This trip is probably best described as Expedition Photography and it varied from others in the past!

For starters, there were only 3 of us on this private trip doing dawn to dark photography in 95 degree heat everyday with “off road” permits secured by our host Steve Lumpkin.  The operator we used was very experienced and an outstanding tracker. We were after Wild Dogs as well as all types of “Cats” and whatever else of interest we could find.

This was a mobile tented camping trip where we moved several times over 15 days..

We had outstanding result with everything we hoped to see particularly in the area of leopards where we had at many close and different encounters. The Leopards can be quite tolerant of people providing they are comfortable with you. We had a chance to spend lengthy time periods with some of these mostly female leopards. They had various looks, moves and positions for interest. In several instances they “hissed” at newly arriving people groups in an attempt to discourage them.

Beyond the leopards, we had similar interactions with and daily saw Lions and Elephants. They too exhibit various behaviors that acknowledged our presence; most often when we were fairly close to them.

We found a young female cheetah that we followed most of the day while she attempted to successfully hunt..I think 5 times, to no avail. She was clearly inexperienced and still developing her skills.

After 15 days of this, we then spent another 3 at a river lodge near Maun and were daily on the river seeing that wildlife..Our big score there in addition to numerous elephants and shore birds was finding the malachite kingfisher..a small and immensely colorful bird..

More soon…