Zimbabwe Kariba Photographic Safari

I have been away in Zimbabwe for a while:

I am very lucky in that every year I go home to Zimbabwe, I usually spend most of the time in the Zambezi valley and mostly on Lake Kariba, where apart from the excellent fishing, I can spend loads of time on my hobby: wildlife photography.

Kariba for me has it all:
Wonderful scenery including some of the best sunrises and sunsets you could ever hope to photograph.
Plenty of mammals and is especially good for elephant photography.
Birds - This is where Kariba really excels, there is a huge variety of mostly water birds, but if you go a little walk, many land species as well.

If you want to see a few of the photos I took on the trip, take a look at my photos of my Zimbabwe trip 2010

Night Vision Devices on Safari

When you go on safari, you may notice that most, if not all of your game drives and walks take place either very early in the morning or late afternoon.

This is not because the lodge you are staying at wants to get you out of bed, but it is because this is when you have the best chance of spotting the most game. Most animals conserve energy and rest during the heat of the day.

One part of the bush that you miss out on is what goes on at night. Most predators especially the cats hunt at night (that is why they have such good eyes).

There are some lodges that offer night drive's, but to be honest, unless they are very careful this can be very unethical. By shining a light on any animal, you will change their natural behaviour and so you are not seeing how they act naturally. then there is the danger of pointing out either prey or predators to animals that may not have noticed them otherwise. The third danger and in many ways is the worst, is by shining a very bright light into an animals eyes, they become blinded for a short time. Normally fine, but what happens if that happened to you when you had a lion stalking you? Not very fair is it? People also often shine lights into Owl's eyes - this is terrible as many will then fly off, partially blinded and ultimately end up hurting themselves and if they break a wing that injury is fatal.

So what is the answer?: Night vision

The cost of night vision devices that include night vision binoculars, scopes and goggles has dramatically come down in the last decade, as has their effectiveness. Night vision means that you can observe wildlife without disturbing their natural behaviour or running the risk of blinding them.

For more information on Night Vision:

• Night Vision Glasses, Binoculars, Monoculars and Scopes
• Guide to Night Vision Glasses & Devices

Vehicle Rental & Car Hire Namibia

Namibia makes an excellent choice for a self drive safari and holiday location in Africa. With excellent National Parks like the Etosha National Park to visit and generally a good road infrastructure to get to them. Hiring a car in Namibia and going on a self drive adventure is relativity easy and can work out much cheaper than staying in hotels and safari lodges as well as giving you far more freedom and flexibility.

The Roads in Namibia
Generally Namibian roads are pretty good, however many are dirt tracks, which are mostly drivable in normal sedan cars, unless it rains. If you plan on visiting Namibia in the rainy season, you are highly advised to rent a 4x4.

Specialist Vehicles
There are also many specialist vehicle rental companies in Namibia that not only offer 4x4's, but ones that are fully equipped for camping. Now I know that a camping holiday in the middle of the African bush is not for everyone, but for those that are, Namibia was everything you could ever hope for with many truly wild places to go camping.

If camping is not your idea of a holiday, you can still enjoy an excellent self drive holiday as Namibia has many excellent quality B&B's, guest houses as well as safari lodges that you can organise to get to under your own steam, saving you money.

More Information
For more information, including Namibian Car hire companies:

• Car Hire Namibia on the Safari Holiday Guide.
• Hiring a car in Namibia on The Zambezi Safari Resource.

Katmai Leupold Wind River Binoculars

Safari Binocular Review:
Katmai Wind River Binoculars from Leupold

The whole range of Wind River also known as Green Band  binoculars from Leupold have been optimized for the outdoors and for general nature viewing. Not all are ideal to take on safari however. I think that the most important difference between a good wildlife observation binocular and a good safari binoculars is Size.

Bigger is not always better
The last thing you want to carry in your luggage is a bulky pair of binoculars, yet you still want a pair of binoculars that perform as well as a full size version. The answer could be compact Leupold Katmai Binoculars. They have 32mm objective lenses compared to 42mm in full size versions, yet deliver the same light transmission and exit pupil as full size versions.

The smaller objective lenses mean that the binocular is far more compact and lighter than the usual 42mm versions. They come in 3 different magnifications 6x, 8x and 10x.

