Kenya Photography Tour

(8 Sept '26) Fly in, and we'll have a driver meet you at the airport and bring you to tonight's accomodation - the lovely 'Kazuri Safari Camp'. It's a tiny, relaxed and homely lodge in the quiet outskirts of Nairobi, with just 5 beautiful glamping tents nestled amongst a garden busy with sunbirds. It's the perfect place to gather, raise a glass during my evening welcome slideshow, enjoy dinner and get some sleep - far nicer than starting at some boring, posh mega-hotel.

After breakfast, we'll meet our two favourite, world-class safari drivers (who've worked with the likes of IMAX 3D, Nat Geo etc) and load into our two extended, pop-top land cruisers and set off to Amboseli National Park.

While most lodges are outside the park requiring vehicles to queue up at the gates for every safari, starting and ending with a dusty convoy of rushing vehicles, we're staying way inside, at the award-winning Ol Tukai Lodge! This is one of the best spots in the world to watch elephants against the backdrop of Africa's highest mountain, the snow-capped Mount Kilimanjaro! After lunch we'll set out on the first of many unforgettable safari drives through this diverse wildlife wonderland! Amboseli is one of East Africa's most famous parks, known for it's huge herds of elephants which we'll be trying to photograph against the mountain and feeding in the wetlands etc, but it's also home to the rest of 'The Big 5' including lions, leopards etc, as well as flamingos, cheetah, hyena, giraffe, zebra and so, so much more.

Normally, vehicles have to be out of the park (or back at the lodge) by sunset, but to kick things off tonight we've organised a special treat: We'll pick up a park ranger and stay in, photographing through the beautiful golden lighting and sunset, then bring out a spotlight for a rare night safari! It's an exciting, unique experience we don't get to do much anymore, prowling around the maze of roads, sweeping the surrounds looking for the telltale reflective eye-shine revealing a sneaky insight into the spooky night time lives of the Africa's nocturnal wildlife. We'll see bat-eared foxes, spring hares and other nocturnal animals and birds for sure, maybe even prowling lions, striped hyena and who knows what else! With your ISO cranked up, you'll be surprised at the photos you can get!

Eventually we'll bring you back to the lodge for a late dinner, after which you'll have no problem sleeping, despite the distant laughing of hyena or even the roar of lions.

We'll wake early and head out pre-sunrise to make the most of the golden lighting. With a bit of luck, early in the morning is the best time for the top of the iconic Mount Kilimanjaro to be free from cloud, and it's also when all the elephants tend to emerge from the wooded areas, cross the roads and head deeper into the park, providing a chance for the perfect shot of both!

There's endless other wildlife to photograph too - birds, antelope, hippos, jackals etc, and when we can no longer ignore our growling tummies, we'll pause to enjoy a picnic breakfast at a suitably scenic spot, and then continue onwards, eventually heading back to the lodge for lunch. In the afternoon we'll head out again, all the while communicating with our ranger friend who follows 'Craig' the largest 'tusker' elephant in Kenya. This breathtaking beast roams wild between the park and the adjacent conservancy, but is in the constant presence of a security ranger, which means we not only know where he is and can visit when the location is good, but has the added advantage that Craig is well habituated to humans and remarkably peaceful. So long as he's not hanging out with other less-habituated wild bull elephants, it might even be possible to photograph this mesmerising giant on foot, unimaginably close! Either way, this is an experience that will never leave you.

When we get back to our lodge in the evening, our drivers will head off to begin the overnight drive to the Maasai Mara, but we get to enjoy a second night here, and will fly to join them tomorrow, landing for a very special treat along the way!

We'll check out this morning, and head off for a morning safari using the lodge's vehicles, ending at the local airstrip, where we've chartered a private 12-seater plane to whisk us from Amboseli to the legendary Maasai Mara! About half way though, we'll land beside a remote, super-picturesque salt lake called Lake Magadi near the Tanzania border, where we've organised for a R66 helicopter to be waiting for us, with it's doors removed... I do doors-off photography flights all around the world, both helicopter and fixed-wing, but never yet over a salt lake like this, photographing its other-worldly pink and red patterns - likely even punctuated by lines of flamingos! I'm super excited to have been able to weave in this new unforgettable highlight, which works in perfectly now that our usual flamingo lake is flooding out! We'll do 3x 30min epic helicopter flights here so everyone gets an open-door, then still buzzing with adrenaline and tousled hair, we'll jump back aboard our plane and continue flying to the Mara.

