Tanzania Photographic Safari

The safari lodges we use in Tanzania are of a very good standard throughout and are often wonderfully situated. Road transport is by extended Toyota Landcruiser 4×4 with an opening roof hatch and main roads are mostly good or reasonable (but there are also plenty of rough tracks in the sanctuaries and some ‘off-road’ driving).

The walking effort during our Tanzania wildlife photography tour is very easy throughout. Walking is restricted to a few specified areas in the national parks/game reserves.

During this season in northern Tanzania there will usually be plenty of dry and sunny weather, some dry and overcast conditions are very likely some rains. Owing to the relatively high altitude, days generally start off pleasantly cool, becoming fairly hot by the middle of the day.

If you use a full-frame DSLR or mirrorless camera you will need to cover focal lengths from 200-600mm or more for most wildlife situations in Tanzania. If you use a crop-sensor camera, adjust the focal lengths accordingly. You will also find a wide-angle lens good for landscape photography and a short focal length telephoto good for some wildlife situations (for example, very close elephants and other mammals, or groups of animals). There will be only limited opportunities to use a macro lens. If you bring a good quality bridge camera it will be best if it has an optical zoom of 18-20x or more, combined with a reasonable wide angle at the other end of the zoom range.

Be sure to bring plenty of spare battery power. Dust is ever-present in northern Tanzania, so cleaning equipment is important. A beanbag can be very useful here for wildlife photography from the vehicle. If you would like to talk about suitable equipment, please contact our office. We will be happy to advise

The awesome gathering of the migratory wildebeest (or gnus) and zebras on the shortgrass plains of the south-eastern Serengeti occur between January or February and April each year, while much of the local birdlife come into breeding plumage in March and April and the landscape becomes greener and much more photogenic as intermittent rain starts to influence the plains and brings out a host of wildflowers. In our view, based on our extensive experience, February-March-April is absolutely the best time to visit the southern Serengeti for wildlife photography. There is simply no comparison with some other times of the year. Often, we see photography tours offered to this part of Serengeti at other seasons, including the end of the long dry season in September-October when animal numbers are just a fraction of what they are when we visit and when the backgrounds are, in our opinion, far less photogenic.

The best time for a Tanzania Photographic Safari is from June to October during the dry season when migrant game congregates around the swamps and the Tarangire River valley. Migrating elephants can then be seen in good size herds, with a fine diversity of other large mammals. But the numbers of animals vary due to the timing of the rains.

If the long rains last later into the mid-year, migratory animals may not return by June as interior water holes will not dry out, and if the short rains arrive earlier than usual, the game will start to disperse away in October from its lifeline as the Tarangire River will not be the only available water source, and at the same time, forage will start to renew from the surrounding arid lands allowing herbivores plenty to eat from. Stalking predators trail the migrating prey to Another great aspect of April, in particular, is that there are far fewer visitors around Ngorongoro and in Serengeti proper than in July-August (the Northern Hemisphere peak summer holiday season) or in December-February (the peak time for ‘winter escapes’), so that means fewer vehicles and a quieter more rewarding experience.

We will be exploring this amazing part of Tanzania in an extended, 8-seater Toyota Landcruiser that has been specially adapted for safari work, and is ideal for photographers with its large roof hatch. The tour is limited to just four participants and only one vehicle. Everyone has a window seat at all times. Opinions about the number of vehicles and loading do vary markedly between photo safari organizers, so we will spell out why we think just one vehicle is the best option.

It is simply uneconomic to have 2-4 participants in each vehicle and yet a photographic leader in each (the safari price would be stratospheric), so one option is to have from two upwards to even three or four vehicles with just four people in each. That sounds good in theory, but there is usually just one leader with the group, so on most days participants are not in the vehicle with the leader. All that experience, skill, and potential help are lost to you.

In theory, each vehicle and set of participants could go off and do their own thing with the safari vehicle driver, with group members just meeting up for lunch and dinner, but this does not tend to happen. Participants know that their leader is the one with the highest wildlife photo expertise, so the vehicles stick together. Often the first vehicle gets the only prime spot and the other vehicles have to wait for the first to move on from the best spot. We think the disadvantages of multiple vehicles outweigh a bit less space in the vehicle. There is still plenty of room for five participants and their camera bags, you have the leader’s skills and tuition on tap all the time, and, if you are a bit shy, you don’t have the burden of constantly asking the driver to adjust the vehicle position to the optimum spots, as you do if you are in a leaderless vehicle.

Finally, this being a Legacy Exchange Outfitters photo safari, we get away in the morning at the very moment the national park or game-controlled areas opens, so you can banish any thoughts of having to leave with most of the other guests: they will almost all be still in their beds or having breakfast. By the time they are up and about, we are far away, usually by ourselves, photographing wildlife at the prime time!