Botswana’s Okavango Delta and Meerkats Photography Workshop

June 7, 2028: Arrive in Maun and Fly to the Makgadikgadi

Arrive in Maun, Botswana, flying in on the morning flight from Johannesburg (South Africa). After you land, we’ll meet you and transfer to our bush flight into the Makgadikgadi region.

After settling into our accommodation and preparing our camera gear, expect to head out for our first afternoon photography session, making the most of the softer evening light. For the next two nights, the enormous skies, open landscapes, and desert-adapted wildlife of the Makgadikgadi give you a dramatic introduction to the very best of Botswana.

June 8, 2028: Meerkats and the Makgadikgadi

We’ll be out before dawn this morning for one of the most distinctive wildlife experiences on safari anywhere in Africa: photographing a habituated meerkat colony as it wakes for the day.

Our trackers keep close tabs on the colony and know where the meerkats have denned for the night, allowing us to arrive while it is still dark and get into position before they emerge. As first light reaches the den entrances, we’ll watch them appear one by one, huddling together to warm themselves before beginning to scan the horizon and settle into their morning routine.

Because these animals are habituated to people, we can spend time observing and photographing their natural behavior from remarkably close range. Rather than concentrating only on tight portraits, we’ll look for interaction between individuals, clean backgrounds, low-angle perspectives, and wider environmental compositions. If you’re one of the lucky ones, a meerkat might even decide your head offers the best morning lookout.

The wider Makgadikgadi region offers plenty more to photograph, from zebra, wildebeest, and elephants to the area’s famed black-maned lions, whose dark manes can make particularly striking subjects. Our exact subjects and locations will be guided by conditions and recent sightings.

We’ll return to camp during the middle of the day before heading back out for an evening game drive as the temperature drops and the light softens.

June 9, 2028: Private Flight to the Okavango Delta

We’ll begin the day with a second session at the meerkat colony, giving us another chance to photograph the group as they emerge, warm themselves in the first light, and begin their morning routine. With different light, behavior, and positioning from the previous day, no two sessions are quite the same.

After breakfast, we’ll transfer to the airstrip for our private flight into the northern Okavango Delta. The change of scenery is immediate. The open Kalahari gives way to palm-dotted islands, floodplains, lagoons, channels, and permanent water.

Our base sits on a lush palm island at the edge of a permanent lagoon within a private concession, giving us access to both productive dry land and the waterways of the Delta, with far fewer vehicles around us. After settling in, we’ll head straight back into the field for our first Okavango photography session.

June 10–12, 2028: Exploring the Northern Okavango Delta

We have three full days to explore the Shinde private concession.

Our schedule remains flexible and will be dictated by wildlife, recent sightings, and water conditions. Mornings will begin before sunrise with coffee and a light snack before heading into the field, allowing us to be in position as the first light reaches the landscape and wildlife becomes active.

Shinde’s combination of permanent water and productive dry land is one of its great strengths. We’ll photograph from open safari vehicles and also explore the Delta by motorboat when it offers the strongest photographic opportunities. From the water, we can work close to eye level with subjects along the channels and lagoons and look for elephants and other mammals approaching or crossing the waterways.

On land, we’ll search for predators and other wildlife while paying close attention to light and backgrounds rather than simply accumulating sightings. If we find a promising subject, we have the freedom to wait. A resting leopard may eventually move, elephants may walk into backlight, or a quiet group of antelope may suddenly react to a predator. Those transitions are often where the strongest photographs are made.

During the middle of the day, we’ll return to camp for lunch and downtime, with image reviews and photographic instruction scheduled when they best fit the group and the wildlife activity. We’ll then head out again for the late afternoon and into sunset.

June 13, 2028: South Through the Okavango Delta

After a final morning photography session, we’ll fly south to our second Okavango concession.

Although we remain within the Delta, the character of the landscape changes. Here, palm-dotted islands, woodland, open floodplains, and the channels of the Xudum River create a varied mosaic of habitats and particularly productive country for predators.

Unlike the permanent waterways of our previous concession, this part of the Delta responds more noticeably to the annual flood. Water levels help shape both the landscape and how we explore it, adding another dimension to the workshop and showing us a different expression of the Okavango.

After settling in, we’ll head out for our first afternoon photography session in the new concession.

June 14–16, 2028: Predators, Floodplains, and Birdlife of the Southwestern Delta

We now have three full days to concentrate on the wildlife of the southwestern Delta.

Lion, leopard, and African wild dog are all possible here, alongside elephants, giraffes, zebra, antelope, and many of the other classic species of the Okavango. Our guides will respond to recent sightings and activity each day, while we’ll decide photographically when an encounter is worth staying with.

Birdlife is another major strength of this area. The mixture of woodland, floodplain, and wetland habitats attracts an extraordinary variety of species, including the possibility of Pel’s fishing owl, as well as numerous waterbirds, raptors, and smaller woodland species.

Depending on the annual flood and water levels, we may also be able to explore by boat or mokoro. If water activities are available, they give us another chance to work at a lower perspective and photograph the Delta from within its waterways. As throughout the workshop, our schedule remains flexible. We’ll be in the field during the strongest morning and evening light, with the freedom to stay longer when wildlife activity warrants it and time during the middle of the day for rest, image reviews, and instruction.

June 17, 2028: Final Game Drive and Departure

We’ll head out one final time this morning, making the most of the early light and giving ourselves one last chance to revisit the wildlife and landscapes of the Delta.

After breakfast, we’ll transfer to the airstrip and fly back to Maun for onward connections after 1:00 PM.