Botswana: Through your lens

In Africa, each sunrise and sunset brings a new opportunity. A new day. A new golden hour to capture the perfect image. And if it’s a photographic wonderland you’re dreaming of when the new dawn arrives or the day closes, it’s hard to beat Botswana, where the sun glows orange and the wildlife is abundant.

Co-owned by world-renowned wildlife photographer, Dave Hamman, and his wife Helene, this camp is a remarkable place to begin your photography journey in Botswana. Here, the guides have earned reputations for their striking wildlife photography, and every game drive or walking safari is an opportunity to learn from the best. Grab your camera for some of the best photo ops the Okavango Delta has to offer, with sightings of leopard, cheetah and wild dog so frequent that you’ll be forgiven for almost calling a lion or elephant sighting mundane. At night, train your eyes and your lens on sightings of smaller, lesser seen inhabitants of the bush, such as servals, owls, bushbabies, and porcupines. For the twitchers, martial eagles, woodland kingfishers, southern ground hornbills, wattled cranes, and more, offer ample opportunities to practice your bird photography.

Back at camp, take inspiration from Dave’s striking wildlife photographs in your room and the common areas, and perhaps even get an opportunity to chat to the master himself. Here, nothing is off the table. Go for a private drive where you can take your time getting the perfect shot, or gather round the communal dining table at the end of the day to chat over each other’s stories, sightings, and photos. It’s a place where the staff quickly become friends and family. A place to learn, to share, and to return to again and again.

Situated on an island in the Delta, Little Vumbura is photogenic in and of itself. The camp can only be accessed by boat through the Delta’s winding waterways, making it a serene – albeit wild – location that shines in photos. Tall reeds rise through the water and surround the camp, and elephants have been known to feed in the nearby waters.

You can photograph both on the water and on land at Little Vumbura, making every shot a little different. Look out for local lion prides, abundant bird life, leopards, buffalo, giraffe, and zebra, and spot hippo ears peeking through the waters as you zip by on your speedboat. Mokoros offer yet another perspective here, where you can photograph the iconic waterlilies of the Delta as you glide along the waters.

At DumaTau, in Botswana’s untamed Linyanti, you’ll discover mega-herds of elephants gathering around shallow pans, and watch them swim across Osprey Lagoon, right in front of camp. Hippos also lurk in the waters and come out to feed at night in the cool dark. Out in the bush, look out for prides of lions and the occasional pack of chattering wild dogs.  

Capture your imagination and the world around you as you explore the plains on a game drive, or discover the waterways by boat. Otherwise simply rest, floating on a deck in the marshland, as you wait to see which sightings appear next.