Photography Expedition,
South Africa, Namibia and Botswana

“...My knees buckled and I lost my position as the cage began to shake violently. Pressed against the back of the bars, almost on my knees and looking up, I could only see the massive body of a huge male Great White Shark thrashing wildly as he pounded the surface. He was struggling with Andre, our shark wrangler, for a share of the bait. When I managed to straighten and stand, I felt like an air bubble in a Coca-Cola bottle. Sated, the Great White left fast and furious, slamming past the other cage as it did so. My eyes met those of Phil, the diver in the other steel box. Though we could not speak underwater, we had no need to. There are times in one’s life when words are more than merely superfluous…"

For those who think they’ve 'seen it all', for adventure travelers in search of the ultimate, Amos Nachoum and Big Animals Photography Expeditions offer the planet’s preeminent big animal adventure. Experienced travelers to Africa boast of having seen the traditional "big five"—lions, leopards, cheetahs, rhinos, and elephants. To these, Big Animals Photography Expeditions has added the big two of African scuba diving—underwater photography the great white shark and the whale shark—for an experience unprecedented in the world of adventure travel.

Offered only once each year to a maximum of four participants, this month-long expedition starts in South Africa. There Andre Hartman, the continent’s pre-eminent locator of the great white sharks, will be our personal guide for several days of searching for the white pointers in the cold waters of the Dyer Channel.

From South Africa we next head north to warmer waters off Mozambique, there to dive with the largest fish in the sea - the Whale Shark.  With the aid of microlight aircraft to do our spotting for us, we will travel from Punta d’Oro to shark location via fast and comfortable speedboat to observe whale sharks, who can grow to fifty feet and over fifteen tons. For many experienced, long-time divers, an open-ocean encounter with a whale shark is the highlight of a diving career.

Though a whale shark’s 5000 teeth are only an eighth of an inch long, they are more than adequate for an animal that feeds on plankton and krill. Staring into a six-foot wide mouth is enough to make anyone feel small and inadequate. Unlike great whales, whale sharks seem to accept the presence  of humans to the point of tolerating physical contact. Perhaps they see us as large, rather ugly remoras.

Out of the water and into the frying pan of central Africa, our journey takes us to the ancient land of Zimbabwe and Mosi-oa-tunya, "The Smoke That Thunders'.  From our helicopter we will have a spectacular view of Victoria Falls, one of the wonders of the world. After viewing the falls from the ground, we move on to Chobe National Park in Botswana. From Chobe Lodge, the only lodge within the park’s boundaries and a hotel that one of our associates has called "the best place I have stayed  in Africa", we will be witness to what is possibly the greatest concentration of elephants on the entire continent—tens of thousands of these majestic pachyderms, all of whom take turns coming down to the shore of the Chobe River to drink. Cape buffalo, hippo, kudu, impala, and many other animals are also easily seen in the park. The lions of Chobe are believed by some to be the biggest in all of Africa.

From Chobe we travel south to world famous Savuti, and then to Namibia, a country with the world’s largest population of cheetah. There we will visit famed Etosha National Park, one of the largest national parks in the world, to observe Africa’s wildlife in a setting completely different from that of the tourist-heavy savannas of Kenya and Tanzania.

For the select very few, Big Animals Photography Expeditions proudly presents the ultimate in big animal adventure travel.

Ready to join us on our next trip?
We recommend early reservation to avoid disappointment since space is limited and interest is high.

If you know someone who'd be interested in this trip, you can email this link to them.

All photographs by Amos Nachoum. Copyright © 2002. All rights reserved. Reproduction without permission is strictly prohibited.