Botswana & Victoria Falls - Nov 2025
We are back from a wonderful trip across Botswana and Victoria Falls!
November travel in this part of the world often coincides with the change of seasons. What was dry and dusty only weeks before had transformed into a lush flush of green, as life was exploding around us: antelope species were dropping their young, migratory birds arriving in their thousands, termites erupting in their billions, and plant life was bursting into bloom. All of this as towering dark clouds gathered on the horizon, often building into spectacular thunderstorms. There is nothing like being out on the great plains of the continent at this time of year as the drama of life unfolds!
I had a lovely group of guests that I was hosting and guiding on behalf of Classic Escapes. All 14 of them were from Chattanooga and the surrounding areas in Tennessee, USA and were all in some way connected to Cindy Todd, formerly of the Tennessee Aquarium. Our adventure started in the Mother City, Cape Town, taking in the unique sights and flavours of the city before flying up north and across the border into Botswana, specifically to the deeper corners of the Makgadikgadi, Okavango and Chobe. We then made our way east to end off on the Zimbabwe side of the Victoria Falls.
We immersed ourselves in incredible landscapes and nature: almost 300 species of birds, 46 mammals, 12 species of frog, about the same number of reptiles and all sorts of other special sightings paint a picture of biodiversity. We learnt about the natural history, culture and experienced the best of Botswana hospitality. With all of this, it was also wonderful to be able to give something back. I am proud to say we managed to raise funds for the Chief and the school in Khumaga village (in the Makgadikgadi), and this time with an incredible donation of an additional laptop, printer & supplies by all members of the Cindy Todd group who each contributed. Such donations further push positive sentiments around the photo tourism industry and the hope that such wildlife areas can persist while providing immense benefits to locals.
Have a look at the images below with captions (currently have two more trips lined up to Botswana for 2026!)
Images with captions
What a lovely surprise - after the rains, we were worried that elephants would disappear. Well, they did mostly, but these didn’t let us down and right in front of camp as we arrived.
A heavily cropped image of an African wild cat we spotted on the upper banks of the Boteti - you don’t often see these cats in the area, and on this occasion, it appeared to be a mating pair. They didn’t hang around for long, but just enough time to snap this shot at about 50m.
Baine’s Baobabs near Nxai Pan - these 1000-year-old trees have a real presence. It is quite the journey to get there and often you feel bumped around and slightly battered, but once you get here, for any nature lover, it is a place of stark beauty and one that I can only describe as spiritual.
On our journey to the Okavango we rounded some cloud bursts thatgave a 3D perspective to our infinite view.
On the other side of the storm: arriving in the Okavango on a Cessna Grand Caravan operated by Safari Air, a 100% Botswana operation.
Somewhere in the Okavango at a place aptly named Paradise Pools.
Two Sitatunga flush - a very special sighting of this elusive species
As often noted, with all the baby impala around, leopard viewing can be challenging, but our patience paid off with a couple of great sightings of this young male!
A tranquil scene - giraffe, zebra and red lechwe with impala, wildebeest and tsessebe out of shot
These youngsters, at least 6 of them, were full of energy and being babysitted by ‘dad’ while the females were out hunting.
A dragonfly (species to be confirmed) perched on a twig. I’ve always enjoyed photographing the Odonata family. With a long lens of 300mm or more (I use a 500mm), you enter a world of intricate beauty—one that photography often reveals more clearly than the human eye can appreciate in the field. From a species identification perspective, I’m fairly pleased with how this image turned out. However, the eye is slightly out of focus, a reminder that there is still room to improve.
Baboons can offer excellent photo opportunities. And spending time with an active troop on a cool afternoon guarantees a lot of entertainment. We even enjoyed watching them comically jump around and catch termites one evening.
The Chobe Riverfront has to be one of the best and most consistent animal viewing areas anywhere in Africa. Even with the elephants dispersed after the rains, we loved watching these baboons tolerate a cheeky and confident water monitor lizard that strutted right through the troop.
Guests Mark & Dawn enjoy the spectacular views of Victoria Falls, as we look across from Zimbabwe into Zambia.
Black rhinos are a special sight anywhere - can you imagine how excited we were to come across this individual! And not far from here, we also managed to find a small pack of wild dogs. At this time of year, the often-overcast conditions make the light a lot less harsh and give wonderful opportunities for a much longer period of favourable photographic light than other times of the year.
Birds: This charismatic Class will reward you with beauty and entertainment. Here, a Crested Barbet surrounds himself with a mob of Go-away birds.
A rare shot of the seldomly spotted Nic proving he was there and boasting the kind gift of a pair of dream binoculars!
