five : After a morning game activity and breakfast we’ll transfer to the Pangolin Chobe Hotel. The lodge will be our base for boat trips on the river in the specially-designed photo boats, and for game drives into the national park. There will be time in the middle of each day to relax, have a dip in the hotel pool, use the free WiFi, and browse the inspiring photographic gallery.

Day ten: After our final morning boat trip and a hearty breakfast, we’ll leave the hotel and be transferred back to Kasane for the early afternoon flight back to Johannesburg.

As with most forms of wildlife, a long lens helps enormously, and on the Chobe there is great bird photography, so we’d recommend a minimum of 400mm full frame equivalent. One of the new generation of 150-500mm or 150-600mm zooms would be a good choice for boat and vehicle.

We’d also recommend a short zoom for close-up opportunities and landscapes: we find a 24-105mm is a versatile option. If your long lens is a fixed length prime (like a 500mm), then a medium zoom, such as a 70-200mm, would be an ideal third lens. We also use 1.4x teleconverters for extra reach.

If you have a second camera body, and can fit it in your hand baggage, then bring it. Not only is this good insurance if your main body packs up, but it’s a lot quicker to respond to opportunities if you have a second body with shorter lens attached.

You won’t need to bring a tripod, as the photo boat has high quality built in camera mounts, and tripods are unsuitable for the safari vehicles. Lens plates for attaching to tripods are available, but if you have your own, bring them.

What sets this photo safari apart from typical land-based safaris is our use of custom-designed boats that allows us to get very close to the wildlife and shoot from a low viewpoint, just inches above water level.

These shallow-draught craft are equipped with fully rotational camera seats, each with a fully adjustable camera mounting, designed to support the largest of lenses.

The camera mounting design is based on a lightweight machine-gun mounting used by the South African army, and gives complete control, even for the heaviest camera/lens combinations, and without the need for heavy lifting. All you need do is attach the supplied base plate to your lens collar. There’s plenty of floor space for extra kit.

We’ll have eight boat trips on the river using the houseboat as a base, plus more boat trips when we’re at Pangolin Chobe Hotel. From the lodge we’ll also do morning and afternoon game drives in the national park, using specially adapted vehicles. While it’s the river trips that make Chobe so unique, our game drives will give us an increased chance of spotting apex predators like lion and leopard.