Guest Galleries

Guest Galleries

Explorations Africa

We love hearing from our guests once they have returned home from safari! Sharing in their joy and excitement when we see their spectacular photos and hearing their soul enriching stories, is a wonderful feeling that we’d love to share with the world – and to help encourage others to take the next step in booking their own custom safari.

Have a look at the most recent galleries we’re bragging about and then check back periodically to see what other travellers have been up to!  Remember, you too can return home with beautiful pictures like as these…

David & Sue Zwicker, Toronto

A Sea of Stars

Travelling in Africa with Explorations Africa provided us with the awesome sense of a world unchanged since time immemorial.   Every day was packed with life changing experiences but one night did stand out as special for both of us.  In Botswana, the Kwetsani camp manager, Dan Myberg, took our group out for night sky photography close to the camp where Dan positioned us to photograph the night sky, illuminated by a sea of stars above an ancient Baobab tree.  The total darkness of the night was accompanied by the nearby crashing of foraging elephants and whoops of prowling hyenas.   A truly unique experience shared with good friends – and the pictures turned out awesome too!

Gear & Advice

Plan your carry-on weight limit wisely as African air carriers only allow 8kg of hand luggage per person.  A photo vest helps for carrying extra lenses and gadgets and don’t forget to pack your flash!

Sue used a Canon 60D body and 70 – 200mm F4 lens while I used 2 bodies; a Canon 7D and Canon 5D III with two long lenses used interchangeably – a Canon 100-400mm and Canon 600mm F4.  We also used Canon 16-35mm F2.8 and 24-105mm F4 lenses for scenery and landscape shots and felt the zooms were certainly the most versatile.  While the 600mm is extremely sharp and great for bird photography it comes with significant weight challenges and often delivered only head shot opportunities for animals.  To support the 600mm lens, we brought a Wimberley gimbal head mounted on a monopod.   – David

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Phil & Pam Barg

Highlights

For Pam and I there were lots of highlights, including the night sleeping out on the platform at Garonga! The incredible lion sightings, the trumpeting of the herd of elephants, several of the sun downers were great, with the rest being merely very good. The 2 camps were wonderful, as was Victoria Falls.

Gear

The equipment I used was an Olympus OM-D EM5-II with a 75-300 mm lens and some of the low light shots we took with the 50-200. – Phil

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Jeff Reich & Jody Smith

Travel with the Experts!

Traveling with Dan and Antoinette with Explorations Africa was truly an amazing experience. Not knowing what to expect being our first time there, I would highly recommend taking one of their pre-planned trips. We did and couldn’t have been more delighted! They are truly great to travel with and share their endless knowledge of the areas.

There were life-changing encounters with animals that we will never forget. Just the fact that we were in their environment was mind-blowing.

Gear & Advice

I shot with a 7D with a Tamron 150 to 600mm lens and Jody shot with a 5D Mark III with a 28-300 mm lens. Weight can be an issue with these small flights which must be taken in consideration. We believe that it is good to have a lens with a wide focal range. Sometimes you’ll have the opportunity to get in close and others you don’t. This at least gives you the flexibility.

It is also handy to have a wide-angle lens for stunning sunrises and sunsets and night shots. Even if there are no wildlife to be seen, there is always beauty all around.  – Jeff Reich

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Jon & Heather Fennell

A Magical Experience

There is no detail that Antoinette and Dan overlooked in booking an amazing and magical trip for us. Their combined knowledge and experience is impressive and they took that background along with their passion for Africa to build an unforgettable adventure that we will remember for years to come. All of the safari camps and other accommodations were beyond our expectations. The staff are so friendly, welcoming and personable, the meals are well prepared and very flavorful, the guides are extremely knowledgeable and fun to tour with, the transfers are seamless, and our itinerary was perfect. We appreciate their care and thoughtfulness in making our trip a reality and have highly recommended them to our friends and neighbors. We look forward to booking with them again!

Gear

Heather was almost embarrassed that we were going to use her photographs, as she considers herself such a non-photographer that she couldn’t even tell us what equipment she’d used!  But this is the beauty of experiencing a soul enriching safari that even in the hands of a self professed amateur with a simple point and shoot camera, the Fennell’s have brought home rich memories that these lovely images will remind them of for a lifetime – Dan

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Dennis & Belle Gowriluk

An Incredible Experience!

Working with Dan and Antoinette and their extensive experience to plan our first trip to Africa resulted in a trip that far exceeded our expectations.