Our drivers will meet us when we land, and take us to a spectacular riverside location in the heart of the Maasai Mara, where there's a small, intimate, luxurious and elegant camp 'Mara Ngenche Safari Camp' - our luxurious home for the next three unforgettable nights (see their website!). It really is an amazingly special place - each spacious glamping 'tent' (with 4-poster beds, double vanity basins and even a bath) is fronted with its own private plunge pool with panoramic views over the confluence of the Mara and Talek Rivers, a section that is always busy with hippos and crocodiles. After a gourmet lunch, we won't be able to contain our excitement anymore and before you know it we'll be back in our favourite land cruisers exploring this next famous park until sundown.

Once back, while your cameras are downloading and charging, you might like to unwind with a Tusker beer in front of a blazing campfire under the African stars before our gourmet dinner. All the meals here are freshly prepared by the camp's chef from their fantastic a'la carte menu, and even alcoholic drinks are included.

After letting the chef know what time you'd like your wake up coffee delivery, a Maasai warrior will escort you to your 'tent'. It's an unfenced camp in the middle of the Mara, so excitingly, wildlife will wander right though as you sleep. As you lay in bed, you'll likely hear hippos munching the grass out front, hyenas laughing, maybe even leopards calling and lions roaring not too far away. It's pretty magical to snuggle safely in bed listening to the sounds of Africa outside.

After your wake-up tea or coffee delivered to your tent each morning, we'll head out early to try and find an animal or picturesque tree to position in front of the rising orb of the sun for an epic silhouette to start the day. We'll then cruise around this most famous of parks, filling our memory cards with an endless series of epic wildlife encounters and memories. All members of the "Big Five" (lion, leopard, elephant, buffalo and rhino) are found in The Mara in large numbers, along with other cats like the Serval and Caracal, beautiful Topi antelope, and 470 species of birds and so, SO much more.

While exact timing varies, much of the annual migration of wildebeest, zebra and gazelle from the Serengeti will likely be in the Mara now too (shadowed by some of the largest prides of Lions on Earth), some gazelle still giving birth etc so it's absolutely endless action. We might even get the chance to hunker down beside the mighty Mara River and watch thousands of wildebeest and zebra gather and bravely plunge wide-eyed into the rushing water while enormous Nile crocodiles (the biggest on Earth) close in. Crossings occur several times at several locations during the season, however there's no guarantee we'll see one: Not only are global seasons less predictable these days (and Kenya and Tanzania also burn their grasslands to promote new growth to try and keep the animals on their sides longer!), but even if we hear news that the animals are gathering at a distant crossing point, you can waste hours and even days waiting, only to have the animals just disperse again!). Back when I included 5-nights in the Mara we'd sometimes try our luck, but witnessing these crossings has also started to become a bit of a circus with too many vehicles even during this shoulder season, and so a few years ago I scaled back the Mara to 3 nights (to re-include Amboseli after a several year hiatus during a drought there), and unless we opportunistically happen upon an imminent crossing we feel like chancing, we're usually much better off spending our time doing our own thing, for example finding our own intimate big cat experiences with our expert drivers rather than looking for existing traffic jams to join! Trust me, you'll appreciate the way I run my trips.

Anyway, after several hours of wildlife spotting, we'll eventually we get hungry enough to pause for a surprisingly gourmet picnic breakfast somewhere quiet and secluded in the park, often either under a tree with iridescent 'superb starlings' trying to steal crumbs and wildlife wandering past or on the riverside where we can gaze down on hippos or crocs doing their thing as we sip coffee and have a hot breakfast! After this, while most drivers try to make each safari as short as possible with an early breakfast and back to camp, our endlessly enthusiastic and patient drivers will then generously continue our adventure for as long as we like, often only returning to camp in time for another fancy lunch that we've had to call-in our menu orders as we've been busy having too much fun. You'll have an hour or so after lunch to recharge, nap, or relax in your plunge pool before we'll then head back out again in the afternoon to do it all again, returning to our beautiful camp usually just after the sun goes down, for drinks & another 3 or 4 course dinner in the wilderness. Magic.

