C4 Photo Safaris

30/10/2026

Namibia rewards you for returning to the same place more than once.

A dune photographed at sunrise is not the same dune a few hours later. Shadows shorten, shapes change and details disappear into the light. Further north, the scale shifts again as desert-adapted wildlife moves through Damaraland, while at Spitzkoppe the granite takes on the last colour of the day.

It is a country that constantly asks you to reconsider how you use light, space and scale in a photograph.

In June 2028, Darren Donovan and Johan Enslin will lead a photographic journey from Sossusvlei to Swakopmund, Damaraland and Spitzkoppe. With several nights in key locations, there is time to return when the light changes and make a different photograph of a place you thought you already knew.

13 – 23 June 2028
Namibia

27/10/2026

At Mashatu, the same animal can give you two completely different photographs.

From a vehicle, you might follow an elephant through the open landscape, using the dust, trees and space around it to tell the story. Later, from the underground hide, you are sitting at water level as another elephant walks towards you. The perspective changes, and so does the way you see the animal.

That is one of the things Shem Compion has come to know well about Mashatu. Having spent years photographing this landscape, he knows when to stay with a sighting, when to change position and when it is worth simply waiting to see what happens next.

In June 2027, Shem will spend seven nights here with a small group, combining time out in the reserve with dedicated sessions at the Matebole Hide and a night at the Lala Limpopo Sleep-Out Hide.

5 – 12 June 2027
Mashatu, Botswana

25/10/2026

There is always more to a safari than the photographs you bring home.

It is the time spent watching a sighting develop, learning from the person beside you, returning to a location when the light changes, and sharing those days in the field with people who care about photography as much as you do.

23/10/2026

Mashatu is the kind of place where you never quite know what the next drive will give you.

A leopard moving through a dry riverbed, elephants crossing the open plains, a cheetah scanning the landscape, or simply good winter light falling across a subject at the right moment. With a private vehicle and only four photographers, there is time to stay with those opportunities and see how they develop.

That time matters. It gives you the chance to watch behaviour, reconsider a composition and make more than the obvious photograph. The underground hides add another perspective along the way, bringing you down to eye level when wildlife comes to drink.

In July 2027, Danielle Carstens will guide four photographers through six nights at Mashatu, sharing her approach to wildlife, light and photography throughout the safari.

15 – 21 July 2027
Mashatu, Botswana

21/10/2026

Uganda is often known for its mountain gorillas and chimpanzees. Spend a little longer here, though, and you quickly realise how much more there is to photograph.

Beyond the rainforest, the landscape opens into savanna, waterways and papyrus wetlands. Tree-climbing lions rest in the branches in Ishasha, wildlife gathers along the Kazinga Channel, and the swamps around Mabamba are home to shoebills and an extraordinary variety of birdlife.

That contrast is what makes Uganda such an interesting photographic journey. One morning you can be working quietly beneath the forest canopy with a gorilla, and a few days later you are thinking about completely different light, subjects and compositions out on the plains or from the water.

Darren Donovan will lead just four photographers through Uganda in April 2027, exploring the country well beyond its famous primates.

14 – 25 April 2027
Uganda

18/10/2026

The Busanga Plains encourage you to leave a little more space in the frame.

Out here, a lion crossing the grass does not always need to fill the photograph. Sometimes the stronger image is the animal beneath a wide sky, a lone tree on the horizon, or a small subject moving through an expanse of open floodplain.

With so few visual distractions, you begin to think differently about scale, negative space and the relationship between wildlife and the landscape. And because you stay in one place, you have time to learn how the light moves across the plains and return to areas when the conditions change.

Darren Donovan will spend five nights at Kasonso Busanga Camp with just three photographers in June 2027, exploring this quieter approach to photographing wildlife.

2 – 7 June 2027
Busanga Plains, Zambia
3 spaces available

15/10/2026

The Okavango Delta is never quite the same place twice.

Water, weather and season continually reshape the landscape. Floodplains open and close, wildlife follows the changing conditions, and the light can shift from clear morning skies to dark summer clouds within hours.

For a photographer, that means there is always something to respond to. A leopard moving through woodland, elephants crossing an open floodplain, young antelope in fresh grass, or a bird briefly settling into a clean background.

It is a landscape that rewards time, observation and being ready when everything comes together.

14/10/2026

Last night in London, the Wildlife Photographer of the Year awards honoured the very best of nature photography, and for the third time our own Isak Pretorius was among the winners. We are incredibly proud of him.

Isak has now cemented himself as one of the world's premier bird photographers, winning the Birds category with an extraordinary image of one of Africa's rarest birds, the shoebill. It is his second win of the bird category, and I believe he is the first photographer ever to win it twice. It's a real testament to his skill, his patience and his dedication to our feathered friends.

Isak Pretorius Wildlife Photography
Isak Pretorius

Isak Pretorius (South Africa) chances across two elusive shoebill storks among wetland vegetation.

13/10/2026

Take away the colour and you start to notice different things.

The texture of an elephant’s skin. Dust catching the light. The shape of a leopard against a dry riverbed. The lines of the landscape and the contrast between an animal and its surroundings.

Black and white wildlife photography asks you to look beyond colour and pay closer attention to light, form and composition. Mashatu gives you plenty to work with, from open landscapes and predators to the close, low perspectives of the photographic hides.

In May 2027, Isak Pretorius will lead a small group of photographers through Mashatu, with time to explore not only what they photograph, but how they choose to interpret it.

12 – 20 May 2027
Mashatu, Botswana

11/10/2026

Much of life in the Lower Zambezi revolves around the river.

Elephants move between the winterthorn forests and the water, hippos gather in the channels, and predators follow the floodplains. For a photographer, that relationship between wildlife, water and landscape means the scene is always changing.

Some mornings begin with mist hanging over the river. By late afternoon, warm light filters through the trees. In between, you might spend an hour with elephants at the water or simply stay with a promising sighting and wait to see what develops.

In April 2027, Isak Pretorius will lead just four photographers through the Lower Zambezi, spending six nights between Kutali and Chula camps with a private vehicle and plenty of time to work with the opportunities the river provides.

25 April – 1 May 2027
Lower Zambezi National Park, Zambia