Friends Of Nature October 2024
Botswana Photographic Wildlife Safari
With Wildlife Photographer Kevin Dooley
Kevin Dooley is an award-winning Wildlife and Wedding Photographer who grew up in Placitas, New Mexico. At the age of 18, he enlisted into the Navy and served on an aircraft carrier. After he completed his service he returned to New Mexico and opened his own photography studio in Albuquerque which is still running 37 years later. His passion for wildlife photography and Africa, led him to his safari adventures and he eventually opened Idube Photo Safaris. Kevin is a certified FGASA (Field Guide Association of South Africa), Wildlife Guide, a PPA Master Photographer and takes guests from all over the world on amazing photographic safaris in Africa, Alaska, the Amazon, India and the Antarctic. He also teaches wildlife and wedding photography workshops
After your arrival at the OR Tambo airport in Johannesburg South Africa you will be transferred to the Mondior Hotel. If you arrive on the official arrival day we will meet you at the Airport and help with your easy transfer to the hotel. If you arrive a day or more before the official arrival day, you will take the hotel shuttle over to the hotel. Safaris do not normally include food and lodging for pre and post safari days. Please check with us for your arrangements as well as assistance in securing these rooms. We normally will meet in the hotel foyer at 6:30 PM on the pre safari night as a group for an introduction and dinner.
Your African Safari
Join Safari experts Kevin and Tricia Dooley on an experience of a lifetime in the exotic African Bush! Kevin is a well known Wildlife Photographer, his images have won numerous awards by National Geographic, Africa Geographic, Photographic World Cup to mention but a few. Tricia is South African and loves sharing her passion for wildlife and her homeland. Spend your mornings and afternoons discovering the many species of wild Africa. Imagine seeing and photographing Lions, Elephants, Giraffes, Zebras, and many other species in their wild habitat. Witness and learn about their behavior and the beautiful serene Savannahs they call home. Our Safari Game drives are packed full of adventure, knowledge, and excitement! Evenings are spent resting in our comfortable camp where nights are filled with warm candle lit dinners and camp fires. The soft sounds of wild Africa will sing you to sleep whilst your mornings will be greeted with birds waking up a new day in this paradise. Watch the Giraffe as they walk into the sunset, the Elephant mother helping her newborn baby learn to drink water. See herds of African Antelope grazing on the plains lined with beautiful umbrella Acacia thorn trees. This is Africa! This is a true Safari adventure that transports you into this magical and life changing place. You will never see life as you once did. Africa teaches you to see beauty in the wild, find the universe in the Southern night star filled sky, and fall in love with life all over again. Come…..Africa is calling you!
Your First Night In Africa
After your arrival at the OR Tambo airport in Johannesburg South Africa you will be transferred by the hotel shuttle to the Mondior Hotel. meet you at the Airport and help with your easy . You will take the hotel shuttle over to the hotel. Due to the various schedules and arrival days, Safaris do not normally include food and lodging for pre and post safari days. Please check with us for your arrangements as well as assistance in securing these rooms. We normally will meet in the hotel foyer at 6:30 PM on the pre safari night as a group for an introduction and dinner.
Shopping Excursion and Cultural Center
Cambanos and Son Agencies is a family business started in 1982, it was a small curio wholesaler working out of an office in Johannesburg town centre. They offered customers something extra, personal service and the pledge that they would always make sure the customer was happy.
The business is now one of the biggest in South Africa, supplying the world with African curios. But the pledge remains the same “Make sure the customer is happy” and hope they eventually become friends. The business is still run by the family today; Gerry Cambanos is only a phone call away if you require a piece of Africa in your home. Your morning of shopping will be followed up with a visit to a cultural canter where we will stay overnight.
Itinerary
DEPART USA
Oct 23 2024
ARRIVE SOUTH AFRICA
Oct 24 2024
OVERNIGHT Emperor’s Peermont Mondior
(PRICE NOT INCLUDED)
Oct 24 2024
Shopping and Cultural center
overnight
Oct 25 2024
SAFARI LODGE
Oct 26-Nov 2nd
SAFARI ENDS, OVERNIGHT AT
Emperor’s Peermont Mondior
(PRICE NOT INCLUDED)
Nov 2nd 2024
DEPART FOR HOME
Nov 3rd 2024
Your Safari Lodge
Be charmed by the vast open spaces, biodiversity of wildlife, majestic skies and the tranquility interspersed with birdsong and sounds of the wild.
Located in the Northern Tuli Game Reserve of Botswana which is situated between the Tuli Safari Area, a national park in Zimbabwe and the Mapungubwe National Park, a World Heritage Site in South Africa. Mashatu shares unfenced borders with both the South African and Zimbabwean national parks in the south and north respectively. This vast area forms part of a cross boundary wildlife conservation area protecting the substantial biodiversity of fauna and flora in this region.
luxury suites lie along the camp’s perimeter and are designed to allow absolute privacy and a communion with the bush and its inhabitants. Watch elephants splashing at the waterhole, listen to the lyrical melody of the woodlands kingfisher on a branch overhead, smell the grassy scent of the bushveld, touch the bark of an ancient tree and inhale a breath of air so pure, it’s intoxicating.
14 luxury suites lie along the camp’s perimeter and are designed to allow absolute privacy and a communion with the bush and its inhabitants. Watch elephants splashing at the waterhole, listen to the lyrical melody of the woodlands kingfisher on a branch overhead, smell the grassy scent of the bushveld, touch the bark of an ancient tree and inhale a breath of air so pure, it’s intoxicating.
Each of the air-conditioned suites at the Lodge is tastefully decorated and includes impressive black and white prints of Africa’s most beautiful animals. A double bed and an extra-large single bed, together with a seating area that includes a single day bed, comfortably accommodates families. The ample en-suite bathroom with both bath and shower facilities and a separate W.C. complete the well-appointed suites.
Meals are a sumptuous celebration of traditional African Cuisine – flavoursome, but lacking in ostentation. Fresh fruits, vegetables, home-made breads and pies, succulent meat dishes and delicious desserts will appeal to a guest who appreciates home cooking at its best.
For a touch of retail therapy, the fully stocked curio shop showcases a variety of African crafts, clothing and jewellery. Fear not – if you run out of sunscreen or your battery runs flat, you can replace these too.
Photo Hide
Guests can sit quietly and watch animals moving directly towards them, all the while taking pictures from unique angles, resulting in unique and exceptional quality photography. Photographic hides are structures built to maximise the photographic potential of the animal subjects that visit them. These hides can be used to view wildlife in the normal manner but have been positioned with consideration of the angle of the sun, the background and the angle the viewer occupies in relation to the animals and birds. A professional wildlife photographer will accompany participants to the hides. They are on hand to tutor both aspiring and experienced photographers in camera techniques which will see a vast improvement in the quality of their images. There is a slight additional charge, paid directly to mashatu, for the use of the photo hide.
Air and Hotels before and After Safari not included
