Safari & Wildlife Photography

The Photo above of a male white rhinoceros is one of my favourites. I was lucky enough to work as a safari guide on the Welgevonden Private Game Reserve in the Limpopo Province in the Northern part of South Africa, where they have a huge amount of white rhinos.

These large mammals make excellent subjects for wildlife photography as their size and the fact that they will often let you get quite close to them mean that you don't need a huge zoom to fill the frame. African Elephants are equally obliging in this regard!

Myself and my wife encountered this bull rhino on the road, shortly after dropping a few guests off. He was in no rush to get off the road and it provided me with an excellent photo opportunity.

I love the colours in this photo, the grass in nice an green as it was during the rainy season and it contrasts nicely with the pinkish soil of the dirt road and the grey of the rhino.

Camera
This was taken a few years ago now, back then I was using the Canon PowerShot Pro90 IS which had an excellent zoom on it, although for this photo I did not have to use it.

A comparable digital camera today would be the Canon Powershot SX10IS 10MP Digital Camera which comes with an incredible 20x Optical Zoom and costs less than $400 which I think is excellent.

Canon Powershot SX10IS on Amazon.com

Many people ask me where is the best place to go on Safari in Africa? Or where is the best place in Africa for wildlife photography?

I have travelled quite a bit, especially around Southern Africa, but Africa is Huge, in fact make that massively huge! So I wont pretend to know everything about the continent, but I can give some advice as to where to take great wildlife photos from the places that I have been to.

Great places for African Wildlife Photography:

South Africa

• Kruger national Park - Great for just about everything, especially elephants, lion, leopard, buffalo, giraffe, kudu, impala and warthogs


• Welgevonden Game Reserve - Elephants, Lions, Kudu, Zebra & Giraffe


• Duma Manzi Game Reserve - White Rhino, Zebra, Giraffe, Bushbuck, Nyala Antelope


• Madikwe Game Reserve - Excellent Lions, Wild Dogs, Black Rhino, Giraffe, Zebra and Elephants


• Cape Town Area - Birds, Seals, Penguins, whales & Sharks. The are also a few smaller game reserves that offer great african land animal photography

Swaziland

• Hlane Royal National Park - White rhino, Lions and many smaller mammals like baboon, vervet monkey, ostrich, steenbok, nyala, bushbuck and waterbuck


• Mlilwane Wildlife Sanctuary - hippo, giraffe, crocodile, zebra, blue wildebeest, kudu, nyala, impala, warthog, waterbuck, reedbuck, steenbok, grey duiker, red duiker, klipspringer, blesbok, oribi and suni.


• Mkhaya - Giraffe, hippo, crocodile, roan and sable antelope, tsessebe, eland, kudu, waterbuck, nyala, zebra, wildebeest, impala, warthog, grey duiker, steenbok, ostrich, bushbaby and vervet monkeys

Zimbabwe

• Lake Kariba - Water birds, Elephants, Hippos and crocodiles!


• Mana Pools - Water birds, Elephants, Buffalo, Lion, Hippos, Hyaena, Monkeys, Baboons and crocodiles!


• Hwange National Park - Excellent for Elephant, White Rhino, Giraffe, Kudu Antelope, Zebra, Jackals, Lion, Leopard and Birds including Raptors


• Eastern Highlands - Excellent for Bird Photography and Samango Monkeys

Kenya

• Masai Mara - Wildebeest, Zebra, Lions, Cheetah and Elephant especially during the Migration from July through September


• Tsavo National park - Elephants, Leopard, lion, Ostrich, Zebra


• Samburu Game Reserve - Elephant, leopard, lion and cheetah

The Gambia

• The Gambia River Boat Safari - Water birds including the Hadada Ibis, Rose-ringed Parakeet, Grey-headed Kingfishers and African Fish Eagle and possibly dolphins, which we were lucky enough to see


• River Gambia National Park - Chimpanzee's, hippos, baboons, Red Colobus and Green Vervet monkeys

For more ideas, you can also check out my other lens on Safari Holidays in Africa

Elephants, like rhinos are a great subject for wildlife photography. They are big, and by big, I mean really big, in fact you cannot find a bigger mammal on land anywhere on earth!

