Namibia is a landscape of space, one of the least populated countries on the planet with vast areas of remote wilderness. A place where awe at nature and the effects of time constantly surround you. There are still parts of this amazing country that are almost completely untouched, PLACES full of endless landscapes, incredible wildlife and LOCAL TRIBES THAT VERY FEW VISITORS TO NAMIBIA EVER GET TO SEE. IT’S A COUNTRY THAT WILL STAY WITH YOU LONG AFTER YOU’VE GONE HOME AND AN EXPERIENCE THAT WILL STAY WITH YOU FOREVER.

We’ve led multiple tours to Namibia over the years and this tour is designed for people who want to see the undiscovered parts of the country, taking people to places that are very rarely visited but equally awe-inspiring and photogenic. We’ll be working with Wilderness Safari to stay in some of the most exclusive and unique lodges in Africa, and flying between accommodation in two aircraft chartered just for our use. We’ll cover different facets of photography, taking in landscapes, wildlife and cultural portraiture as we cross northern Namibia to some of the most remote and untouched parts of this incredible land. This is the most exclusive tour we’ve ever run and we aim to make it an absolutely unparalleled travel and photography experience.

We’ll start in Damaraland where we’ll track desert elephants in the beautiful Huab river valley, home to ancient acacia trees that thrive in the ephemeral river bed. The Huab is also home to giraffe, oryx and countless other wildlife and provides stunning landscape back-drops for animal-in-the-landscape photos. Then we’ll head to one of the most remote corners of Namibia, Hartmann’s Valley in the Marienfluss with it’s stunning mountain and dunes landscapes, it is one of the few places where we can find Himba people who still live completely in their traditional way.

To get to this incredibly remote part of the country we’ll fly in privately chartered Cessna Caravans, and for accommodation we’ve booked exclusive use of the Serra Cafema Wilderness lodge, one of our favourite places to stay in all of Africa.

As usual with my Namibia workshops, I’m delighted to be partnering with Hougaard Malan, one of South Africa’s finest photographers and experienced Namibia photography guides, along with leading Namibia travel and photography guide Jandre Germishuizen, for this really special trip. With more than a decade’s experience of photographing and leading tours here they’ll be guiding us as we visit Namibia’s most stunning landscapes.

This tour is limited to 10 participants with 3 guides, and like all my workshops is designed to ensure that you can focus on photography while we take care of everything else. Additionally, partners are absolutely welcome on this trip as this is the kind of experience that even someone who’s not interested in photography can enjoy, even the kind of partner that would never pick up any camera other than the phone.. This is a tour that will overload your senses with a wide range of of incredible subjects to photograph, from the vast spaces of Hartmann’s Valley to the Himba crossing the dunes in their local habitat. From the dusty elephants of the Huab to the rolling dunes and imposing mountains of the Marienfluss. We use all our experience and knowledge to help you get the best out of these incredible places and in the field we’re on hand to provide as much support as you need. A strong focus on all my workshops is on the quality of experience. From the accommodations and food to the photographic support, we want you to go home felling that not only has the trip helped you grow photographically, but has also created memories you’ll keep forever, as well as some great friends.

 PRICE    

$18,950 Price per person for sharing a room throughout the tour. Dependent on there being someone else also willing to share.

On this tour we offer a full and partial single supplement. Serra Cafema is an extremely remote and exclusive lodge with only 8 rooms for which they charge a significant single supplement. We thus offer participants the opportunity to pay a more affordable partial single supplement, which will give you your own room for 5 of the 9 nights of the tour, with sharing only at Serra Cafema. Please note, we do not put any mark up on single supplements.

$1500 Partial Single room supplement

• Single room in all accommodations EXCEPT 4 nights in Serra Cafema, which are in a shared room with one other perso

$3500 Full single room supplement

• Due to very limited accommodation at Serra Cafema only four full single room supplements (single room in ALL accommodations) are available.

A 5% discount on the price is available for full payment on sign up. Please see section 2 in the Terms & Conditions linked at the bottom of the page for full information

GROUP SIZE

10

EXPERIENCE

Amateur, enthusiast and semi-pro photographers.  

PHYSICAL DIFFICULTY

Easy, although participants should be prepared to deal with heat

All images © Jandre Germishuizen & Hougaard Malan

SOME OF THE PHOTOGRAPHY TECHNIQUES COVERED

- Understanding the light and choosing the best exposure

- Composition. Balance and harmony, leading lines and creating depth.

