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About Andy

I am an avid adventurer, conservationist, teacher, and outdoor photographer whose photography celebrates the African landscape and its rich wildlife, people, and culture. My photographic safaris allow my travelers to not only enhance their understanding of photography, lighting, and wildlife, but to develop a life-long admiration for Africa ‘s beauty and culture.

Banana Republic recently used my photographs as the cornerstone of their Urban Safari campaign, and my images were seen in all 750 stores around the globe, as well as in their billboards, catalogs and annual report. I was also the winner of the BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year in the ‘Wild Places’ category in 2008 and a highly commended in the ‘Creative Visions of Nature’ category in 2007.

I launched Gura Gear in 2008, in an attempt to deliver lightweight camera bags to the market. I was looking for a lightweight camera bag to hold all of my photographic gear, and there was nothing desirable on the market that suited my needs. After spending 2 years with many prototypes, the Gura Gear Kiboko bag was born. More products are now available on the Gura Gear web site.

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Entries in Zarafa (1)

Thursday

Jan032013

Botswana Safari Report - Part 2

Thursday, January 3, 2013 at 10:18PM

After I said goodbye to my safari group, I spent the next 3 nights in the Selinda Reserve with my good friend and guide, Kane Motswana. Kane and I have been on many game drives together, and I wanted to see him as well as spend some time between two of the camps in the reserve, Zarafa and Selinda Camp. Selinda Reserve is managed and operated by Great Plain, one of my favorite safari outfitters in Africa. They not only have great camps, but they also have a great ethos of delivering low impact, high value safaris. This really means few travelers, big pieces of land, community involvement and employees who care deeply about conserving habitat for wild animals.

During my three nights in the reserve I spent a night at Zarafa Camp and two nights at Selinda Camp. We had some great sightings, but nothing compares to the numerous game drives of nothing but African wild dogs (lycaeon pictus). I have a soft spot for wild dogs, often referred to as African painted dogs, or cape hunting dogs. We had 4 game drives in a row when the wild dogs were within 5 minutes of camp, and on one occasion they hunted down a young reedbuck and made their kill within 2 meters of my vehicle’s door. Awesome. Amazing. Violent. Efficient.

On another occasion we left for our game drive, only to turn around after 50 feet to follow the dog pack back into camp. After a few minutes we heard the staff screaming in the lobby area, and it turned out that a wild dog had chased an impala through camp and through the dining room. The impala got away, and it was funny that we would have had a better photo opportunity if we were still sitting on the couch, sipping a coffee or tea. We had some good laughs over that sighting.

As I left Selinda at the end of September the temperatures were starting to rise, and I was worried that my next safari in Namibia would be scorching heat, which ultimately never happened. Usually we refer to October as being the warmest month in Botswana, then some rains hit in early November to cool things down a bit. These early rains also coincide with very intense clouds, making for a very dramatic backdrop for photography.

I am planning on running some safaris to Selinda Camp and Duba Plains in the coming years, so look out for those on my calendar.