This size helps in a number of ways for the photographer:

It means that it makes it much easier for you to fill your lens of your camera with the animal you are wanting to photograph. There is nothing wore than a picture of an animal where the subject you are photographing is only a speck in the distance.

Because of an elephants size, in most cases, they are not afraid of humans (or much else for that matter) which means that you will often encounter an elephant out in the open in a relaxed setting and this gives you time to take a number of photographs. Not just a quick photo of the bum as the animal darts of into the bushes!

I also feel that elephants have a sort of natural beauty to them, their shape is somehow sculptural and African, they are if an animal can be termed in this way very photogenic and in this way, really easy to take good photos of elephants.

I have already written why I believe that for the average person going on safari, a superzoom and not a digital SLR camera is the right choice, but which one to get?

Over the past decade or so we have seen a huge increase in the amount (and quality) of digital super zoom cameras on the market and now pretty much every camera manufacturer has at least one in their line up.

I can obviously only have personal opinions on the cameras that I have actually used, but another way is to take a look at each of the camera stats and compare them. This can take time and it is often difficult because different manufacturers down all show the same data.

Compare Superzoom Cameras
Because of this, I recently created this page on the safari holiday guide where you can compare all the best super zoom cameras side by side, making it much easier to decide which camera is right for your needs:

Compare the Best Superzoom Cameras on the Safari Holiday Guide

Many people going on a Safari holiday want to know what is the best digital camera for Wildlife photography. It in many ways is a difficult question to answer.

The best digital cameras out there are SLR's they take the highest quality photos and most professional digital photographers will use them. The have their drawbacks though:

They are expensive
Heavy and Bulky - difficult to transport
You will need to expensive long zoom lenses

So for me unless you are a professional photographer and you would like to enjoy your travel and Wildlife safari without having to lug around huge amounts of photographic equipment, I would definitely consider a compact digital camera.

As for wildlife photography, I can never get too close to a subject and I am always wishing for a bigger optical zoom (don't use your digital zoom, your picture quality will suffer)

Super Zoom compact digital cameras are a bit bigger and heavier than true compact digital cameras, but I feel that they are still small enough to easy carry around on holiday with you, yet allow you to get in real close to what ever animal you are photographing.

all the photos on this page were taken by me with either my old
Canon PowerShot Pro90 IS
the current model of this would be the
Canon Powershot SX10IS

Or my Panasonic DMC-FZ18Newer models would be the
Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ28K, FZ38 (FZ35), FZ40 (FZ45) or the newest model the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ100

All of which have excellent zoom's and yet cost under $400

Below are some other excellent Superzoom Digital compact cameras that you will not be disappointed with as a Safari Holiday an Wildlife Camera

You can also read more on my article for the Best Digital Camera for Safari and Travel published on the Safari Holiday Guide

I personally own and highly recommend the Panasonic Lumix FZ28 for taking on a safari holiday. The FZ28 is the newer version of the FZ18, but older than the Panasonic FZ38 (FZ35 in the USA) camera.

For me It has all the features that you are looking for in a good safari camera and because the latest version is now the FZ38/FZ35, you can pick up the FZ28 at a really good price.

I know there are many people that may say that a digital SLR camera is better and you are mostly right, but they do have their down sides - read more on why I recommend a superzoom over a SLR camera here > SLR vs Compact cameras for Safaris.

The Panasonic FZ28 has an awesome super-zoom on it's optically stabilised lens (27-486mm, 35mm equivalent). On top of this and is what I have done is to add a 1.7x teleconverter to it, which you can either get from Panasonic, or there is a cheaper version produced by Olympus, the TCON-17 1.7x Tele Conversion Lens.

The latest model in the Panasonic Lumix range is their very impressive looking Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ100 digital camera.

