Bespoke Wildlife Photography Holidays
Pangolin has been operating since 2011, growing our network of preferred suppliers and partners. Over that time, we have designed bespoke itineraries for thousands of clients, and we know what works and what doesn’t.
Our commitment to you is that we will find the perfect destinations for you to visit, and we will never just book you an itinerary because there is space. We have a very high percentage of repeat clients, and our reputation means everything to us. Many safari itineraries on the market are designed to maximise profitability (often with one supplier who offers incentives for more extended stays at their properties). Some of the places might not be the best fit for you and what you want to see and photograph.
When we design a safari itinerary with you, we promise to be transparent and realistic about what you can hope to see and photograph. Nothing is ever guaranteed, but we can at least increase your odds of success by sending you to the right place at the right time of year with the right partners within your budget.
If you would like to set up a free consultation with one of our expert photo safari planners to talk through your options, then please fill in the form below.
Our Expert Photo Safari Planners
Sam
Samantha
Kira
Daniella
Lindsey
Ready to start planning your unique photo safari?
If this is something that appeals, then get in touch with the form down below and let’s start building you the perfect photo safari itinerary!
EXCELLENTVerified Experience of a Lifetime for everyone - Must do for Photographers Booking: My wife and I went on the Pangolin Chobe, Delta, Kalahari (CDK) photo safari in September 2025. The best way to describe the experience is SURREAL! I am a nature photographer and visiting Africa and photographing the wildlife was a bucket list trip for me and my wife. I have followed Pangolin photo safaris through their YouTube channel and website for a few years. When we decided to go on this trip, I filled out the form and Samantha McDonald, a lovely agent contacted me via email. After several weeks of email & phone conversations wit Sam, I booked us for the 10 day CDK safari experience a full year in advance! Sam was an amazing resource of knowledge, tips and patiently answered all our questions for the next whole year and throughout the trip! I highly recommend her!Experience: Pangolin is a first class operation. It is run by photographers for photographers. If you are a photographer, don't think twice - Book this trip now before they fill out for 2027. If you are not a photographer, don't worry. Just simply watching these animals and birds in their natural habitat is breathtaking. Their goal is to send us home with world class wildlife photos which your family and friends will think are worthy of being in magazines! To that end, they have an experienced Canon photographer with us offering excellent coaching on exposure, shutter speed and angles to get the best shots for that particular scenario. They give everyone interested a professional camera (Canon R6 MKII in 2025) and a great lens (Canon RF 100-500 in 2025) and abundant training. Our coach Sara Jenner was amazing and her energy and enthusiasm was infectious.Accommodations: The places where we stayed were 5*! The new Pangolin Voyager houseboat, The luxurious and spacious tents at Shinde Footsteps and Dinaka camp were incredibly well appointed for a place in the middle of wilderness! The food was amazing with a lot of local fare and it catered to everyone's needs, which included some Indian curry for me and many dishes for the guests who were vegetarians.Wildlife: The guides at Chobe, Delta and Kalahari were amazing! They knew where the animals and birds were and what the best locations for getting the best photos! They are expert trackers and follow footprints to locate the wildlife! We got to see so many varieties of birds and mammal species. Every day we did two game drives that were 4 hours in duration. The day starts with a 5:30 am breakfast, 6:30 am game drive for 4 hours, 11:30 lunch, a short break, 3:30 tea, 4 pm game drive, 8 pm dinner. The days are jam packed with opportunities to see wildlife. We saw a leopard, cheetahs, a rhino, so many hippos, lions & cubs, Hyenas, the endangered wild dog, wildebeest, elephants, elephants and elephants, giraffe, baboons, and hippos to name a few.Cost: This Chobe, Delta, Kalahari trip is not inexpensive. At $13,500/person for this and the round trip airfare from the US costs a good chunk and required a lot of planning and saving. I thought that it was expensive. Having completed this trip, I will confidently say that the experience was worth every penny and you'll end up with amazing memories and so many awesome pictures. I am an extremely value conscious, comparison shopper and I highly recommend that you do your own research about these safaris. I did mine. There is NO ONE that provides such an exclusive small group 5* experience at this price. I found that even those through Costco (We travel a lot through them) were almost twice the cost for a similar length and those did not include such intensive game drives.We are looking forward to booking our next Pangolin Safari in 2027. Hope to see you there!Posted onVerified I cannot recommend more highly this wonderful week - immersed in the wildlife of Botswana. We had an incredible week on the Chobe river with Pangolin Photo Safari. The wildlife was astounding and we were given excellent instruction and detailed description of all the birds and animals we were seeing. The Riverboat was wonderful - so comfortable and quiet (all electric). We then moved to the Chobe Hotel, which was first class with excellent food and delightful staff. In fact the staff throughout the whole week were