Namibia Through The Lens

Namibia is our favourite destination to visit in Africa. There’s great game viewing, incredible landscapes and bountiful activities to ensure a varied and exciting trip.

This was our second trip to this amazing country. On our first visit we spent 30 days and travelled from the very south of the country, all the way up to the Caprivi Strip in the far north.

On this trip to Namibia we decided to take things a little slower and visit just 4 areas of the country. We visited Sesriem, Swakopmund, Etosha National Park and Okonjima Game Reserve. We had also planned to visit Spitskoppe, however due to our flight being delayed we had to miss it off our itinerary.

Namibia’s landscapes are abstract and almost alien, and at times you could believe you were on another planet entirely. It’s an incredible place to explore and there’s endless opportunities here for the keen-eyed photographer.

The landscapes have been shaped by the forces of nature over millions of years. There’s dunes that stretch all the way to the ocean, clay pans filled with petrified trees and entire towns that have been reclaimed by the desert. Namibia has to be one of the most unique and interesting places in the world to photograph.

Sunrise Helicopter Flight Over Sossusvlei

One of our favourite ever travel experiences was this sunrise, scenic flight over Sossusvlei, and I highly recommend it to anybody thinking of planning a trip here!

We had booked a doors-off helicopter tour at sunrise. We had no idea what to expect and upon meeting our pilot in the morning we had a short safety briefing before taking off from the desert.

As the helicopter took off we flew quiet low at first towards the mountains, before being lifted up and over them at the last minute, revealing incredible views. It was an exhilarating experience! The sun was coming up, and as we cleared the mountains we could see the desert, and the start of the massive dunes off in the distance.

You can really get a sense of scale from a helicopter. You can see how huge the dunes really are, and how the desert stretches off into the distance as far as the eye can see.

I really like the way you can see all the details in the clay pans that surround these giant dunes.

The dunes pictured below are amply named The Devils Pitchfork – such a unique and photogenic set of sand dunes.

I used both a telephoto lens and a wide angle lens to capture our images from the helicopter ride. I also used fast shutter speeds between 1/1000th and 1/2000th of a second, with ISO set to around 400, however I adjusted these settings as the light changed, and became brighter.

The focal length of the two lenses I used was 16-35mm and 150-500mm. Personally I would recommend swapping out the 150-500 for a 70-200mm lens instead. I found that some of my images were too zoomed in, and left no room for cropping.

There are also hot-air balloon rides that can be booked from Sesriem. I tried to photograph some of these hot air balloons as we flew by them, I thought it made a nice contrast to the rugged mountains.

In my opinion I would say to take a scenic flight over a balloon ride. It is hard to know where the balloons will end up and what sort of view you will get, as you are in the hands of the winds, having no control over direction. A helicopter will fly you as close to the sand dunes as possible, with constantly changing views along the way.

Okonjima Game Reserve

One of our favourite places we visited in Namibia was Okonjima Nature Reserve.

Okonjima is a family run lodge situated mid-point between Windhoek and Etosha. It is also home to The AfriCat Foundation with conservation, research and education at its core.

We really enjoyed the comfortable accommodation, great food and service at the reserve. I highly recommend a few nights here to kick-off your safari adventure. Some of my favourite ever pictures were taken here thanks to the patient and accommodating guides on the game drives.

The main reason for our visit here was for the leopard tracking, but the reserve itself is huge and is home to many animals, as well as some endangered species such as the pangolin.

Around 50% of the leopards are collared but this doesn’t mean you are guaranteed to see them on your first game drive. Leopards like to camouflage themselves into the thick bush and long grasses. This makes the game drives interesting, and it is much more rewarding when you get to see a leopard.

I might add that we were there purely there to observe these amazing cats, and the welfare of these animals always came first. The guides were very informative and we learned much about the behaviour of these cats during our visit.

We did around 5-6 game drives and were lucky enough to see Leopards hunting, catching their prey, and cubs playing with their mother. Leopard tracking is an amazing experience and offers you an insight into the behaviour of these cats, as well as a chance of taking some incredible photographs.

After one of our afternoon game drives we were fortunate enough to see this un-collared Leopard on the way back. He was very curious as to our presence and stayed with the vehicle for some time.

At the Okonjima Nature Reserve around 50% of the Leopards are collared. This is a valuable tool that helps researchers in monitoring and studying the leopards. Data gathered helps us to better understand population size, home ranges, hunting patterns, daily movement, social dynamics, diet and more in order to better protect them.

By tracking the cats at Okinjima they can also make sure they stay within the boundaries of the reserve, and don’t venture outside in order to avoid negative human/wildlife conflict. Most importantly it helps to protect these endangered cats.

Deadvlei

Deadvlei is a place we’ve revisited several times on both trips. We never get bored of exploring and finding new compositions here, especially with the constantly changing light and conditions.

The white, clay pan was formed when the encroaching sand dunes blocked off the river, which then dried out the entire area, leaving these petrified camel thorn trees. It is a remarkable place to explore and the contrast of the white pan, black trees and orange dunes makes for some incredible photographs.

Many people visit for sunrise but at sunset you also get the low-light which isn’t blocked by the dunes and creates a different dimension. It brings out the cracks in the ground and lends itself to the softer more golden light across the trees.

Namibia’s Night Skies

Namibia has some of the darkest skies on the planet for astrophotography. One of our favourite things to do after dinner was to sit there with a cold beer and just stare up at the night sky. Pictures really don’t do it justice, it’s one of those things you have to see with your own eyes I guess.