We've organised another unforgettable highlight for you this morning: a breathtaking, hour-long hot-air balloon flight, silently rising into the African sky just as the sun rises, spilling golden light across us and all the animals nonchalantly chewing their way across the landscape below! If you've never flown in a hot air balloon before, it's a unique magic-carpet ride you need to experience at least once in your life, and if you have, you've never done one quite like this! And, just when you thought the morning couldn't get any better, we finish it off with a champagne breakfast sitting out in the wilderness!

Did I say the morning was finished? I meant we then enjoy a last safari drive through the Mara, to an airstrip where we have another 12-seater private plane waiting for us! Once we're all aboard, we'll fly North East for about 90 minutes to the Great Rift Valley, saving us 6 hours of driving that our drivers will have already done and be waiting for us when we land at Lake Naivasha and be taken to our home for the next 2 nights, the spectacular Hippo Point.

This is an exciting new inclusion for us this year, as rising water levels for the last few years at my usual lake location which I've taken my guests to for the last decade has reduced the bird density there. However, as one door closes, another opens, and now Lake Naivasha is richer in birds and hippos etc than the other lake ever was, and in researching where to stay, I fell in love with Hippo Point. Check it out. It's a huge 1930's manor house (that we'll have exclusively) set inside 500 wildlife-filled acres of private conservancy, fronting the lake.

After our private chef prepares our lunch (again, all drinks even alcohol is included here), we'll finally have a quiet afternoon to fit in some one-on-one sessions to help with your photos, editing, camera settings etc, or you can relax in the pool, or photograph the birds, giraffe or other wildlife wandering past. Rest up, because after dinner, we're heading out on a short night safari drive around the conservancy, with in addition to the usual nocturnals, apparently a chance for caracal, side-stripe jackal, and even the elusive Aardvark which would be totally mind-blowing.

Time for yet another amazing experience! After downing a pre-dawn tea/coffee, we'll carefully head down past any grazing hippos to climb aboard our waiting boats for a fantastic three hour birding trip on Lake Naivasha, which is astonishingly home to more than 400 species of birds!!! As the rising sun lights up the landscape, we'll be nosing in and out of the reed-beds, framing up stunning photos of all-manner of birdlife. Multiple species of colourful kingfishers and bee-eaters, stalking herons, egrets, cormorants and pelicans, Egyptian geese, hammerkops, weaverbirds, plovers, jacana and so many more. Perhaps best of all though, the magestic African fish eagles in the area have learnt that photographers absolutely love the chance to try and photograph them as they swoop down to snatch a fish from the lake right beside them. The boat guides help this along by first whistling to catch an eagles attention, then throwing a fish freshly bought from a local fisherman into the lake beside us, and counting us in as the huge eagle stoops in, talons extended, and plucks the fish from the surface! You can imagine the photos. It's hard to get that exact moment though, so in between dodging yawning hippos and submerged tree stumps as we explore the lake, we'll do our best to get several attempts at the eagle swoop!

After a hearty breakfast back ashore, before lunch I'll host a photo review / lightroom editing session on the large TV in the lounge room - a chance to see what each other's been clicking and how post processing can really help lift an image even further. In the evening the local naturalist will escort us on a nature walk around the conservancy (there's no lions, elephants or other super-dangerous animals except for hippos), then sundowner drinks before another lovely dinner in the Manor.

Because I know you'll all be secretly jealous of each others eagle swooping shots, we'll head back out on the boats again this morning and do it all again! No two mornings on the lake are ever the same though and you'll come away with hundreds or even thousands of new photos to cull. After brekky, it's time to check out and hit the road. We're heading to our Kenyan home away from home - 'Rhino Watch Safari Lodge' - a lovely family-owned hideaway I've used every year from the start, where the snow-capped Mount Kenya is often visible from your luxury 'chalet'. It's not far, and we'll arrive at Rhino Watch in time for lunch, and afterwards we'll head to one of the nearby public schools I like to help. It's a delightful opportunity to be touched by the student's smiles and optimism, and a chance to give back to the community and the kids who will in turn be the custodians of this wonderful land. It can be pretty eye-opening to see how basic everything is. I'll have pre-bought boxes and boxes of much-needed school supplies to donate including exercise books, pens, math sets, feminine hygiene items, fun things like soccer balls and more. The kids (and teachers) absolutely love it when we visit, but we try not to interrupt their afternoon too much, and soon head back to Rhino Watch, often pretty silent on the drive as everyone's processing this heartwarming yet also heartbreaking experience. Often we find a project that everyone is keen to get behind such as replacing all the broken windows in the school letting the cold wind in. It's a memorable and worthwhile inclusion I look forward to each tour.