amazing - so friendly, helpful and knowledgeable. Thank you all for making my holiday such a happy and memorable one.Posted onVerified Pangolin Photo Safaris - the very best! An unforgettable experience. I recently completed the Chobe River/Okavango Delta/Kalahari with Pangolin. The trip exceeded my hopes and expectations. Excellent accommodations at every step. The brand new (July 2025) houseboat on the Chobe was extremely comfortable, and the staff/service was excellent. We saw an amazing amount of wildlife almost constantly, and the river guide, Laskey, was fantastic. The river experience was uncrowded and we were able to go where we wanted without having to compete with other tour boatsThe Ker & Downey camp on the Okavango was very comfortable, and again excellent staff/service/food. The drives through the delta were an unforgettable experience, with plentiful animal and bird life. A great guide again, Bobbie, who really added to the experience, and we saw a tremendous amount of wildlife throughout the visitThe Kalahari visit was at another Ker & Downey camp, this time very luxurious and comfortable. The same excellent experience, plenty of wildlife, good food and service at the camp, all in all another great stay. Our local guide, KLB, was again absolutely first-rate.The overall trip management by Pangolin was first rate. They had people to help us at every stage on the tour, to ensure we had the best possible experience. Our trip host, Karolina, was fantastic - her friendly and positive approach contributed greatly to the group experience, and she gave all of the guests, regardless of experience level, really useful photography pointers.I can’t recommend Pangolin highly enough. If you are looking for a photo safari outfit, look no further!Posted onVerified Best Trip We've Ever Taken This trip, by far, was the best trip my wife and I have been on. Everything was top notch. From planning our trip with our Pangolin Safari Planner, to the photo host, guides, and staff on the Pangolin Voyager II and the Pangolin Hotel, everyone was friendly, courteous and helpful. We felt that an African Safari would be a once in a lifetime experience, but I'm already thinking about a return trip. Our photo host and guide worked to position us to get the best positioning for photo's, offered suggestions on composition, and assisted in whatever questions we had. Back at the Voyager II and hotel the food was great, and accommodations very comfortable. I highly recommend Pangolin Photo Safaris!Posted onVerified Fantastic Chobe, Delta and Kalahari Photo Safari Tour My husband and I utilized the services from Pangolin Photo Safaris who arranged the details for a pre-excursion visit to Victoria Falls, Zimbabwa and then joined our fabulous tour leader, Janine, and spent 10 days on their Chobe, Delta and Kalahari Photo Safari tour. Their attention to detail was fantastic. And Janine's guidance to hobbyist photographers on taking wildlife pictures was phenomenal. I know her voice will be in my mind whenever I look to take any fast action pictures to note the lighting, adjusting your exposure, and always remembering to check my ISO. Thanks Janine! Needless to say, I would highly recommend Pangolin for your future wildlife photo trips.Posted onVerified All round winner of a tour Wow! I am so glad I did this safari. After a Covid delay of five years we finally made it to the "Chobe, Delta and Kalahari" 10 day safari. My partner and I started this trip as "phone photographers" basically, and after the ten days tuition and guidance on provided cameras we are hooked. This tour has three nights on the Voyager houseboat , four nights at Okavango Delta, and two nights on the edge the Central Kalahari. These two camps were at Ker & Downey establishments and every place was fantastic. The Pangolin houseboat is a little bit old and is getting replaced soon, but on board everything was clean and comfortable. The staff were amazing - so friendly and meals were delicious. Up early for morning river trips or game drives with our wonderful photo host Will, for whom nothing was trouble, we were astounded by the wildlife and the skill of our driver/guides. Their placement of vehicles to get good shots, and Will's technical guidance helped us come home with memorable good photos. Afternoon brought another trip out for photographs and sundowners as the magical African sunsets coloured the sky. All arrangements booked through Pangolin were well planned and communication with our consultant was always timely. I have no hesitation in recommending Pangolin Photo Safaris and hope I can return one day.Posted onVerified Great Safari Product. Already booked my trip for next year. Pangolin has a great photo safari product. I had a group of 17 at the Pangolin Hotel. We were at Pangolin before starting our main safari in the Okavango Delta. The set ups in the boat with the gimbals and the swivel seats was brilliant! My guests who were not as interested in photography were loaned canon cameras and lenses and they had a professional photographer on the boat helping them with their settings. It was the best way to start a safari. By the time my guests were in the Okavango Delta, they already had a good foundation for wildlife photography.Posted onVerified Yet another amazing week with Pangolin Photo Safaris Yet another amazing week with Pangolin Photo Safaris on the Chobe river and National Park. Walter, out photo host, was encouraging us to stretch our photographic skills, always ready to give advice as to getting the best shot. Dan, our wildlife guide, boat driver and boat pilot, kept us safe even when charged by a hippo.We saw wild doge just having killed and eaten, a malachite kingfisher on our boat with a frog in it's beak and many other animals and birds.The