- Lens choice. From the wide-angle vista to shooting landscape abstracts with a telephoto lens

- Wildlife photography. Capturing images of animals in a truly wild landscape.

- Controlling light in scenes with a wide dynamic range using graduated filters and/or multiple exposures

- Environmental portraiture of the Himba

- Creating abstract images and intimate landscapes

- Shooting multiple image panoramas

Is Namibia Safe? 
Yes. Namibia is one of the safest countries in Africa. As with most places in the world, you can't leave cash lying around your hotel room, but there are no serious crimes to worry about.

Do I need a VISA to enter Namibia?
Most countries in the world do not require a visa to enter Namibia. The following European countries require a VISA. Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia

Will my non photographer partner enjoy the trip?

Absolutely. This trip is this is the kind of experience that even someone who’s not interested in photography can enjoy, even the kind of partner that would never pick up any camera other than the phone. Aside from the excitement of having wildlife encounters with wandering elephants and experiencing an untouched tribe in the Himba, there we stay in luxurious accommodation that offer other activities like boat trips (on the river in Serra Cafema) or quad biking across the dunes.

Will I have cellphone reception?
You will have decent cellphone reception at Windhoek, Namib Randi and Twfelfontein for calling/texting. , but in Serra Cafema there is no coverage at all. The hotels all have WiFi, but again, in Serra Cafema the internet is via WiFi and is very slow.

What about medicines, diseases and vaccinations?
Serra Cafema is on the border of a low-risk Malaria area. We recommend you consult your doctor about a preventative malaria medication . We recommend that you take the basic medical supplies like painkillers, antihistamine, insect repellant, disinfectant cream and plasters. Sun tan lotion and lip balm are crucial in the hot and dry environment.

Will there be fresh water available?
The tap water is drinkable at all destinations, but it is safer to drink bottled water as this might avoid a disagreement between your stomach and the local water supply. There will be bottled water available everywhere.

Will I be able to purchase snacks?
We will stop at grocers and cafés on a regular basis so everyone can stock up on drinks and snacks. Serra Cafema doesn’t have any shops, but there are often small cakes available in the lodge reception

What food can I expect?

Namibia’s cuisine is primarily of British influence with a slight German element.
All our destinations serve a hot English breakfast and it usually accompanied by breads, cold meats, fruits, yoghurt and cereal. Most places have an a la carte lunch menu offering sandwiches, salads, burgers etc. Dinners will mostly be three courses, consisting of a salad or soup starter, a meat main course served with some carbs and vegetables, followed by a sweet dessert.

What about allergies or dietary preferences?
Most of the lodges are prepared to handle basic allergies and dietary preferences like vegetarian meals. If you have a very rare allergy, please inform us so that we can make the necessary preparations.

Are there any luggage restrictions?
Please refer to the section above with the airplane photo, where the luggage situation is explained in detail.

Do I need to bring spending money along?
Although most of your expenses are included, you will need some cash to buy snacks, drinks and souvenirs. You can use Namibian dollars or South African Rands and it is very unlikely that you’ll need more than 20 USD per day.

Tipping
It is customary in Namibia to tip porters and guides at lodges. You can budget about USD200-300 for these tips.

Do I need a laptop?
A laptop isn’t an absolute must. If you want to edit your images while you’re on the go and receive advice from Andy and Hougaard about post processing techniques, then you’re welcome to bring one with you. The workshops is crammed pretty full and when we’re not out shooting we strongly advise people to rest in order to avoid burnout later in the tour. Because of this, processing isn’t an official part of this workshop, but later in the tour when we’re in Sossusviel there will be a chance to work on your images

A DSLR OR MIRRORLESS CAMERA

The criteria for the kind of work we’ll be doing is a camera that can be operated completely manually to ensure we get the best exposure with interchangeable lenses allowing us to cover a range of focal lengths. The ideal is however one of the latest APS-C or Full Frame systems.

LENSES

This trip will cover everything from landscape and aerial to portraits and wildlife. You will need lenses from 16mm to 600mm and you can also consider bringing a dedicated portrait lens for the Himba, e.g. a a 50mm f1,4 or 85mm f/1.4. (35mm or 56mm on APS-C) This trip will not have a particularly strong focus on astro, so no need for an ultra-fast wide.