It's lovely at Rhino Watch Lodge, we're up higher now, sometimes there's big 3-horned chameleons in the gardens around your chalet, and can get a little chilly at night - but of course they look after us here, even slipping a hot water bottle between your sheets ready for you as you finish dinner. It's good to be 'home'. For now it's just one night here as a stopover, but you'll be happy to know we'll be back at the end for our two final nights.

Onwards! After breakfast we'll head off to Samburu National Park - my favourite! On the way, we'll stop at an amazing little roadside garden for what seems like just a toilet/coffee stop, but if you look closely at the plants, we'll soon start to spot some chameleons!!! This is actually quite a highlight, and we'll find a bunch of them, and they are so relaxed you can even let them walk on your hands, and offer them up to any flies you see and their independently wandering eyes will then both lock forwards onto the fly and then... thwack! Their impossibly long tongue will fire out and grab the fly! So amazing to film in slow-motion on your phones! The novelty will never ware off, but eventually I'll need to drag you away to continue the drive to our favourite accommodation in the whole of Kenya, the very luxurious 'Elephant Bedrooms' in the northern, picturesque desert region of the country. After the welcoming team pass you a chilled cloth to wipe your brow, and a glass of cool, fresh fruit juice to quench your thirst, we'll listen to the usual warnings of how elephants and other animals frequently wander right through camp and how the monkeys know how to open your door so you must use the provided padlocks!), you'll be escorted to your 'tent' - it's beyond luxury as you can see on their website, the same owners as the Mara Ngenche camp.

After an amazing 3-course lunch by the shady riverbank (often temporarily interrupted by elephants coming right through - I think they do it just to watch all the humans scurry back up to the safety of the main balcony), you'll have an hour or so to relax in your private plunge pool (or wander around photographing the bright blue and orange agama lizards, birds etc). As the heat of midday subsides and the animals start to emerge, we'll head out for an afternoon's game drive, crisscrossing Samburu's diverse, sandy and animal-filled landscapes in the search for yet more photographs.

In addition to the uniquely forked Doum Palms decorating the area, there's some unique animals here too. We should be able to find plenty of tiny Dik-dik's (the smallest antelope), hornbills, the elegant oryx, the finer-stripped Gravy's zebra, lion, cheetah, and a good chance for leopards! The graceful impala are more laid-back here too (there's actually a semi-tame one back at camp you can sometimes even pat!), and the elephants too are pretty chilled and should allow us some more close-up and creative shots. Again, by staying at accommodation located inside the park, we are in the privileged position of being able to stay out shooting even while the suns red sphere sinks below the horizon, perhaps even capturing the 'money-shot' of a giraffe silhouetted against the sunset.

After sticking your camera on charge and downloading your day's spoils, come and join us for a relaxing drink on the verandah, before our four-course, candle-lit, river-front gourmet dinner under the African sky. Does life get any better than this? I doubt it. By popular demand, I have extended our stay here from two to three indulgent nights.

As you've now come to expect in paradise, tea or coffee will be delivered to your tent at your requested time so you're at least semi-conscious as we drive into the slowly brightening pre-dawn, trying to find ourselves that picturesque, classic African 'flat topped acacia tree' with plenty of weaver bird nests hanging underneath to silhouette against the sun as it pops over the horizon - unless we spot a giraffe to shoot instead! Once we've got that shot in the bag, we'll cruise around the park seeking out yet more photo opportunities, hopefully involving some big cats if we're lucky, then head be back for a late, gourmet, riverside brekky at Elephant Bedrooms. As usual, don't be surprised if we're interrupted by elephants.

