12 Night African Wildlife Photo Safari

The 2027 cost of the Zimanga & MalaMala safari is £11,450 for 12 nights.

No single supplements:

A limited number of single rooms are available, on a first-come, first-served basis.  Single room supplement is £1,000.

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.

All Zimanga trips include one night in a Ballito hotel, usually the Coco de Mer, at the beginning. Ballito is a relaxed seaside resort about 25 miles north of Durban and only eight miles from Durban King Shaka airport.

At Zimanga we stay in Doornhoek homestead: a luxury four-star lodge which we have exclusive use of during our stay, so we can really treat it as a home from home. Rooms are large and modern, with plenty of workspace, large bathrooms, and very comfortable beds.  There’s a spacious open plan living area and dining room, a small rimflow swimming pool on a wooden deck, and a serve-yourself bar.  All meals are included, as are local drinks, which include soft drinks, beer, wine and spirits. WiFi is available in the lodge (and also in the nocturnal hides).

We’ll spend one night at the City Lodge hotel in O R Tambo airport. It’s a standard airport hotel, but very conveniently located for access to and from the terminal.

World famous MalaMala offers classic safari elegance and great food.  We’ve booked the luxury suites in Main Camp, which are superbly appointed, with beautiful views over the Sand River.  This really is a taste of old style safari chic, in unashamed luxury.

Zimanga is located in north-eastern KwaZulu-Natal, about three hours drive north of Durban. The reserve’s 8,000 hectares of pristine bushveld, fever tree forest and rolling hills are home to more than 80 species of mammal, including lion, elephant, leopard, cheetah, buffalo, rhino, giraffe, zebra, hippo, kudu and wildebeest.  Zululand is also renowned for its incredible variety of birds, and more than 400 species have been recorded on the reserve.

MalaMala is a private reserve in the Sabi Sand, bordering South Africa’s Kruger national park.  It covers 13,200 ha (33,000 acres), considerably larger than other Sabi Sand reserves, and shares an unfenced 19 km (12 mile) boundary with the national park.

We begin the safari near Durban King Shaka International Airport, and finish at Johannesburg O R Tambo international airport.  At the time of writing the only international flight into Durban is with Emirates, flying via Dubai. Alternatively, you can fly to Johannesburg and catch a connecting flight. There are numerous flights each day to Durban. We recommend Safair or Airlink. Domestic flights between major centres are cheap, and you can get a one way flight from Jo’burg to Durban for as little as £60. If changing at Johannesburg, make sure you allow enough time for your connection. Jo’burg airport is usually efficiently, but occasionally there can be significant delays at passport control, so don’t be too ambitious with timings.

The safari begins with dinner on the first evening at Coco de Mer hotel. So you need to be at the hotel by 7pm. We will arrange for an airport pickup, to meet you from your arriving flight and transfer you to the hotel.

We will organise internal flights between the two locations, namely one way flights from Durban to Johannesburg after the Zimanga leg, then return flights from Johannesburg to the Sabi Sand, for the Mala Mala leg. These flights are included in the trip cost.  On our final day we will return guests to Johannesburg airport no later than 16.00, so it’s fine to book a homeward flight from 19.00 onwards.

We’ll meet you in the Coco de Mer hotel at Ballito for dinner at 7pm on the first evening, then next morning after breakfast we’ll drive the three hours or so to Zimanga. After settling into our accommodation and having a bite to eat, we’ll get straight into our first evening session.

Most of Zimanga’s hides take a maximum of four people, so we’ll be splitting into two small groups – three photographers, accompanied by Ann or Steve. One group will work in a hide, while the other goes on a game drive. Everyone will have the same number and variety of activities, while enjoying personal attention from ourselves, and not having to share a vehicle with too many other people – which is really important for ensuring great photo opportunities.

During our six night stay on the reserve every guest will have the opportunity to spend two nights in overnight hides – which includes an evening and morning session as well as the nocturnal time (this is entirely optional, but an opportunity not to be missed). We’ll also have at least three other hide sessions – including the beautiful lagoon hide and the exciting scavenger hide. When not in hides our game drives will put special emphasis on the exciting charismatic animals, including lion, cheetah, elephant, and rhino.

After our final morning activity we’ll depart Zimanga and drive back to Durban airport, from where we will catch a flight to Johannesburg.  After a night in an airport hotel, we will catch a morning flight to Skukuza airport, where we will be met and transferred to MalaMala (about a one hour drive).  We’ll have four nights at MalaMala, with morning and evening game drives, and will concentrate on looking for leopards – but with plenty of other wildlife to engage us, including a chance of wild dogs.  After a final morning game drive we’ll fly back from Skukuza to Johannesburg, in plenty of time for evening long haul departures.

