Pantanal Photo Tour 2015

After a recent scouting trip to the Pantanal in Brazil we are now proud to announce our first safari to South America!

The Pantanal is a magical destination of excellent bird life, amazing mammals and of course their apex predator, the Jaguar.

We will be spending time in some of the best locations for each species and ending off with 4 nights on the Jaguar floating hotel right in the heart of Jaguar country.
Join us on this fantastic journey to a wetland that is three times as large as the Okavango Delta, and with more species!

For more information please visit Pantanal Photo Tour

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C4 Guides Top Shots from the Mara

This year C4 spent 6 weeks in the Masai Mara leading photo tours. It was our 6th consecutive year of hosting these photo tours. Our camp ran beautifully, the location as always, was perfect and we had exceptional sightings.

Our guides are Mara specialists who have all spent many seasons leading photo tours in the ecosystem.

When on safari we believe in quality over quantity and get out guests to take images at excellent sightings in beautiful light.

These are a selection of the C4 guides' images from this year in the Mara. Enjoy and please share amongst your friends.

On the next blog post we will be putting up our clients images from their experiences in the Mara.

Albie Venter (www.africa-unlocked.com)

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Svalbard Client feedback

Below is a collection of images and feedback by C4 clients, Peter Farmer and Maggie Manson, who was on the Svalbard Photo Tour in September with us. There is only one cabin left for our 2013 Svalbard tour, to read more about it or book your place see here.

"Even before our flight landed in Longyearbyen close to midnight, we were treated to a spectacular sunset over Spitzbergen. This set the scene for a truly magical 10 days on board the MS Stockholm as we cruised north and east around the Svalbard archipelago and then up to 82 degrees north to find the pack-ice. This C4 tour has to rate as one of the very best we have enjoyed and they have all been excellent. The Swedish captain and crew of the ship were wonderful, as was the delicious food, produced with imagination and flair. Even after 10 days at sea in one of the remotest destinations on earth, the two girls were still producing fresh salads and wonderfully tempting dishes. The trip was also greatly enhanced by our guides – Shem with his enthusiasm for this new destination and his tips for wildlife and landscape photography and our polar guide, Ronald Visser, who shared his extensive local knowledge and expertly took charge of our numerous zodiac excursions.

The scenery and light were constantly changing and often astoundingly beautiful. We visited fjords, glaciers, remote research settlements, tiny islands and the pack-ice. We photographed fulmars, terns, kittiwakes, ivory and glaucous gulls, seals, walrus, reindeer, arctic fox and polar bears, as well as plants, landscapes and icebergs galore. We ventured out on the zodiac whenever conditions would allow, sometimes landing for short hikes. Every day was different and there was never a shortage of subjects to focus our cameras on.

The most magical 24 hours was spent in the pack-ice, where we were visited on three occasions by polar bears. The first to arrive were a mother and cub at around 3.30am in the most perfect light. They were followed by an adult female and just before lunch another mother and cub with bloody faces who had been feeding on a seal. Each of them came very close to the ship and provided a multitude of photographic opportunities. Later that day a storm blew up from the south pushing us closer to the North Pole before we eventually escaped from the pack- ice. Then it was time to slowly retrace our “steps” and set sail back towards Longyearbyen, dipping in and out of fjords on the way and taking our total bear count to 18. One of the final delights was a close encounter with an arctic fox in its beautiful winter coat. When can we go back?"

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Svalbard Client Images

Below are a collection of images by C4 client, Jamie van Zyl, who was on the Svalbard Photo Tour in September with us. Read more about our 2013 Svalbard tour here:6-16 September 2013

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More Mahale

Mahale and Selous was an awesome trip, an experience that no one should miss. Highlights for me were most definitely the chimps, the whole experience of trekking after them and the excitement when you get to see them. The trip down to Mahale in its self was an experience. Fly camping in Selous, next to a river in the bush was another highlight, not often one gets to hear the sounds of the wild and at the same time see the stars. The accommodation was top class.
Thanks to Gregg for being a great host, and thanks to Shem and Minette for putting such a great trip together. Text and images by Margaret Olivier.

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Magnificent Mahale

C4 Images and Safaris recently returned from our first photo tour to Mahale in Tanzania to photograph the chimpanzees. Led by C4 guide, Greg du Toit, the tour exceeded everyone's expectations. Below is some feedback and images by c4 client, Anne Lecuire.

"Our group was wonderful, nice and easy and we had fun. The chimps was everything I had dream for and even more, Greg was fantastic and very patient to help me with my setting in the challenging forest, so I managed to bring home the souvenir of the baby chimps of my dream. I feel so lucky to have been part of this experience. I wanted to meet the chimps for a long time and will never forget them. Thank you."

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