On top of this Katmai binoculars have:

• Fully Fog and Waterproof
• Fully Multi Coated Lenses
• Quality Phase and L-Coated Prisms

More Details
For more details and where you can buy them, read this article on Leupold Wind River Binoculars

Safari Holiday Shop

Website Review
New and improved, is the  Safari Holiday Shop from the Safari Holiday Guide.

From here you can explore a number of safari holiday packages right across Africa. Browse by country using the safari holiday map, or choose a holiday by interest. These include things like:

• Scuba Diving & Safari's in Africa
• Kilimanjaro Hiking Holidays
• Gorilla Safaris in Rwanda & Uganda
• Beach & Safari Holidays
• Birdwatching Safaris
• Photographic Safari Holidays

Cheap Safaris?
There is even a cheap safari holiday section, where all the holidays listed are under $800 (£500) and if you can't find exactly what you are looking for there is a "design your own holiday" feature.

Conclusion
A great place to go to check and compare a number of different holiday options all in the same place, saving you time.

Nikon Monarch ATB 8x42 Waterproof Binocular

The most important piece of equipment that you can bring with you on safari is not your camera, but a good pair of binoculars. Remember you are not visiting a zoo and much of what you may be looking at will not be sitting right next to you and so to get the most out of your visit and to get closer to all the action you will need binoculars.

Lets take a look at the popular Nikon Monarch ATB 8x42 waterproof binocular as I recently noticed that they have been offered on discount from many binocular retailers and see if it has what it takes.

Full Review of the Nikon Monarch ATB 8x42 Waterproof Binocular

Best Binoculars for Safaris
With so many choices and different types of optics, it can seem a little daunting when deciding which are the best binoculars for you, your personal needs and for your safari holiday.

Ideally we are looking for a great nature viewing binocular (this includes birdwatching) that must also be tough and small enough to easily pack away and carry with the rest of your luggage.


Bigger is not always better
This includes the magnification, these Nikon binoculars have a magnification of 8x and that happens to also be the most popular magnification for birdwatching binoculars. This is because the larger the magnification the less stable the image is that you will be looking at through them is and generally the field of view is smaller the larger your magnification. An important factor when trying to quickly locate fast moving erratic objects (like birds) through your optics.

Whilst birding will be a part of what you will be doing on safari, you are mainly on the look out for the bigger, slower moving stuff, and so personally I do prefer a slightly stronger magnification, but definitely no more than 10x

Size of Binoculars
These Nikon Monarch Binoculars have and objective lens diameter of 42mm (8x42), again this is the most popular size for birding binoculars, larger objective lenses mean as a general rule, the binoculars take in more light, giving you a bright image. Unfortunately larger objective lenses mean larger binoculars which can be more difficult to carry with you, especially on holiday and that is why I tend, for safaris to choose a more compact design with good quality optics that have a high light transfer rate, that are simpler to fit in with the rest of my luggage.

Conclusion - Great Birdwatching Binoculars
So whilst these are excellent binoculars overall and make ideal birding binoculars, for safaris, I would only give them a score of around 7/10 - good but not the best.

More information:

• An article on how to choose the Best Binoculars for Safari Holidays

Tsavo Safari Holiday in Kenya

Tsavo 1988 - 2006
Originally uploaded by Nikographer [Jon]

When most people think of a safari holiday in Kenya, the first name that comes to mind is the Masai Mara National park and it's great wildebeest migration. There is of course much more to Kenya thn just the Mara:

Tsavo National Park, which consists of Tsavo East and Tsavo West national parks as well as the Chyulu Hills, is about 200km from Nairobi and less than that from Mombasa on the Main Nairobi to Mombasa road, making it the closest large national park to the holiday resorts at the coast and so is an ideal location to take a break from the beach to go and see some of Kenya's fantastic wildlife.

The combined Tsavo National Parks cover an area that is greater than Wales, making it Kenya's largest wildlife reserve and one of the largest in Africa. Here you can find all of Africa's Big 5 animals (Elephant, Black Rhino, Buffalo, Lion and Leopard) as well as a huge variety of other animals.

Because Tsavo is a National park and less popular than the Masai Mara, they make the perfect destination for a self drive safari and whilst the road network within the reserve is excellent, it is still advisable to hire a 4x4.

For more information on the reserve, take a look at the Safari Holiday Guide to Tsavo National Park.