
25
February, 2022
Wildlife Photography, Photo Tour, Kruger National Park
Kruger Safari February 25 & 26 – Photo Tour Review
Guest Review – Adam Barnard
I recently joined Professional Photographer Andrew Aveley and his lovely wife Caroline on a two-day Photo Safari in the Kruger National Park.
Our mission was to find a leopard as I had no decent photos of these magnificent animals in my portfolio. I laughed as Andrew said that “Mother Nature will only show us what she thought we deserved to see.”
With this in mind, I was ready for an adventure in the amazing Kruger National Park.

Image by Adam Barnard (c) 2022

Image by Adam Barnard (c) 2022
Day one:
We entered at the Phabeni Gate – shortly after that, we found two battle-scarred male lions taking refuge on the warm, dry tar road. It was not easy to get a “natural’ shot as they were on the tar but after a little creative advice from Andrew, I created one of my coolest lion photos to date. What an amazing start and we were alone for about 15 minutes to enjoy the sighting and opportunity to photograph these big guys.
A little further down the road, there was a small excited shriek from Caroline as she spotted through a small gap what seemed like a cat …. What awesome sight as we moved alongside a large open area, a female Cheetah and her two cubs. We managed to spend quite some time at this sighting looking at various compositions.
The female cheetah started to scan around and Andrew suggested that she was likely to move off soon and that we should look at re-positioning before she did it to avoid having to manoeuvre around the other vehicles at the sighting. Andrew slowly moved away from the spot we were in and there were some strange looks from the people, who were glued to the sighting, as they could not understand why we were moving away.
I also was a little unsure at Andrews thinking but, after 5 minutes, the cheetah female stood up, stretched and moved exactly in to an amazing position for us to get some great shots. This mommy posed nicely before wandering off into the bush with her cubs in tow. What a special moment it was.

Image by Adam Barnard (c) 2022

Image by Adam Barnard (c) 2022

Image by Adam Barnard (c) 2022
Close to Skukuza we found “my” Leopard, lazily lying in a tree. Another amazing moment I will never forget. Even more amazing was there were only 3 vehicles along a “busy” stretch of road. I thought to myself, I should play lotto with all this luck.
Since we had found three of the cat species, we decided to head up north to Leeupan to see what kind of birds we could find. It is a seasonal pan just south of Tshokwane and not a well know “big five” route. Needless to say I love birding and did not expect to see some amazing birds. Jacana, Lesser Jacana, Pygmy Goose, Woolly-necked Stork, Saddle-Billed Stork, Lesser and common Moorhen to name but a few, all of these birds were Lifers for me.
Heading back south we drove where we hopefully could find a Black Coucal, a rare visitor to the Kruger, unfortunately none were to be found this time. We enjoy a slow drive back to Phabeni gate enjoying general game and the amazing smells of the Kruger.

Image by Adam Barnard (c) 2022
Day two:
Our last day in the park. We decided to tackle the area around Malelane to hopefully find me another leopard to photograph. We got some cool bird shots as the sun rose on the bridge at and we encountered seven young lions early in the morning, unfortunately the road was congested, and we could not position the vehicle in such a way to get the photos that I would have liked to get.
Carrying on towards the Biyamati weir we found another leopard in a dry riverbed, walking from shade spot to shade spot, did I mention how magnificent these animals are?
Lots of elephants, impala, zebra and giraffes was seen for the rest of the day. Finding a beautiful Martial Eagle was and still is another highlight of my two-day trip with Andrew and Caroline. Andrew was always offering advice on composition and camera settings which I really appreciated.

Image by Adam Barnard (c) 2022

Image by Adam Barnard (c) 2022
They work well together as a team doing spotting and chatting about all sorts of things that help me learn more about the Kruger. They have both done there official Kruger 3 day orientation course that allows them to work in the park (Guides need an official qualification and Companies offering gudied safaris also need to have done this). This is something I did not know and it was amazing to see their passion and dedication to creating an experience for me that I still remember as I write this.
These guys are awesome!!
From the day I made the booking till the moment I left; I was treated more like a friend than a client. Added bonus was that I got to photograph 3 cat species instead of just the leopard I was after.
I can highly recommend Wild Expressions Photo Tours and Safaris!

Image by Adam Barnard (c) 2022

Image by Adam Barnard (c) 2022

Wild Expressions (c) 2022
We are truley humble by the amazing review Adam has shared with us. I hope you will enjoy the gallery below and don’t forget to see what we can do for you on planning an amazing Kruger adventure.
Safari Greetings
Caroline
“Let us try to recognize the precious nature of each day.” “Every day, think as you wake up: Today I am fortunate to be alive, I have a precious human life, I am not going to waste it.” – The Dalai Lama
Kruger Safari February 25 & 26 – Photo Tour Review
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