As with most forms of wildlife, a long lens helps enormously, and 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 hides and vehicle. We use 100-400mm and 100-500mm zooms for much of our vehicle and hide work, occasionally pairing them with 1.4x extenders.

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. For the Zimanga night hides a wide angle lens is essential – we use the 24-105mm and a 17-40mm. Most images are taken at around 40-50mm, but if elephant or giraffe turn up, you’ll need to be even wider!

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 to Zimanga, as good quality tripods with gimbal heads are provided in all hides. If you prefer to bring your own, that’s fine. We’d recommend packing it in your suitcase/grip, rather than checking it in individually, as in our experience tripods are like golf clubs – they are the first things to get offloaded if the flight’s hold is too full. Some photographers find a monopod is helpful when shooting from a game viewing vehicle, so if you have one, it’s worth bringing. Lens plates for attaching to tripods are available, but if you have your own, bring them.

Zimanga offers excellent traditional game viewing from open safari vehicles, but it’s the purpose-built hides that make this reserve exceptional. These state-of-the art low-level hides were built under the guidance and supervision of Bence Máté, the multi-award winning photographer who won the outright BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year award in 2010, and has more category wins (eight) in that competition than anyone else.

The utmost care and planning has gone into the construction and positioning of these hides to ensure the lighting, focal lengths and backgrounds can produce stunning images of drinking animals and birds. Special, high-quality, one-way glass ensures photographers are invisible to their subjects, with minimal loss of light allowing high shutter speeds where required. There’s solar-powered air-conditioning and comfortable executive-style chairs that can glide across the wood laminate flooring. The hides are equipped with high quality tripods with gimbal heads, and lens mounting plates are supplied. Photographers just need to ensure their lenses are equipped with tripod collars.

Mkhombe and Bhejane hides

Named after the isiZulu words for white and black rhinos, these are bird bath hides, offering us the chance to photograph a variety of small, colourful birds, including the sought-after pink-throated twinspot, kingfishers, oxpeckers, barbets, mousebirds and more. They are also regularly visited by small mammals, including warthog, banded mongoose and monkeys, and there’s always the outside chance of a leopard! Long lenses are the order of the day – 400mm full frame equivalent or above.

Lagoon hide

The Lagoon hide offers remarkable water-level views of waterbirds feeding, including storks, egrets, herons, thick-knees, kingfishers and more, in gorgeous light. African fish eagles are occasional visitors and in warm weather big crocodiles sometimes move into the water from the nearby dam, offering great opportunities for dramatic close-ups. A 70-200mm covers many of the photo opportunities here, but a longer lens is also useful for smaller birds such as waders and crakes.

Scavenger hide

Visited regularly by dozens of vultures, the scavenger hide also attracts eagles, storks and the occasional jackals and hyena.  With birds fighting over scraps of meat, there’s plenty of opportunity to photograph action and behaviour, as well as flight shots as birds land. Lenses of around 300mm to 400mm are ideal, but a wider lens can also come in handy when large vultures come very close.

Umgodi and Tamboti nocturnal hides

Zimanga’s  exciting nocturnal hides offer the chance to capture some truly spectacular images of large mammals under the starry African sky. These air-conditioned hides have to be seen to be believed – the animals come so close you’ll need a wide angle lens to fit them in, and the hides themselves are equipped with bunk beds, toilet, kitchenette, even WiFi!

Photographers enter the hide in the afternoon and photograph through the afternoon session, then after sunset make use of the LED floodlights installed at water level to beautifully illuminate subjects that approach the water’s edge (you don’t use flash). Motion sensors alert photographers when animals are approaching, so you can relax and read a book (there’s a small library of books!), surf the web, or even have a nap, without having to keep a constant look-out. The following morning we spend a couple of hours photographing in early morning light, before we’re collected at around 9am.

Bee-eater hide

White-fronted bee-eaters regularly nest on Zimanga, forming breeding colonies in holes on sandy banks.  The bee-eater hide is a very simple, mobile hide, which can be positioned overlooking the colony.  It can produce great shots, but only when the birds choose to nest in an accessible location, and when their timing coincides with our visit.

Game drives

On game drives at both Zimanga and MalaMala each photographer will have a full row of seats with constant access to both sides of the open safari vehicle. Although nothing is ever guaranteed in nature, we’ve an extremely good chance of photographing lion and elephant close-up. If conditions permit (and they usually do) we will even be able to dismount our vehicle and follow some game on foot, allowing for unique low angle shots.

Our experienced drivers/guides understand how to position the vehicle for the light and anticipate action.  Game viewing vehicles are allowed to go off-road to get into the perfect shooting position. And we won’t be wasting the best light stopping for sundowners.