DRONE

Unusually for Namibia, many of the parts where we’ll be staying it is perfectly legal to fly a drone. In both Hartmann’s Valley and the Huab drones are allowed (with the usual caveats about respect and common sense) as neither are parks. It’s possible to get some stunning aerial shots from both these places, so we strongly recommend bringing a drone along if you have one. We won’t be able to fly in the Namib Rand

FILTERS

Graduated filters aren’t a necessity, but if you own a set, you can bring it along.

A circular polarizer, especially for your 70-200mm/100-400mm will help a lot. Make sure you have one in your bag that fits your wide angle and telephoto lenses.

CLEANING CLOTHS

Namibia is a very dusty and sandy place, so expect to clean all your lenses daily. Bring enough cleaning liquid and cloths. The best tool for getting sand off camera gear is a paintbrush.

TRIPOD/MONOPOD

This is an area that so many people neglect - a premium carbon fiber tripod is the most underrated piece of camera gear out there. We will be shooting landscapes, wildlife and portraits, often in low light and a good tripod is critical. We offer a tripod rental service with a variety of the best Leofoto tripods - get in touch with us if you'd like to rent one.

Monopods can be quite useful for photographing wildlife, but if you don’t have one we can easily rent one here.

BACKPACK

We will be doing a lot of walking with camera gear, so it is critical that you have a comfortable backpack that can take your camera gear, a bottle of water and a warm layer of clothing. There is simply no other brand that comes close to F Stop backpacks. We recommend either the Ajna or Tilopa. If you’re thinking of buying an F Stop backpack before the trip, drop Andy a line, as he’s an ambassador and can provide a discount code.

 ANDY MUMFORD is a Lisbon based professional landscape and travel photographer. Andy grew up in the UK loving nature and travel and took up landscape photography over fifteen years ago. Since then he has travelled extensively photographing all over the world and his photography and articles have featured in publications and books worldwide. He is a passionate photographer teacher and has been leading both group and one-to-one workshops for over five years.

He is a Fuji X Photographer and a brand ambassador for Fujifilm in Portugal, although he also has extensive experience with Nikon and Canon cameras.

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Hougaard Malan is an award winning South African photographer who has been guiding and organising photo tours to Nambia for a decade. He has taken people from every corner of the planet to every corner of Namibia. His own photos of Namibia have won him awards like the 2016 International Landscape Photograph of the Year and his clients have also won numerous awards with the photos captured on his tours. All the images on this page were captured by Hougaard.

Hougaard believes the essence of a landscape photograph is allowing the viewer to experience that place without ever being there. When the light, clouds and land combine to produce scenes so beautiful that they etch a profound place in viewers’ memories, and witnessing such moments unfold over earth’s most beautiful landscapes is, for me, one of the highlights of living.

Hougaard’s work has been published in countless media all over the world, from books and magazines to calendars and coffee table books by the likes of National Geographic. Licensing and commission clients include global and local corporates like Samsung, Toyota, SAB Inbev, FNB, Standard Bank and Europcar.

www.hougaardmalan.com

Jandre Germishuizen based in Namibia backed up by over 10 years of photography travel and tours in the country. Jandre studied nature conservation and guiding in South Africa and soon started leading groups all over Namibia. He is currently a full-time photography guide specialising in wildlife, accompanying some of the world’s greatest photographers like National Geographic photographer Art Wolfe and leading wildlife photographer Isak Pretorius through Namibia. Jandre has an incredible and expansive knowledge of the landscapes, wildlife, geology, history and nature of southern Africa which he is happy to share and use to help his clients both capture and understand this beautiful country better.

www.jandrephotos.com

Many people who visit Namibia want to spend some time here photographing the wildlife as well as the landscapes. As we’re primarily focused on landscapes we don’t include Etosha in our itinerary, but for anyone who wants to spend a little time looking for some of the most amazing wildlife Namibia has to offer, we do offer a three day extension at the end of our workshop takes place lead by our partner, and one of Namibias leading wildlife photographers, Jandre Germishuizen.

The extension will include all accommodations, meals and transport between Etosha and Windhoek, as well as all the game drives inside the park. Pricing is determined by the number of people interested in doing the extension, and full details are available on request, so when you sign up for the workshop, let us know if you’re interested and we can provide you with everything you need to know.