Botswana Photo Tour trip report - Tom Bol Photo Workshops

Chobe River

We love the Chobe River in Botwswana because of the easy access to wildlife. Our photo boats have built in tripods with gimbals. We can motor along the river and photograph herds of frolicking animals and aquatic species like hippos, Cape Buffalo and Impala.

Incredible hippo photography on the Chobe River
Kathy and Cheryl in action with their gimbals
Mother baboon with a youngster

Eye-level View

From the comfort of our boat, we were able to photograph animals and birds at eye-level. It was a terrific year for hippos and the elusive Malachite Kingfisher - one of the most decorative kingfishers in the world. At times we just drifted on the water, surrounded by hippos and flocks of birds flying overhead. Such a peaceful way to photograph wildlife.

A hungry Hippo on the Chobe
Richard & Wendy focusing on wildlife in warm evening light
Malachite Kingfisher on a papyrus stalk

Okavango Delta

For our second destination we headed to the Okavango Delta and found water everywhere. The rains started early this year and provided beautiful green backgrounds to go with the abundant wildlife. We photographed 20 different lions in the area. At times there were so many lions around us, we did not know which way to point!

Vervet monkey checking out our jeep
Photographing at dusk to make the most of the day
Kudu male and female with a green background

Lions Everywhere

It was a terrific tour for lions. We photographed them almost every day at Splash Camp, sometimes only a mile away from camp. The local pride had several sub adult members that could be identified by the lingering spots on their legs. One of the highlights of the tour was watching an adult male try to join the pride on the final morning of safari.

Greeting the alpha female with affection
Ellie brought the big glass for tight portraits
Two adult males on the prowl

Interesting Behavior

Wildlife photographers get to witness an incredible array of natural behavior in the field. This makes for terrific photos as well. Wendy described the leaping Red Lechwe as the most astonishing thing she had ever seen. Whether it was yawning hippos, oversized Jacana feet or the antics of a wild lion pride, we were treated to amazing behavior in Botswana.

African Jacana with huge feet
Hippo showing it's large yellow teeth
Male lion attempting to join some females

Abundant Babies

November is the season for babies in Botswana. The dry season is almost over and new green shoots are just around the corner. We photographed babies of almost every species. Many of them were so young, they still had their umbilical chords intact. With so many newborns in the area, it was not a surprise that there were so many hungry lions.

Giraffe mother and child
Two young elephants stick together
An impala just hours old.

Creative Processing

We teach editing sessions on many of our workshops. During the Botswana Tour we tried creative techniques like low key and high key editing in the field. We had access to an editing room on the Chobe and showcased these techniques in Lightroom and PhotoShop.

Low key Hyena
High key Giraffes
Monochrome bokeh with a Reed Cormorant

Thanks to all of the photographers who joined us our 2028 Botswana Workshop

Want to join us on a future workshop? We have immediate openings, 2026 Openings, 2027 Openings and 2028 Openings.

Thanks for reading our trip reports!

www.tombolphotoworkshops.com

CREATED BY
Cree Bol

Credits:

Tom Bol and Cree Bol