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After a few weeks at home, it wasn't long before I was heading back to Zambia for Wildlife Worldwide's Festival of Wildlife 2023. I am sure many of you will have no idea what a Festival of Wildlife is, so let me paint a picture for you. Wildlife Worldwide will book out an entire lodge, or charter a vessel, and bring a team of leading experts who run a wonderful array of workshops and lectures. These 'extra' activities are timed around the traditional wildlife-watching times. I was there as the wildlife photography expert, trying to impart my knowledge with over thirty clients. I helped with theory and editing workshops each day alongside heading out on dedicated photographic game drives and enjoyed some incredible sightings. With that in mind, here are some of the highlights of our week-long stay at Mfuwe Lodge.   As I'm sure you know by now (I visit South Luangwa every year), but this park is renowned for its leopards. The Festival was no different as many of the clients were blessed with several views of these stunning cats.   There was, of course, so much more on offer ...      We had an amazing week and our clients had a fabulous time. Our next Festival of Wildlife is to Tanzania. in April 2024 Due to some cancellations, there is some late availability - visit the tour page to find out more and book your place.
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It was my final week in Zambia, with my third group from Wildlife Worldwide arriving. It was another fantastic week and we were treated to some remarkable sightings. It was a week of lions, leopards, buffalos, elephants and new-born impala. We were blown away by some incredible game drives, with mating lions, a complete leopard hunt and lions gorging on numerous buffalo carcasses. Once again, I am going to leave you with the images to do the talking. Enjoy!       The first days were all about the big cats, but there was so much more on offer throughout the week ...        As the week progressed it seemed that we had a bit of a leopard fiesta, the sightings increased in the last couple of days and provided some excellent photography opportunities.       If you would like to join me in Zambia's South Luangwa National Park, there are still a few places left in 2021. You can find out more and book your place on the Wildlife Worldwide website, alternatively please contact me for more information.
Just a very quick one, I have been looking back through some of my Kenya images and found this photo of a spotted Hyena clan feeding on a Wildebeest. Nothing really out of the ordinary there but I remembered it being almost dark when I took the photo so I looked at the details. I was astounded, this image was taken using an ISO of 12800!!!!! I am not joking when I say that image has less noise than my old 7D at an ISO of 1600. Absolutely amazing! Anyway though it was worth sharing with you all!  Image details: ISO 12800, f/2.8, 1/400 sec at 300mm After a lovely night catching up on some much needed sleep, it was time to spend our first full day in the Mara. Awoken bright and early with an enthusiastic "Jambo!" (actually it was still dark), the camera gear was already waiting to go and after a spot of Tea (in my case, everyone else had coffee) I was ready too! We climbed aboard the Land Cruiser, our guide Jimmy was ready and raring to go. It wasn't long in fact before my French counterparts gave Jimmy a rather appropriate nickname. For the rest of the trip Jimmy was to be called "Jimmy Loeb", after the French World Rally Champion: Sebastien Loeb. Jimmy is a top quality guide and his driving skills are second to none, and at times pretty nippy, always getting you to the right spot at the right time. So anyway, after only 30 seconds of driving outside of camp, we saw some Impala all alert and looking the same way. A moment later we spotted a lone Lioness making its way across the open grassland, the light was warm but not very bright, it was time to push the new Canon EOS 5D mkIII and see just how well it performed at a higher ISO. An ISO of 2500 was just right and the image showed almost no signs of noise, what a great start to the morning. We only stayed a short while before heading off to find some other species to photograph. We noticed, in the distance, a herd of Wildebeest running in all directions and we quickly realised a lone Hyena was trying its best to hunt. As we arrived on the scene the Hyena went to ground, seemingly worn out by its morning exhertions. 
Lioness (Panthera leo)
Spotted Hyena (Crocuta crocuta)
Plains Zebra (Equus quagga)
After this little foray we heard that there were some Lion not far from where we were, so off we went with our trigger fingers hovering over the shutter release button. It was Canon all round in our Landcruiser with two 60D's and my 5D mkIII plus my 7D, a 70-200mm f2.8, two 100-400mm's and my 300 f/2.8. We had all angles covered as we arrived to find a young male and a young lioness stood in the open. 
Lioness (Panthera leo)
Young male Lion (Panthera leo)
We again moved on quite quickly as we knew the rest of the pride, including some young cubs, were just over the brow of the hill. We got there to find two large females relaxing with two sets of cubs. What a wonderful sight it was and I took far too many photos as always. 
Lion cub (Panthera leo)
Lion cub with mother (Panther leo)
So after a lovely morning with the Lion and the excitement of the Hyena chasing the Wildebeest it was time to head back to camp for a well deserved rest! On our way back we stopped at the Mara river, as you can see below, and came across some Giraffe making their way across the rolling plains. 
Maasai Giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis tippelskirchi)
After a busy morning with some great sightings we thought it would be difficult to beat. And to start with it seemed as if this might be the case. The gloomy clouds were coming in (not always a bad thing for dramatic photos) and after 45 minutes we hadn't seen very much at all, even with "Jimmy Loeb" once again at the wheel. Then we heard that the Leopard was in the tree where the kill had been found the day before. Before we knew it Jimmy's rally skills were put to the test as we raced back before the cat disappeared. After only 10 minutes, we arrived to find the cat was still up the tree but it was no prime photography opportunity. Well unless you like lots of branches in the way, being photographers we are always particularly fussy but you can't help but watch Leopards and we did just that! 
Leopard (Panthera pardus)
After working in Zambia's South Luangwa NP, I have spent quite a bit of time with Leopard and once we had got our record shots I asked Jimmy if we could move back from the other vehicles. The way the tree sloped and the postioning of the lower branches I thought we might strike it lucky if it decided to come down. Then just to make sure we got the shots, an almighty rain storm came in and the Leopard decided it was time to find some better shelter. Our positioning was spot on, thanks must go to Jimmy for really listening to where we wanted to be and helping us get the shots. This is the key difference on a photography tour to a normal safari and one that you really appreciate, this is where Wild Eye really excelled. 
Leopard (Panthera Pardus)
Leopard (Panthera pardus)
After all that excitement, and a complete soaking, we went off to find the Lion family that we saw earlier on in the day. We quickly found them and after a bit of water was removed from the front of my lens, it was time to get some nice Lion portraits in the soft light. Then it was time to head back to camp, dry off and spend another evening in the great company of my fellow tour participants. 
Rather soggy Lion cubs (Panthera leo)
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