Things slow down in the middle of the day around here, and you'll want to do the same. Relax, maybe book an optional massage, cool down in your private plunge pool, go through your photos or hang out in the lounge area with a cool drink (again, all included). We'll probably fit in a few last one-on-one sessions for anyone who's keen for extra camera/photo help either before or after lunch too, and you should always keep your camera handy and an eye on the river outside, as elephants and other animals often wander down for a drink.

Later in the afternoon we'll go on another game drive. Perhaps we'll find a greater kudu (a huge and magnificent antelope), or maybe the electric-blue vulturine guineafowl, or a troop of baboons some with babies adorably riding on their back? A bizarre gerenuk antelope standing up on its hind legs reaching for the upper thorny acacia leaves to nibble? Is that a pygmy falcon in the tree? And a curious vervet monkey? Or maybe we'll be hot on the tail of that to-die-for shot of a leopard in a tree? There'll still be plenty of elephants and probably some lions and cheetahs about too, because let's face it, you'll never have enough photos of them either! In the evening we'll head back to our luxurious Elephant Bedrooms and chill out with a 'hard-earned' drink and an amazing dinner.

Bonus! Another whole day in paradise! Gosh what a dream. This gives us time for a rare treat that I have wanted to do forever: A morning walking safari (with two experienced, armed ranger escorts) departing right from our camp, heading out into the wildlife along the river! You rarely see even rangers on foot around here, and I've never seen tourists. It's something I organised with rangers last year when I did a brief trial with one plucky guest, and despite that walk being in the heat of the early afternoon without too many animals, it was amazing how different everything looks and feels on foot. Not only does the real possibility of encountering lions or elephants or potentially every other African animal keep all your senses on super-high alert, but the rangers point out all kinds of details you'd normally drive right past. The burrows, the footprints, the feathers, the fruits, even the traditional practical uses of some of the plants. It was great! The rangers told me that in the morning though, there were animals everywhere. That's what we're going to try this time! Of course, if you're not keen to come, then this is also an equally rare opportunity to enjoy a leisurely sleep-in here in paradise, and wander around the camp, camera in one hand and coffee in the other.

Those that survive will return for breakfast, and like yesterday, during the middle of the day we'll slow down, maybe the last few one-on-one's after Lunch and then head out (in the vehicles again) for our last afternoon game drive here. Oh wow, is that a leopard? Didn't we just walk right past that tree this morning? Haha. I have asked the rangers, and yes they have occasionally come across big cats while on foot, and mutual respect ensured the encounter dissolved peacefully. Imagine!

Coaxed awake by a final delivery of tea or coffee to assist your gentle transition into another glorious morning in one of Kenya's best parks, we'll squeeze in one last early morning game drive around Samburu. You may think you've seen it all by now, but trust me, there's always more to discover, and you never know what you might find around every corner, and even if you've seen it before, there's always a better photo you can take!

After enjoying one last gourmet breakfast we’ll journey back to our Kenyan ‘home away from home’ - Rhino Watch Safari Lodge. Just outside national park we’ll pause to experience a bit of African culture visiting a traditional Samburu village. It’s all genuine - the extravagant beadwork around their necks, the beautiful dresses the women and warriors wear for the welcome dance, the impossibly basic huts made from mud/dung/sticks/cardboard - it’s not a show-village used for tourism, this really is where they live. I have known this village for 15 years, and each year with money saved from tours (and often extra from guests), I have been super happy to help out this community with various donations including solar-lights so they can see in their huts at night, a bicycle to help the women carry water, a wheelbarrow, an ever-growing heard of goats after their livestock died from drought over covid, and recently after a woman was bitten by a snake almost didn’t survive the long walk to the hospital, I splurged and purchased them a motorbike, which also enables them to earn money as a taxi.

Last year before my tour, I was proud to become the first Mzungu (white-man) to ever stay in their village - their chief delayed a special ceremony so I could be there, where I had the honour of drinking goats blood and all! So, when the chief shows you through his village, how they make fire, how they keep their goats, how someone stays awake at night to ensure no hyenas some through their thorn fence (which I helped repair), it’s all real. Take as many photos as you want!

