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where the oryx roam

Deserts and wildlife of Namibia

In conjunction with Natures Images, join us in the sweeping dunes, rocky outcrops and huge skies of Namibia. With a little patience, the wildlife that can be found within this often dramatic landscape makes it a truly engaging place to visit. The stunning landscapes will, naturally, be on our agenda. However with desert-adapted elephants and giraffe, fascinating reptiles of the dunes and coastlines playing host to flamingo and fur seals, there is a lot of variety on offer. This will be a truly immersive experience in one of the driest and dramatic corners of the African continent.

Group Size: 6 guests, 2 guides

With an exception tail of 3:1 this workshop ensures you'll have ample opportunity to ask for advice and guidance.

Date: April 24th - 7th May 2024

This trip covers a wide variety of locations across our 13 days away. From salt pans to sand dunes, there's a huge amount to take in and see on this adventure.

Fitness Level: Low

There is very little walking on this trip. However days can be very long, with early starts. On travel days there are huge distances to cover in our vehicles. Always to stunning backdrops though.

All Experience Levels Welcome

This Namibia adventure is suitable for all levels of photographer. There are generally no tricky shooting scenarios involved.

Accomodation

We will be staying in a combination of high quality lodges, hotels and comfortable guest houses depending on our location.

Clothing and Temperatures

Typically you can expect temperatures between 15 degrees on the coast and 30+ degrees in the desert. As such, generally warm weather clothing is required but with a fleece and maybe light weight jacket for the cooler occasions.

This workshop is sold out. Please see the bottom of the page for more details on joining the waiting list.

Your workshop guides

Richard Peters is an ambassador for Nikon, Swarovski Optik and Datacolor. He has a style that is well known for capturing dramatic light, alongside having a friendly and down to earth manner. His work has been internationally acclaimed, including as a category winner in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year, and is one of the only British photographers to be named European Wildlife Photographer of the Year. Richard has been a judge for many competitions, including the European Wildlife Photographer of the Year and the British Wildlife Photography Awards plus, been a keynote speaker to many industry events, from close to home in the UK to as far afield as Australia.

James Shooter is a UK photographer currently based in Europe. He has a deep passion for wildlife and rewilding and spent 10 years as a visual content creator and guide for SCOTLAND: The Big Picture. James also produced content for the David Attenborough series Wild Isles and now, works with Rewilding Europe.

Hire a lens for your workshop

Richard has partnered with Lenses for Hire, the UK's best known and most reliable lens rental company. We are pleased to offer UK residents a 10% discount on any lenses hired for your Deserts and Wildlife of Namibia workshop. Feel free to get in touch and find out more.

Your full itinerary

Day 1: We will depart the UK for overnight flights to Windhoek, Namibia.

Day 2: Arriving in Windhoek during the morning, we will collect our vehicles for the long drive north to Etosha National Park and our base for the first 3 nights. The lodge is conveniently based inside the park itself. We will have been travelling a long time up until our arrival, so this will be an opportunity to rest and acclimatise in the comfortable surroundings. We’ll be briefed on the Etosha leg of our schedule with the local guides and drivers and get a good night’s rest.

Days 3-4: Using a specially adapted VW transporter’s for the duration of our time in Etosha, these unique vehicles (along with driver guide) have rotating seats that allow everyone their own station to photograph using tripod heads through large open windows. This vehicle can accommodate 4 guests each, with the remaining 2 guests shooting from our main vehicles, driven by Richard and Dan. This ensures everyone will get plenty of opportunity to work in these unique vehicles. For each of these 2 days we will explore the eastern part of the park around Namutoni, entering at dawn and visiting the best waterholes to look for photographic opportunities. We'll head back once the light is harsh for a rest and lunch. Etosha is home to all the main herbivores such as elephant, zebra, wildebeest and oryx. With a little luck we'll also find lion, leopard and cheetah. We are visiting during the heart of the dry season when all of these animals will look to come and drink at the waterholes each day.

Day 5: A similar morning schedule except we make our way that afternoon to the west of the park, basing ourselves here for our final night, at the Okaukuejo rest camp. The main attraction here is the floodlight watering hole that provides potential to see black rhino, which visit most nights.

Day 6: For the final morning in Etosha, we’ll spend time at the camp waterhole which often provides stunning sunrise light and offers reflections of the visiting animals. After our morning session here we’ll head west to Damaraland and our base for the next 3 nights near the settlement of Sesfontein.

Day 7-8: Save for a few waterholes, the river valleys of this area will be dry at this time of year. The valleys however, are home to the desert-adapted elephant, giraffe and a small population of lion. We will leave early each morning in our private safari vehicles with driver guides, to search the river valleys for these specially adapted mammals. This also offers an opportunity to try and see these often photographed animals in more unique and different settings.

Day 9: Following breakfast we make our way to the Skeleton Coast region, visiting the largest breeding fur seal colony on route. Here the sights and sounds are nothing short of extraordinary and will provide an enjoyable photography session, ahead of the second half of the journey to the coastal town of Swakopmund.

Day 10: A private tour during the morning into the sand dunes of the surrounding Namib Desert, with a local guide and expert in the so-called Little 5, which includes namaqua chameleon, Peringuey’s adder and palmato gecko. The aim will be to see these animals up-close with macro and wide-angle lenses. The afternoon will see us spending time at the lagoons in the nearby Walvis Bay. This will take us right up to sunset and will feature huge numbers of both greater and lesser flamingos, where they gather, providing flight, portrait and group photographic options.

Day 11: We’ll return to Walvis Bay early in the morning before heading south within the Namib region, to the internationally renowned Sossusvlei area. Here we will enjoy the afternoon exploring the iconic red sand dunes before settling at our hotel in Sossusvlei National Park. This will be our base for 2 nights.

Day 12: An early start at dawn to visit the iconic Dead Vlei and Sossusvlei. The photos from here will already be familiar to you as they are unique locations for photographic opportunity. Paradise for landscape photographers in fact. From a wildlife perspective, oryx are reasonably common in the area so there will hopefully be wildlife to add to the landscape opportunities. We will have breakfast here before heading back for lunch, then out again in the afternoon.

Day 13: Dependant on final flight times and schedules, we hope to have a final early morning session in the park before heading back to Windhoek and our evening flights back home.

Day 14: Arrive back in UK/Europe in the morning, after our overnight flights.

Deserts and Wildlife of Namibia

£5,125


Deposit
£625

2025
April 24th - 7th May


(2) spaces remaining

How to book

This workshop is run in conjunction with Natures Images. To secure your space, please use the booking form on the Natures Images website.

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What's Included

  • All accommodation
  • All meals
  • Local transfers
  • Park fees

What's not included

  • International flights
  • Personal travel insurance
  • Sundry items
  • Alcohol
  • Single sup on request
  • Tips for camp staff and drivers (where applicable)