We’ve designed a trip with unlimited wildlife photo opportunities—one that will generate a wealth of striking imagery and provide the time and depth for an unparalleled African nature experience. Space has been reserved for our group at the deluxe Mara Intrepids Camp—one of the nicest, and certainly the best-positioned camps in the Masai Mara National Reserve. Our Land Rovers fan out within the wildlife reserve and adjacent private Koiyaki Ranch, scouting, assessing and sharing information on virtually every productive locality in the region.
Our lodge is located in the heart of the Mara’s densest wildlife concentration. The rolling landscape, savannah woodlands and rich riparian habitats provide a dramatic background for our photography. This area is great for predators; it has a phenomenal cheetah population, big lion prides and several habituated leopards. During this time of year we seek out the wildebeest and 
zebra herds that blanket the landscape throughout this northern segment of their Serengeti migration. The animals may pour across the treacherous, crocodile-infested Mara River and literally mow the grass from knee to ankle height in a few days. Their location depends on weather conditions, but we can expect to spend some time with the moving herds—watching their behaviors and the predators that wait in the shadows.
For optimum photography, we have only three participants per nine-passenger Land Rover, which allows excellent freedom of movement between both sides of the roof hatch and a generous amount of space to spread out photographic gear. Our leaders handpick many of the driver/guides. These guides routinely drive for wildlife filmmakers as they film documentaries, and for much other commercial work. They understand photography, lighting and what we are trying to accomplish.
Midday photography and wildlife lectures and impromptu question and answer sessions allow participants to learn wildlife photo tips and techniques during the period of harsh afternoon light—between the photography action when the animals are most active. After our daily shoots, we dine and relax under the starry African sky. In the evening there is time to sit by the fire with a “Tusker” in hand and swap stories of the day’s events.
Our trip fee is an excellent price for an upscale 15-day African Photo Safari like this one! This fee includes all meals, lodging in Nairobi at the 5-star Safari Park Hotel, and flights to and from the Mara to avoid the bad roads and traffic. This trip is highly productive photographically and a wonderful opportunity to “talk shop” and network with other photographers. It is especially rewarding for photographers who have been to East Africa on an earlier safari and want a more concentrated photo experience. Don’t miss it!
• See Darrell Gulin's photos of animal babies from our 2009 trip
• Read Joe Van Os' 2009 trip report
Itinerary
Day 1
Participants fly to Nairobi, safari capital of Kenya.
Day 2 (Sep 4)
You are met upon arrival and transferred to our 5-star hotel.
Day 3
After a breakfast orientation meeting, we fly across the Great Rift Valley into the heart of Kenyan big game country in the Masai Mara National Reserve. On a remote airstrip we meet our drivers and almost immediately begin to see numbers of animals on the way to our deluxe permanent tented camp. After lunch, we head into the field for our first game drive. (BLD)
Days 4–13
Established in 1961, the Masai Mara National Reserve is unparalleled as a wildlife reserve in Kenya, and ranks as one of the world's outstanding wildlife sanctuaries. Located about 185 miles west of Nairobi on the border of Kenya and Tanzania, the Mara is really the northernmost habitat of the huge Serengeti National Park in Tanzania. In the outer regions of the reserve the local Maasai, dressed in their traditional fashion, graze their cattle alongside the plains game. The Mara is a huge, unspoiled landscape of rolling hills evocative of Hemingway's Green Hills of Africa. Stands of acacia trees break up the extensive stretches of grass savannah that is threaded with numerous tributaries of the Mara River. In the river, hippopotamus and crocodiles bask near the shore. Herds of elephants roam across the plains, masters of this land for half a million years. Cape buffalo are here in great numbers, as are Grant's and Thomson's gazelle, impala, topi and Coke's hartebeest. Giraffe, eland, bushbuck, serval and the big cats—lion, cheetah and leopard—all live permanently within the reserve. At this time of year the massive herds of zebra and wildebeest will also be present in the Masai Mara ecosystem.
Photographically, the Mara is unsurpassed. Many of the animals are acclimated to human wildlife viewing activities. Our visit coincides with the start of the dry season and allows us to experience some of the region’s many moods and capture the range of light from sunrise to sunset. Our camp’s strategic position in the center of the reserve affords us the opportunity to shoot and re-shoot landscapes and wildlife at a variety of angles at different times of day. A gentle climate combined with scenic splendor and incredible wildlife makes the Masai Mara National Reserve Kenya's most popular inland destination. (BLD)
Day 14 (Sep 16)
We fly to Nairobi and have dayrooms until we depart for home. (BLD)
Day 15
Arrive home.
SAMBURU EXTENSION & LAKE NAKURU
Day 14
Overnight in Nairobi, after the main tour group departs.
Day 15
We travel overland to Nakuru National Park, a migratory stopover of more than a million lesser flamingos. (BLD)
Day 16
Lake Nakuru is also a reserve for both black and white rhinos. East Africa's most dense leopard population dwells here, plus Rothschild’s giraffes, Defassa waterbucks, reedbucks and unwary warthogs. (BLD)
Day 17
Our journey today takes us through some of the most varied and photogenic scenery that the country has to offer. Samburu National Reserve lies in the hot and arid fringes of the vast northern region of Kenya. The reserve is within the lands of the colorful Samburu pastoralists, relatives of the famed Maasai. (BLD)
Days 18–19
The Samburu landscape is harsh under the merciless equatorial sun, but relief comes from the wide swath of the Ewaso Ngiro River, which rises some hundred miles to the west in the Aberdares and vanishes beyond Samburu in the recesses of the Lorian Swamp.
The river is at its best in the reserve. Here it is broad and sluggish, with a large population of crocodiles and hippos seen at almost every meandering bend. Elephants roam the gaunt hills that punctuate the scrubland, and groups of Grevy's zebras defend their growing young from predators. Along the Ewaso Ngiro's banks clusters of doum palm and riverine forest add shade and contrast to the surrounding countryside and provide habitat for many of the reserve's animals. There are reticulated giraffe, not seen in the southern parks, as well as gerenuk. The blue-necked Somali ostrich is found at Samburu, as well as Grant's gazelle, eland, impala, common waterbuck, dik-dik, vervet monkeys, hyrax, olive baboon, warthog, (various) mongoose and oryx. Previous tours have observed striped hyena at the lodge's water hole at night—a sight not often seen in other reserves. On a more tranquil note, herons and ibis wade the river, patiently hunting, while malachite kingfishers flash past with their electric colors. More than 400 species of birds are found in the reserve; some are among Africa's most interesting. (BLD)
Day 20 (Sep 22)
If time allows we have a final morning game drive before we fly back to Nairobi, where we have dayrooms until we depart for home. (BLD)
Day 21
Arrive home.