If like me, you own one of their older cameras you will be wondering what improvements have been made and if it is worth upgrading to the newer version. Well first to say that it is actually the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ45 (FZ40) that has was released at the same time as the FZ100 that is the actual successor to the FZ38 (FZ35). The FZ40 (FZ45 in Europe) is cheaper than the FZ100 and as such has a few features missing, one of the most obvious is the lack of a flip out LCD screen and that is why for this review, I will focus on the top of the range FZ100

Panasonic FZ100 vs FZ35 (Called the FZ38 in Europe)
When you first look at the Panasonic FZ100 camera it looks very similar to the older FZ35, but the main differences are important ones: It has a more powerful 600mm (24x) optical zoom, a much higher resolution image capture (14.1 million), a rotating LCD screen, movie recording in full HD, wider aperture range and a 25mm ultra wide angle lens.

The main reason for most people wanting a superzoom, will be for the zoom and with the FZ100, you get a 24x Zoom (35mm camera equivalent: 25-600mm) LEICA lens. This means that it now has a very wide optical range from 25mm at wide end and 600mm at the telephoto end.

For more information take a look at the full: Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ100 Review

Most people only think of the larger mammals when taking photos whilst on safari. Don't forget the birds! Bird photography is in many ways more challenging than taking photos of large mammals, as they are not only much smaller, but tend to flee earlier, making getting close to them harder.

This challenge can make the feeling of achievement much greater when you finally take a photo that you can be proud of.

What I really like about taking photos of birds is that you can do it almost anywhere. When you return from your game drive, take a look at all the birds around the lodge or heck you can even do it at home in your garden or local park. Some of the best photos I have taken have been in my garden.

Equipment for Bird Photography
Because birds are that much smaller and are harder to get close to than many mammals it is more important than ever to have a decent telephoto lens. This can get expensive, compact superzoom cameras are great as they have a powerful optical magnification as without being too expensive. Other than that you may wish to think of either digibinning or digiscoping with a spotting scope.

African Fish Eagle
The photo is of an African Fish Eagle that I took with a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ38 (FZ35) and a Olympus TCON 17 Converter lens on lake Kariba, Zimbabwe.

Many people ask what is the best camera to take on safari and if they should get a digital SLR camera or a normal digital compact camera.

For a professional photographer and many keen amateur photographers there is only one answer, a digital SLR camera is best and I agree with them. They are better than digital compact super-zoom cameras and that is why professionals use them. But they may not be the best camera for you to take on safari. Let me explain:

The down sides to Digital SLR cameras compared to compacts are their cost and size.

Cost is relative and if you have loads of money then this will not be a problem.

The size and weight of a digital SLR camera nobody can get around. This can be bearable and is a kind of occupational hazard and if photography is the main focus of your safari holiday then it is worth lugging around the extra weight and size of an SLR camera.

If like most people however, photography is only going to be an enjoyable part of your holiday, why would you want to carry around all the extra baggage? This is where you may wish to consider a digital super-zoom camera. They still take excellent quality photographs, more than fine for most people and at a fraction of the cost and more importantly far less bulky and much lighter to carry around with you. Thus making your holiday far more enjoyable - which is the main point of going to Africa right?

For those of you who don't know, digiscoping is where you connect you digital camera to a spotting scope, enabling you to get much closer to the action. The main advantages of digiscoping compared to using a telephoto lenses are price, most spotting scopes are tougher than telephoto lenses, they are also often waterproof and you can also just observe nature through the scope.

For more information:
Best Spotting Scope Reviews

You can use either a compact digital camera or SLR (single reflex camera) for digiscoping and there are a number of adapters depending on what camera/scope combination that you have.

Similar to digiscoping is digibinning (using digital camera with binoculars)

Swarovski Optik produce some of the finest optical equipment available and their binocular and spotting scopes are known to be some of the very best available. You can use all of their spotting scopes for digiscoping and they create a wide range of adapters especially for connecting your camera to their telescopes.

Swarovski Spotting Scopes Ideal for Digiscoping
All Swarovski ATM/STM 65/80 (HD) Magnesium body Spotting Scopes as well as their aluminium ATS/STS 65/80 (HD) spotting scopes can be used for digiscoping.

Swarovski Camera Adapters
Swarovski TLS 800 (Telephoto lens system)
Swarovski DCB - Digital Camera Base
Swarovski DCA - Digital Camera Adapter
Swarovski UCA - Universal Camera Adapter

More Information
For more information on each of these adapters including which one is best for which camera, take a look at this page:
Swarovski Digiscoping