For photography we used a Samyang 16 mm, f 2.0 lens, and a 16-35 mm f 2.8 lens, both of which worked pretty well. I recommend using a bright star to focus or to use the cameras focus peaking setting if it has one, and ISO 2000 – 4000. It’s always best to take a few sample shots first and check if the image is sharp.

The milky way as seen above one of the dead camel thorn trees in Deadvlei.

Incredible Dunes Of Sossusvlei

The dunes of Sossusvlei are massive, and they are some of the most photogenic in the world!

We really enjoyed hiking these impressive dunes at sunrise. You cant beat the sense of scale you get sitting atop of one of these dunes, and what better way to watch an African, sunrise or sunset!

There’s a main road that takes you through the middle of the desert with these impressive dunes situated on either side, so there’s plenty of places to stop off and take pictures along the way. The wind and mist can also make for some pretty interesting conditions by adding an extra dimension to the dunes, and lending to some abstract type images.

The only way to really capture the sheer size of the dunes is by using a telephoto lens to compress the image, and maybe using a tree or person for scale.

I love the way the very last light captures the details of the dune and gives off a reddish glow, while separating the two sides, one in shadow and the other in light.

Wildlife Of Namibia

Our Safari was split between Okonjima Nature Reserve and Etosha National Park. We also spent two nights in Onguma Game Reserve which borders Etosha.

Namibia has four of the big five, excluding buffalos. We managed to see many animals as the vegetation is not too dense in most areas and the waterholes have lots of activity.

Etosha is a great place for a self-drive safari, but I would also recommend doing some sundowner game drives, as for the photography aspect you will want to enjoy the nice, soft light around sunset.

My biggest photography tip for safari is that when you use a telephoto lens be aware that you will pick up dust, warm air and other artifacts as you compress an image from a distance. This is even more prevalent during the day when it is warm, which can result in un-clear images even when the camera is in focus.

It’s also worth noting that even though we had a 500mm lens I would always prefer to get closer to my subject and shoot with a 70-200mm lens. While the extra zoom is always appreciated it’s not always needed, as with most game drives you can get relatively close to the wildlife.

On a sundowner game drive at Onguma we managed to see this beautiful black rhino, the light was fantastic and the rhino came within metres of the vehicle.

We were fortunate enough to see cheetah on a few occasions during our trip. It was amazing to see them sprint into action and see how they move around. Cheetahs are the fastest land animal and can reach speeds of up to 120km/h, however they can only maintain these speeds in short bursts.

Unfortunately cheetah numbers in Africa are declining, this is mainly due to human/wildlife conflict. Many farmers will kill cheetahs in order to protect their livestock. However we learned that leopards are responsible for many of these attacks, and cheetah only account for a very small number.

Cheetah usually hunt in the daytime hours, being that Leopards and Lions will kill Cheetahs on sight. Leopards on the other hand primarily hunt at night which is when most of the attacks on livestock occur.

At Okaukuejo camp in Etosha there is a large waterhole with plenty of seating, and it’s our favourite place to sit with a drink at sunset.

The one evening a large herd of elephants, around 40 or so came in for a drink. The sun was just starting to set, there were some young calves playing and a couple of larger elephants jostling for position at the waters edge. It was one of my all time favourite safari moments, and was truly remarkable to behold.

On one of our game drives we got very lucky. We saw a mother leopard hunting and then, as happens quite often with leopards, we lost site of her. All of a sudden there was commotion in the grasses right in front of us and there she sat with an antelope in her mouth. It was incredible as she sat there, perfectly still, staring at us with her prey. She eventually went to hide it in the thick bushes and then to our surprise, some moments later, she reunited with her 2 cubs.

Leopards can be very elusive and extremely protective of their cubs so to see them out in the open was a truly special moment for us and one we will never forget.

Swakopmund & Walvis Bay

Swakopmund is a large coastal town with heavy German influences dating back to its colonial era. We would recommend at least a couple of nights here as it is a perfect central, stop-off for a Namibian road trip. If you’re camping there’s places to stock up in the town and there’s a good campsite here.

Sandwich Harbour is a tour I’d recommend to photographers as it’s the only place you can see large dunes drop off into the ocean. When taking pictures here I highly recommend bringing a polarizer to cut through some of the haze, and glare off the ocean.

It’s worth noting that the use of drones is prohibited here without a permit, however there are other places you can use a drone just outside of the national park.

The location of Swakopmund means it is prone to foggy condition. Here the cold currents meet with the warm air of the Hadley Cell, tropical circulation, regularly forming moisture in the air.

On one of the mornings just after sunrise we watched as a belt of fog worked its way inland and over the dunes, perfect for some epic drone shots!

There’s wildlife everywhere in Namibia and Swakopmund is no exception. On the way back from our Sandwich Harbour trip, we were fortunate enough to see this Springbok around the sand dunes.

Springboks feed on succulents and can go for years without drinking water as they draw moisture from the plants.

Walvis Bay is about a 30 minute drive from Swakopmund and the lagoon attracts tens of thousands of birds, including thousands of flamingos. Most of the tours you can do in the area, will include a stop to see the flamingos, but you can also just drive straight to the promenade and see them on your own.

There are 2 types of flamingos in Namibia, the greater flamingo and the lesser flamingo. The lesser flamingo gets their pink colour due to their diet of algae and crustations, that contain a pink pigment. The greater flamingo are whiter in colour as they have a completely different diet. You can see both species living side by side as they don’t compete for food.