Hilton Kotze Safari Blog

Khwai Photographic

Unfortunately we have come to the end of the Khwai photographic , it has been a wonderful experience for all who went . I think its safe to say that we all learnt something about photography ,(I even learnt some new things), we not only learnt about photography but also learnt something about ourselves .

It was a very diverse group, from Adri and Rassie from Pholikwane ,regular bush fanatics who love camping frequently to Ali from the UK , who landed 3weeks ago for the first time in Africa and landed on a totally self sufficient camping photographic in Botswana.

Ali from the UK shooting up african wildlife

We were fortunate enough to have lions close to camp and we could experiment with some night photography form the game viewers.

we were shooting manual at 800 ISO ,between 1/50 -1/100 s  at f/4

male lion at Khwai

Some other high lights were the 17 sable we found , as well as the mating leopard and wild dogs

group of sable antelope at Khwai

Some pics from the trip

ODP members on game viewers at Khwai

The group taking memory shots

ODP members taking memory pics

Michael and Evert in action

Michael and Evert in action

AS the Group heads back to SA after a very successful trip ,thanks to ODP and Bernie from 4×4 mega world for supplying the logistics and chef Godfey

I head on to Explore the photo graphic possibilities in Zambia , so I will keep you posted

Tags: Botswana, camping, photographic, photography, safari

Khumaga

We left Kwa Nokeng and headed north for the Makgadigadi pans were we set up camp at Khumaga. Khumaga is a lovely camp site on the Boteti river on the western side of the pans.

Due to the good rains in June July the once arid and dry river bed was now flowing for the first time in sixty years ,its remarkable to see the metamorphosis that takes place when  the rains have fallen.

Boteri River flowing for the first time in 60 years

We took a drive a drive onto the pans ,saw lots of game along the way ,unfortunately all the zebra’s that we were expecting to see at the river were now on the pans, still a wonderful sight.

It was ausume to be on such a vast expanse of africa, some of our group took the opportunity to express their excitement.

Ali from the UK having fun on the Makgadigadi pans

Evert Nel getting dirty

Evert Nel on the Pans

We are off now on the third day to pick up supplies in Maun and then we head off to Khwai.  

Tags: Botswana, Makgadigadi Pans, photographic, safari

Botswana Photographic 2009

Hi all , well we are off on our next photographic ,this time we are venturing into Botswana to photograph the beauty of this wonderful country.

This is a joint initiative between Outdoorphoto,   4×4 mega world ,and  digital-africa

We will spend the night at  Kwa Nokeng lodge just on the Botswana side of the Martins drift border post, this is the perfect meeting place for the various parties going.

From here our trip takes us to the western side of the Makgadigadi pans were we will hopefully photograph the zebra and wildebeest that migrate down to the Boteti river from the Savuti marsh at this time of the year. Usually the Boteti is dry at this time year with selected water point the are pumped , but this year it will be very interesting as it is the first year in about 50 years that the Boteti river is flowing and is apparently 30- 40 meters wide in certain areas.

Our next stop will be the unique town of Maun , the gateway to the delta, where there is a indescribable excitement in the air as the safari vehicles wiz up and down on their way to or from the Delta, and a small censer planes take of and land just about every minute carrying guest to and fro from the lodges in the Delta. It is so contagious you can almost not sit still and you have this urge to get out there and discover the mighty Okavango Delta .

After picking up last supplies we head north into the delta to the Khwai river were we will spend the next 5 days photographing the abundant and diverse wildlife.

Tags: Add new tag, Botswana, camping, photographic, photography, safari, wildlife