01 · The experience
A photographic safari is not a normal safari with a better camera. It is a different schedule, and the main thing you are buying is the right to wait.
On a standard drive the vehicle moves on when everyone has a picture. On a photographic one you stay with a sighting for an hour because the light is about to change, and you leave before dawn to be in position rather than arriving with it.
The other difference is the vehicle: low windows or an open side, bean bags rather than tripods, and no more than three or four people so everyone can shoot both sides.
02 · What it involves
What to ask for
A vehicle set up for it
Open sides or drop-down windows, bean bags, and charging points. A standard roof hatch puts you shooting downwards, which is rarely what you want.
Fewer people in the vehicle
Three or four maximum. Six photographers in one vehicle means half of them are on the wrong side of every sighting.
Ndutu, and the off-road question
The rules on leaving the track differ between the national park and the conservation area. This is why Ndutu is so heavily favoured by photographers.
Green season light
Storm skies, clean air and saturated colour. The best photographic months are not the most popular safari months.
03 · Safari packages
Packages built around the light
8-Day Photographic Safari
7-Day Mara River Crossings
6-Day Serengeti Under Canvas
04 · Practical