Our trip included touring Cape Town and the Cape Peninsula, the beautiful wine country around Franshoek and Stellenbosch and of course Victoria Falls. However, nothing could have prepared us for the life-changing experience and exciting wildlife encounters at the Makanyi and Little Makalolo safari camps and the Chobe Princess River Cruise.

Both safari camps were unique and provided incredible accommodations, great food and a marvellous staff. The guides and trackers were amazing and allowed us to get up close and personal on the game drives with an incredible diversity of wildlife and experiences that we will never forget. The Chobe River Cruise allowed us to view wildlife along the river from a unique perspective.

The photographic opportunities were abundant for both wildlife and scenery. The Photographic Specialist at Makanyi really helped me maximize the creative aspects of my photography and really enhanced my overall photo experience.

The overall itinerary couldn’t have been better and was executed flawlessly by the various agents as we travelled from destination to destination. We were very well looked after every step of the way.

Gear & Advice

With the rapidly changing photo opportunities, I shot with two cameras. I used a Sony A7 II with a Sony 24-105mm f4 lens for wide angle and landscape shots. I also used a Sony A7 III with a Sony 100-400mm f4.5/5.6 lens for most of my wildlife shots. I found the 100-400 lens easy to handle, very sharp and good for most wildlife opportunities. I also had a 2x teleconverter for the 100-400 lens which increased the focal length to 800mm for added reach when I needed it.  I found the variable zoom lenses were the most versatile in this environment. I carried all my cameras, lenses and accessories in a photo back pack which made it easy to travel and access what I needed in the safari vehicles.

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Les & Denise Guzowski

Far Exceeded Our Expectations!

We can’t thank you enough for the wonderful trip you planned for us! It has been 3 months since we got home, and I still get goose bumps when I think back on our experiences. Every detail of our almost 5 week trip was looked after with the utmost professionalism. We started our trip with 2 gorilla treks in Uganda that were absolutely fabulous and finished with a jaw dropping wildebeest migration in Tanzania. The amazing thing is that all our camps and experiences in between were able to meet the standards established by these end points. Our camps and guides were exceptional and the animals we were able to see far exceeded my expectations.
I will admit to suffering a bit of trepidation about this trip when we started to plan it, however it didn’t take long working with Antoinette before that feeling was gone. When you realize the experience and passion possessed by Antoinette, it is easy to put your faith in her plan for you. Every step of the trip was laid out in detail and a pre-departure meeting ensured any questions or concerns were addressed. Even invaluable camera equipment advice was provided by Dan!
I would absolutely recommend Explorations Africa to anyone planning to visit and am dreaming of the time I can book a return one! Thank you for the trip of a lifetime!

Gear

Canon Mk 5DIII with Canon 24-105mm, 100-400mm and 1.4 converter.

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Kevin & Kathy McCormick

Trip

We originally booked a two-week safari through six protected areas in Kenya and Tanzania before turning to Dan and Antoinette for an additional week in Namibia. As we had seen pictures of Sossusvlei/Deadvlei, this location was the top priority for us. We were not disappointed! The landscape was breathtaking with endless photo opportunities. We also spent a few days at the Desert Rhino Camp in northern Namibia. The desert landscape was fascinating as was our close-up observations (under the supervision of experienced trackers) of Black Rhinos. Dan and Antoinette did an excellent job of organizing the Namibia trip in response to our desires. Everything occurred exactly as promised and there were no surprises or disappointments.  Their attention to detail was impressive!

Camera Gear

The choice of appropriate camera gear fostered considerable internal debate.  I wanted longer lenses for wildlife shots and shorter focal lengths of landscapes. A tripod was necessary for landscapes but not needed for wildlife shots. The weight restrictions on small aircraft, particularly in east Africa, was a further consideration.

I had originally planned to take a Sony A7II camera with a Sony 24-70 mm and a Canon 100-400 lens supplemented with 1.4 converter. Dan recommended that I also take a 70-200 lens which was good advice. The lens with the converter worked but was less than ideal. The converter cost an extra stop or two which made focusing a challenge under lower light conditions. Regardless, I got hundreds of satisfactory images.

I took 320 GB of memory card space and despite ongoing in-camera culling, I was on my last card when the trip ended. I also carried a 500 GB Colorspace UDMA3 storage device (Dan’s recommendation) to back up the used memory cards. This is a very portable device that provides an extra margin of safety. Although dust was often common, I did not find it to be a major challenge. I routinely covered the camera with a light raincoat when not taking pictures.

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