PhotoClassic ~ From Jungle to Savannah Photographic Experience

From Jungle to Savannah Safari Experience

20th to 27th July 2019

NO SPACES REMAINING

This Experience is for the more adventurous photographers. Combining Nairobi National Park, Lake Nakuru National Park and Kakamega Rainforest National Reserve will give you a variety of photo-opportunities and life experiences that the majority of visitors to Kenya miss out on. Camping in Lake Nakuru National Park and Kakamega Rainforest National Reserve really puts you in touch with nature!

We ease you in gently to the safari experience on this trip but by the end you will feel you have been on a real adventure. On arrival in Nairobi, you'll be taken to your hotel for the next three nights. We have an early start the next morning for our first game drive in Nairobi National Park, where we'll be hoping to photograph Lions, Black and White Rhinos and a host of other wildlife. Keep an eye open for the birds too, which can be spectacularly colourful. The following morning we head back to Nairobi National Park for another day of game drives to catch those scenes we may have missed the previous day.

Rhino and the city

Nairobi National Park is the only place in the World where you can photograph totally wild megafawna against a cityscape

Lions Mating

Lions mating in Nairobi National Park

Purple Granadier

Male Purple Grenadier in Nairobi National Park

After two full days exploring Nairobi National Park, we will head to Lake Nakuru National Park, where we will camp near the Makalia Waterfall. Here you will have your first experience of bush camping, with only the fabric of your tent separating you from Africa's great beasts. Nakuru has always been a great place to see large flocks of Flamingos and Pelicans plus Rhino and occasionally tree-climbing Lions. The Park is also one of the few remaining places where you can find the rare and endangered Rothschild's Giraffe (only around 1,000 or less left in the World). If you are lucky you may even get the chance to photograph Spotted Hyena hunting Pelicans at the lake shore too. In the morning, we have another game drive before heading out of the park and continuing to Kisumu, on the shore of Lake Victoria, where we will spend the night in an hotel.

Flamingos

Lesser Flamingos feeding on the shore of Lake Nakuru

Rhino

White Rhino by the shore of Lake Nakuru

Rothschild's Giraffe

Rothschild's Giraffe at Lake Nakuru National Park

Camping at Lake Nakuru

Camping at Lake Nakuru National Park

Sunrise at Nakuru

Camping in the park allows you to witness the beautiful sunrises at Nakuru National Park

After a morning game drive in Lake Nakuru National Park, we will drive to Kisumu, a large town on the shore of Lake Victoria, where we will spend the night before heading to Kakamega Rainforest National Reserve in the morning. This amazing place is the last remnant in Kenya of the Great Pan-African Rainforest, that once stretched unbroken across the continent from West to East.

We will have a guided walk through the rainforest with one of the Rangers from Kakamega Environmental Education Project (Keep), where you will learn about the plants and wildlife of the rainforest and get the chance to see and photograph a variety of butterflies and primates. Monkeys commonly seen in the area include Sykes (or Blue) Monkeys, Black and White Colobus Monkeys, Red-Tailed Monkeys and the rare DeBrazza's Monkey. Watch out too for snakes and other forest wildlife.

After the tour, you are free to spend the afternoon exploring the well marked forest trails around the campsite. We try to book the traditional mud and thatch rondells to give a different experience for our guests but there are only six, so it is not always possible. If the rondells are not available, we camp nearby.

In the morning, we will take a hike up to an abandoned gold mine, which is now home to several species of bat. The experience of walking down the mineshaft with your head-torch, whilst bats fly all around you is very Indiana Jones!