staff at the Pangolin Chobe Lodge were as always, friendly, welcoming and providing excellent food.Thoroughly recommend this company for anyone interested in wildlife photography, beginners and experts.Posted onVerified A very memorable learning experience Just recently returned from the best of Chobe safari. We spent the first three nights on the Pangolin voyager on the Namibian side of the Chobe river and the next three night in the Pangolin hotel on the Botswanan side. We booked the trip for the opportunity to photograph the wildlife, but also to gain valuable knowledge and understanding to improve our photographic skills. The whole experience completely exceeded my expectations. The warm welcome from Guts and the team when we arrived at the hotel was a brief introduction before when went across the river to the Panogolin voyager via Namibian immigration. Our photo host Janine, was quick to assess our experience and expectations before we went out on an evening boat safari. We spent the next two days on morning and evening boat safaris getting opportunities to photograph Elephants, Hippos, crocodiles, lots of species of bird and the magical experience with the female leopard. The Pangolin voyager staff were very freindly and the accommodation was very comfortable and clean. The food was excellent with plenty to eat (You won’t go hungry). After three nights we went back to Botswana to stay in the Pangolin hotel. The hotel is a lovely design and also very clean and comfortable. The rooms are a good size with plenty of space for camera equipment and plenty of sockets for charging. The game drives from the hotel were a mixture of land safaris and boat safaris where we photographed lions, giraffes, zebras, hyenas etc. As with the voyager, the staff at the hotel were very welcoming and the evening drinks around the fire pit preceded the chefs explaining the food for the evening before serving it. The food here was exceptional and the whole team encouraged everyone to keep their glasses filled and enjoy themselves. The photo hosts took turns to have dinner with us so we could get to know everyone. If you are thinking about going on one of these safaris on your own, you will easily integrate with friendly like minded people. We were in a group of seven and it was a pleasure to spend those six days with a group of people we had never met before.After returning home I am reviewing the images I captured and editing to enhance them. Janine (our photo host) was continually coaching us throughout our game drive to ensure we thought about composition, exposure and camera settings. In between game drives she gave us tutorials on capturing images and editing our photographs in Lightroom. Her coaching was excellent to ensure we had the best chance to get some great photos and she was also very knowledgeable about all of our different cameras.If you are looking to have a photographic safari holiday where you learn more than you thought you would and have the best opportunity to photograph the wildlife, this is for you. Be prepared for long days getting up at 04:30hrs, but it is really worth it when you review your photos and experience the early mornings on the river. Attend the tutorials as they are so helpful to help improve your skills.Thank-you to Guts, Janine and the team for making this a memorable experience. I would definitely like to return on the future.Posted onVerified Wow!! It doesn't get much better than this! We have recently returned home from the 6 day Best of Chobe trip. We embarked on the journey with really high expectations based on what we had read about Pangolin Safaris, then trip itself exceeded our expectations by some way.The three nights on the Pangolin Voyager houseboat were magical and each morning and afternoon we were straight out onto the Chobe River in the dedicated photo boats. We had some fabulous sightings and photo opportunities and really enjoyed the different feel that our images had from shooting low down on the river.The three nights at the stunning Pangolin hotel were equally good, we did three land based safaris and three more water based safaris.Our photo host Janine was outstanding and led our group of seven superbly. She was supportive and encouraging throughout what was a very hot trip (36 - 40 degrees!!). She helped us develop techniques we don't use regularly at home, such as shooting high and low key images and slow speed panning. At the hotel, Janine gave us presentations on different aspects of post production in Lightroom, particularly how to edit our high and low key images successfully.We were very fortunate that we were part of a fabulous group of people who got on well and really enjoyed what was a very unique experience. All of the staff we met were excellent and provided great service.Our trip was one of very few we have been on where we can say everything was perfect and I can't thinks of anything constructive to suggest that could improve it further.
Similar Hosted Photo Safaris
4 Day Chobe Hotel Package
April – November
We have an all inclusive four day package at the hotel with twice daily photo safari activities in the park with a Pangolin Photo Host and free camera rental.
3 Nights | USD2,250
Chobe and Okavango Delta
March – November
Spend time at The Pangolin Chobe Hotel and then a private camp in The Okavango Delta in the company of one of The Pangolin Photo Hosts.
8 Days | USD9,850
The Best of the Chobe
March – November
A 7-day photo safari with expert guidance onboard The Pangolin Voyager and at The Pangolin Chobe Hotel. Private group bookings available.
7 Days | USD4,995
Chobe, Delta & Kalahari
March – November
Three iconic and diverse Botswana photo safari destinations in one seamless safari. Led by a Pangolin Photo Host from start to finish.