Johannesburg — Mpumulanga — Swaziland — KwaZulu-Natal

August / September would be a good time to schedule this wildlife photo safari. The weather is starting to warm up and there is little chance of rain. Photographers can get some good results as game concentrates near water, the bush is open and the grass is short. If scheduled November / December: the vegetation is dense and there is abundant water, which means animals are not concentrated near waterholes. However, it is a lovely time to be in the bush, particularly with baby animals around. There is a chance of rain at this time of the year, but dramatic cloud effects can be excellent photographic material.

Upon arrival at Johannesburg Airport, you will be met and transferred to Birchwood Executive Hotel in nearby Boksburg for overnight. Time permitting there will be an optional bird photography excursion to Marievale Bird Sanctuary, southeast of Johannesburg. This small wetland reserve can be excellent for photography of waterbirds, particularly in the late afternoon light.

We drive east through the highveld, and soon turn north towards Dullstroom in the Mpumalanga highlands where the scenery changes dramatically: rolling grass-covered hills and steep valleys. Some photo stops can be made.

We then continue through Lydenburg and Ohrigstad to Blydepoort where we stay for two nights at the Aventura Resort. Our chalets are virtually perched on the lip of the Blyde River Canyon, 16 miles in length and 3,000 million years old. Our time at this destination will be spent photographing this scenic wonder and we will look at different viewpoints in the early morning and again in the late afternoon. There will be wildflowers to photograph, including Proteas, which grow in this region. Unique rock formations known as Bourke's Luck Potholes will also be visited and photographed.

We make an early start and drive up Abel Erasmus Pass and through the Strydom Tunnel, with photo stops on the way. Once we cross the northern Drakensberg Mountains we drop steeply to the lowveld with a complete change in habitat. We continue east towards Kruger National Park and enter the Manyeleti Game Reserve, which adjoins Kruger with no boundary fence. Our destination is the delightful Khoka Moya Safari Lodge where we stay for four nights in wood and thatch en-suite chalets.

Activities at Khoka Moya will be very early morning drives in open Land Rovers, a rest period in the heat of the day, and a late afternoon/evening drive again. The "Big Five" occur in this reserve and other animals such as Kudu, Waterbuck, Impala and Giraffe. Our time will be spent locating and photographing a good variety of wildlife, including birds.

We depart from the Manyeleti and head south via Nelspruit for the Swaziland border at Jeppes Reef. Swaziland is a small, independent landlocked country, ruled by its own King, Mswati III. We drive through mountainous rural areas, with some superb scenery in places and head for the capital city, Mbanane, where we stay at Mountain Lodge on the outskirts of the town. The following day we depart early, with a packed breakfast, for the Malolotje Nature Reserve. This highland reserve has dramatic scenery and wonderful wildflowers. There are also antelope species we would not have seen at the previous destination, such as Blesbok, Grey Rhebok and Mountain Reedbuck.

We drive south through Swaziland and leave the country at the Lavumisa border post and re-enter South Africa in Kwazulu-Natal. We then skirt the large Jozini Dam, cross the Lebombo Mountains and head north through rural Zululand to Ndumo Game Reserve. This small reserve nestles in a corner between Swaziland and Mozambique and offers entirely different habitat to areas visited so far on this photo safari.

We leave our vehicles at the entrance to the reserve and transfer with open Landrovers to Ndumo Wilderness Lodge in a remote part of the park not open to the general public. We stay for three nights in large safari-style tents with private bathrooms. The tents are erected on elevated Teak decks overlooking Banzi Pan, a natural lake full of birds, hippo's and crocodiles.

Excursions will be open vehicle drives, early mornings and late afternoons, and there will be good opportunity for unique landscape photography as well as wildlife. Both White and Black Rhinoceros occur and antelope species we would not have encountered so far, such as the beautiful Nyala, Red Duiker and the smallest antelope of all, Suni. Some of the landscapes include beautiful natural lakes lined with yellow Fever Trees. They are very picturesque.

We leave Ndumo and head for Itala Game Reserve in another part of northern Kwazulu-Natal. This scenically beautiful reserve is in a mountainous area and once again has entirely different scenery and also some animals we would not have seen elsewhere. These include Red Hartebeest, Tsessebe and Eland, the largest of all Africa's antelope. We stay for our last two nights in thatch-roofed chalets with private bathrooms at Ntshondwe. The chalets are set into a well-wooded hillside and nestle below a backdrop of steep cliffs, which glow red in the late afternoon sunlight.

We head for Johannesburg International Airport for your return flight to the United States.

Return to Photo Safaris ...