Five years ago, my wife and I traveled to Africa for a photo safari. At the time, I had a fairly basic camera, and that simply would not do for such a trip. I bought myself a nice new Nikon camera and a few lenses, including a very long lens. That lens changed my photographic life forever, and opened the door into far better wildlife photography opportunities than I’d ever had before. This, and my experience in Africa, shaped my photographic interests to this day.
We spend almost two weeks in Tanzania, photographing a huge assortment of wildlife. We saw the “Big 5” – lion, leopard, elephant, black rhinoceros, and buffalo – but some of my favorite photos are actually of some of the less sought-after animals. One of those was the banded mongoose.
My wife’s favorite were the giraffes, and they are truly unique and majestic animals.
I’ve never quite understood why the buffalo is one of the Big 5, but the cheetah is not. Cheetahs are beautiful animals to see in the wild!
We saw quite a few lions, but I never knew that lions like to climb trees. We often saw them resting up in the branches, often right next to the road, making for some amazing photo opportunities! It’s a little disconcerting, though, to make eye contact with a lion that’s only 20 feet away. 😳
If you ever have the opportunity to visit Africa, even if you’re not a photographer, I highly recommend it. Not only is the wildlife there amazing, but the people were very welcoming and kind.