Tanzania

Tanzania ranks extremely high among the world’s great areas for large mammal photography and its potential for bird photography is also exceptional. This exciting photo shoot—with eleven shooting days—takes place entirely within the Greater Serengeti Conservation Area which includes the spectacular Ngorongoro Crater, Olduvai Gorge and superlative Serengeti National Park.

Even without its wildlife, Ngorongoro Crater would be one of the scenic wonders of the world. This giant crater of an ancient volcano, with its 100-square-mile floor, is packed with wildlife. In its grassy plains and sparse forests are impressive herds of buffalos, zebras, wildebeests and other plains gazelles, together with numerous lions, leopards, cheetahs, hyenas and other smaller predators. The crater is also one of the world's most reliable places to see and photograph endangered black rhinoceros in the wild. From our comfortable lodge on the crater rim we descend some 2,000 feet into the world’s largest, non-flooded and unbroken volcanic caldera—a virtual “lost world” that is home to more than 25,000 big and photogenic animals.

After exploring the crater, we continue west towards the legendary land of the Serengeti Plains. Our route takes us to fascinating Olduvai Gorge located deep within the famous Great Rift Valley. Olduvai is considered the “cradle of humanity.” It ranks as one of the most important archaeological sites in the world, since the discovery of the earliest known fossils of the “human genus”—Homo habilis and Homo erectus—by Mary and Louis Leakey at a location that was once the volcanic ash-covered shoreline of a vast primordial lake.

Serengeti National Park! We spend a week in one of the world’s most exciting destinations for wildlife photography. From atop its intermittent rock outcroppings called kopjes, the Serengeti savannah rolls on as far as the eye can see—and beyond! It is quintessential Africa, the place of myth, legend and imagination—the Africa of the mind’s eye.

At the time of our visit in March, the immense migrating zebra and wildebeest herds, now with new babies in tow, have moved southward with the rains to the central Serengeti. They’ve abandoned the drying and lifeless plains of northern Tanzania and Kenya’s Masai Mara—both lush and green just a few months earlier. This is a time of plenty for Serengeti’s big cats—lions, leopards and cheetahs. They play out a drama as old as the Pleistocene—their ancestors once pressured progenitors of today’s sleek speedsters, like Thompson’s and Grant’s gazelles and impalas, to develop an amazing level of athleticism!

We photograph the park’s wildlife and wild places watching the red sun rise over rolling grassland and set behind the silhouette of an artistically shaped acacia. We see giraffes wandering the open plains as herds move from gallery forest to gallery forest, watch hippos fighting for dominance with water flying, mouths gaping and voices bellowing—and of course, there are the kills!

While many companies advertise four photographers in each safari vehicle to cut costs, we place only three participants in each 9-passenger roof-hatched Land Rover on this tour! You have exceptional room in the vehicle for unimpeded photo opportunities. We stay at prime locations to be at the probable area to intercept the big herds. In addition, we fly to Arusha from the Serengeti at the end of our safari to reduce travel time and maximize our photography time in the field! These details can make all the difference in the quality of your Tanzania experience!

Don't miss this extraordinary opportunity to visit Tanzania, the heart of Africa’s wildlife and the scene of mankind's earliest encounters with them. It is a country that will capture your imagination for years to come. The thrill of viewing and photographing countless animals, up close and free in nature is both a timeless and unforgettable experience not to be missed!