Crossing the river

During our rainforest hike, we will cross the traditional bridges across the Isuiku River

Forest Mother Of Pearl

Forest Mother Of Pearl Butterfly in Kakamega Rainforest National Park

Red-Tailed Monkey

Red-Tailed Monkey eating figs in Kakamega Rainforest National Reserve

Rodell

The rondells provide very basic accommodation

Straw-Coloured Fruit Bat

Straw-Coloured Fruit Bat roosting in the abandoned gold mine at Kakamega

Kerosene lantern

The only light in the rondells is a kerosene lantern, which adds great atmosphere to the experience

After our trek to the gold mine, we leave Kakamega and head back to Nairobi. Our final day is a relaxing end to the safari, with a visit to the Sheldrick Trust Orphanage, where you can learn about the amazing work they do in rescuing and rearing orphaned Elephants, Rhinos and other wildlife. You will also get up close to the Elephants and be able to photograph them taking their daily mud bath.

In the afternoon we visit the National Museum of Kenya, where you will find an amazing variety of exhibits, from every bird species found in Kenya (1,084 of them!), to large mammals, historical artefacts and the amazing early hominids found in East Africa by the Leakey family.

Elephant Orphanage

Keeper feeding one of the Elephant Orphans at the Sheldrick Trust Orphanage

This Safari Experience is limited to four people only and spaces are sold on a strictly first-come-first-served basis. The price for this amazing photographic safari experience is £2,500. A deposit of £1,000 will secure your place, with the balance of £1,500 due by Friday 24th May 2019.
Included in the price are the following:

All accommodation and meals during hotel stays (excluding drinks)
All travel between locations
Photography tuition as required
All National Park Conservation Fees (most safari companies do not include these in the price they quote because in the case of this safari it would add around £220 on top of the price. We prefer our guests not to have that unpleasant surprise)
Entry to the National Museum of Kenya
Entry to the Sheldrick Trust Orphanage

What is not included in the price?

Flights to and from Kenya ~ you should fly out on the 20th July on a daytime flight, aiming to land at Jomo Kenyatta Internation Ariport, Nairobi in the evening. Your return flight should be an overnight flight and the 27th, to allow you time for the final day's activities before heading to the airport.
Holiday Insurance ~ You should ensure that you have sufficient holiday cover for the duration of your entire trip.
Equipment Insurance ~ Please make sure that you have adequate insurance to cover all of your photographic equipment.
Flying Doctor Insurance ~ Whilst not essential, we do recommend you take out Flying Doctor Insurance as standard ambulances can take several hours to reach some remote areas and several more to get you to a hospital. Flying Doctor Insurance will fly into remote areas to airlift you to a modern hospital, should you suffer an injury or severe illness during your safari.
Most drinks ~ Soft and alcoholic beverages are available in hotels at an extra cost. We will provide clean drinking water during game drives.
Camping equipment. You should bring a tent, sleeping bag and roll mat (we recommend Thermarest or similar as they are light and small to pack), camping meals for Nakuru and Kakamega and a camping pot to cook them in plus utensils.

Why take a Safari Experience with us?

We are photographers. On most organised safaris, you have a guide who is fairly low paid and needs good tips to make a living. Guides know that to get good tips they either have to be lucky with the Big 5 (Lion, Leopard, Elephant, Buffalo and Rhino) or show as much as possible. They tend to move on quickly from one animal to the next. As photographers, we want to be able to capture something different with an animal, so we wait for behaviours or gestures that will add to the story we want to tell with the images. We will take whatever time is needed with each animal because we do not have to work to a strict timetable, or cater for guests who just want to tick off a big list of animals.
Our Researcher, Karen, is a zoologist. She has a Bsc in Zoology and an Mres in Ecology and Environmental Sustainability through the University of Aberdeen, one of Scotland's oldest and most respected universities.
Our Senior Photographer, Howard, is as passionate about wildlife as he is about photography and this shows in the way he interprets nature for our guests, from identifying hundreds of bird species to tracking Lions to a kill. Feedback from previous guests has often referenced this.
We have run photographic experiences since 2004 and have taken safaris in Kenya since 2006. Our aim with every Photographic Experience is to have our guests/participants go home with images to be proud of, new knowledge to add to their skill-set and happy memories of a great photographic experience.

To book your place on our Jungle to Savannah Photographic Safari Experience, please select from the PayPal options below.