For lunch on the way back we’ll stop at an unusual trout restaurant that’s literally in a tree (ask to check out the ‘Branch Manager’s Office’). There’s resident black and white colobus monkeys we can photograph! It’s crazy and I love it. From there, it’s not far back to Rhino Watch Lodge. In the evening we’ll meet for a cold tusker, wine or cocktail while I explain about the special pace we’re heading to tomorrow - Solio! Enjoy another tasty dinner, then cozy into bed with your hot water bottle ready for our last day of game drives tomorrow!

After another lovely cooked breakfast, we'll load into our vehicles and head down the road to Solio, to be ready and waiting at the gates when they open them for us. This privately owned conservancy just down the road is not really on the tourism radar, as it's primarily dedicated to the protection and breeding of the very rare black rhinos, so we're very lucky to be able to enter this conservancy for a full day's game drive today! This is my other favourite park, not just because is it full of both black and white rhinos and all the other animals and birds (lions, leopards, giraffes, zebras, monkeys and baboons, waterbuck, birds of prey, vulture, colourful lilac-breasted rollers etc), but it's also super diverse and pretty landscapes from the river up through various plains and forested areas etc, but perhaps most fun is just how few other cars we'll see - if any - which means we really need to keep our eyes peeled and use every bit of wildlife spotting skills we've picked up over the last 2 weeks to find our own animals!

After successfully saving several orphaned baby rhinos, Solio has recently established it's own rhino sanctuary and wildlife vet centre that we will take you to. With a bit of luck you'll even be able to help bottle feed their baby rhinos, brush them down and walk with them out in the field! It's pretty special as you can imagine, and an amazing new highlight to add to the end of this incredible tour! When we sit down to our final dinner tonight, you'll hardly be able to believe all you've experienced over the last two unforgettable, action-packed weeks! Cheers!

(22 Sept '26) That's it folks (unless you're continuing the adventure with me to Uganda tomorrow for another week of gorillas, chimps and shoebill storks?)! Thank you so much for coming and sharing this wonderful experience with me and your new group of friends! I feel very lucky that you enable me to do all this too. After one last brekky at the beautiful Rhino Watch, we'll provide airport transfers back to the airport. It's about a 4 hour drive back to Nairobi, so make sure you book an afternoon flight home (departing after 2pm) in order to enjoy a leisurely breakfast together. Before you know it, you'll be jetting back home, back to the real world that has been so far away for the last fourteen unforgettable days. Make sure you print out a giant photo for your wall back home, so that every time you walk past you'll be transported back here to re-live the magic of Africa.

IMPORTANT - Ensure you have read our Tour Booking Conditions prior to booking. The document covers everything from your rights, inclusions and payment schedule, to our cancellation policy and extent of liability.

All our photo tours are subject to minimum numbers. Please ensure you have read our tour booking conditions for our cancellation policy (above).

All meals are provided, and in many of the lodges (Mara Ngenche, Hippo Point and Elephant Bedrooms) all drinks including non-specialist alcohol is also included free (normal wine, beer, basic spirits etc), however any specialist beverages like cocktails (or drinks at the lodges where drinks are not included) must be purchased at your own expense. Bottled drinking water will be provided for free during game drives.

There won't be any strenuous hiking, but a reasonable level of mobility will be required, to climb into the helicopter, to get in and out of our safari vehicles, boats etc. The one morning walking safari is optional. If you're concerned, remember, you do not have to be able to out-run a lion - you merely have to be able to out run someone else in our group. j/k. This is one of our least strenuous safaris.

This is Africa we're going to - there may be occasional power outages, some of the roads can be bumpy or pot-holed, and unexpected toilet stops you ask us to make along the way are not always going to be classy! It's all part of the experience though, and I'm sure you'll survive. (The bathrooms - as with everything else - at all our accommodation venues, are wonderful!)

After you book, we will email you an extensive information document telling you everything you need to know including what gear to bring, mozzie protection, currency information, mobile reception, wi-fi, etc.

Price does not include flights from your hometown to Nairobi, (Kenya's capital), nor your return flight back home.

We do not loan out our own camera equipment.

Park entry fees, game drives, internal flights, even gratuities (tips) are all included in the price.

You'll require an ETA (Electronic Travel Authorisation) to enter Kenya for this tour. These are easy to obtain and are valid for 3 months. You will also need a valid passport, with at least 6 months left on it before it expires, and at least two empty pages within.

A non-refundable, non-transferable $1,000 USD booking deposit is required.