“Eeny, meeny, miny, moe…”

I’ve been on plenty of photographic trips, but I’m quite picky about the companies I use.

In this article, I’ll provide a few different perspectives on how to choose a photographic trip that’s right for you.

Budget

This is the obvious one. There’s no point trying to book with Audley Travel if you only have £500 in your piggy bank!

It’ll also be pretty difficult to get to any long haul destination, so you might have to face facts and spend a long weekend in Ibiza…

Having said that, there are a few ways in which you can save money.

• Shorten your trip.
  There are some fixed costs when travelling, such as flights and transportation, so a week abroad won’t simply be half the price of two weeks, but it will still be a lot cheaper.

• Stay close to home.
  Long haul destinations involve long haul flights, so the price of flights will be a lot higher. If you can, try to find a closer location that still offers you what you’re looking for. I actually went to a safari park in northern Spain called Cabárceno, and I had a great time. All the most popular animals are there, including lions, tigers, cheetahs, leopards and rhinos, but a long weekend including a couple of nights at a local B&B will only cost you a few hundred pounds.

• Compromise on accommodation.
  I don’t care about my accommodation. For me, it’s all about the wildlife, so I’m happy to camp in a tent if I have to. That’s obviously not true for everyone, and I quite see the appeal of enjoying a bush bath with a glass of champagne in your hand followed by a gourmet meal underneath the stars, but that ain’t cheap!

• Avoid high-end brands.
  There are certain tour operators who specialise in the luxury travel market. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it’s important to know who they are in advance. It’s great to be able to have a detailed chat with a representative who’s actually been to your favoured destination and then browse through a tailor-made itinerary, but, again, that doesn’t come cheap.

• Avoid trips led by a well known photographer.
  I’ve been on quite a few trips with Paul Goldstein and Andy Skillen, and I get on with them both pretty well and have enjoyed my trips very much, but I also know that they don’t occupy the budget end of the market. I’m happy to pay for their company and their expertise, but you have to ask yourself if that’s really worth paying a premium for. If you just want access to a particular location or particular animals, then you might be better off travelling with a company like G Adventures. You’ll probably have a perfectly good time with a perfectly competent ‘Chief Experience Officer’, but you won’t be paying a cent for his or her reputation.

• Use any available discounts.
  Certain companies offer discounts to their loyal customers, so it’s worth asking if there are any discounts available. Exodus gives travellers a 5% discount on their third trip, for example, and 10% off their eighth trip.

I spend a lot of time in Africa, and the benchmark price for a decent camp such as Kicheche in the Masai Mara is around $500-1,000 per person per night, depending on the season - and that doesn’t include tips for the staff!

If you’re happy to pay those prices, then it’s obviously far easier to get exactly the trip you want. I’ve booked with Exodus Travels five times (almost always on trips led by Paul Goldstein), and I’ve also travelled with Naturetrek, G Adventures and Audley Travel.

I can recommend all those companies, and the service is generally very good, but this is foreign travel after all, so you should still expect the unexpected:

• Naturetrek once booked our flights home on the wrong day, so I had to buy tickets for myself and another guest whose credit card didn’t work!

• Audley Travel once forgot to book me a taxi home after a tango show in Buenos Aires, and I had to wait on the street at night for an hour while they sorted it out!

Finally, you should just make sure you understand the schedule of payments and whether you’re covered if the trip is cancelled for whatever reason.

Most companies are fairly flexible with these things and don’t ask for the whole amount all at once, but it’s worth checking things such as the accepted payment methods, for instance, if you’re desperate to collect the rewards on your preferred credit card!

Itinerary

It’s always worth studying the itinerary carefully, so feel free to ask a whole bunch of questions:

• When is the best time of year to go (eg for migrating birds)?

• How many days’ shooting will there be (as opposed to travel time)?

• Which animals might I see (eg Big Five)?

• Which animals won’t I see (eg rhino)?

• What will be the daily routine (eg number of game drives)?

• Will there be Zodiac excursions and/or landings (if you’re on a cruise ship)?

• Will there be a photographic hide?

• Can I shoot the night sky (eg Northern Lights)?

• How many people will be on the trip?

• Will I have to share accommodation?

• Are flights and transfers included?

• Are there any possible side-trips or extensions?

If you’re keen on wildlife photography, then the reason you book a trip will generally be because of the animals and birds you want to see.

That affects two aspects of your trip: the location and the timing.

It’s no good going to Costa Rica for the Great Migration, and it’s not much better going to Kenya if you don’t go from July to October!

I’ve taken pictures on all seven continents, and I always like to go somewhere new, but eventually you start to get diminishing returns: once you’ve been to dozens of different countries, it’s harder to get excited about the next one on the list.

I’m a great seeker after novelty myself, and I’ll always choose the restaurant I’ve always wanted to go to rather than my favourite restaurant.

That’s why I’ve always been tempted by certain places such as Costa Rica, which is on my ‘bucket list’, if you like.

However, it doesn’t have the kind of predators I love to photograph, so every time I think about going, it falls at the first hurdle!

That’s why I’ve ended up going to Africa so often.

There’s best and there’s second best, so why compromise on what’s really important, which is the unrivalled access to an amazing variety of wildlife?

If you’re like me, then you need to ask yourself the same question: am I better off going to a great place I’ve visited before or a place I’ve always wanted to visit?

If you’re serious about your photography, then you might answer that question by looking through your portfolio and trying to ‘fill in the gaps’.

Do you have great action shots of tigers, say? If not, you might decide to visit Tadoba, Ranthambore or Bandhavgarh in India.

Do you have any pictures of polar bears? If not, you might decide to visit Svalbard or Hudson Bay in Canada.

Coming to the right decision will take a fair bit of research, and if you’re planning to go on holiday with a friend or partner, then that counts double!

However, this should be the fun part - especially with so many rules in place during the Covid lockdown.

Even if you can’t actually make the trip just yet, at least you can do your homework and plan the holiday of a lifetime that you can book whenever you’re finally allowed to go to ‘Red List’ countries again…!

Equipment and clothing

Even the most committed photographers won’t have every possible item of kit in their camera bags, so it’s worth exploring beforehand exactly what you’re going to need.

Here are a few questions to ask:

• What focal length should my longest lens be?

• What other lenses will I need?

• Do I need a DSLR?

• Do I need a tripod (eg for a hide or while on deck on a cruise ship)?

• Will I be allowed to use a flashgun?

• Will I need a weatherproof cover for my camera?

• Are drones permitted?

• Do I need binoculars?

• Will there be somebody to fix any problems with my cameras and/or clean my sensor?

• When and where can I recharge my batteries?

• What type are the local power sockets?

• Do I need to bring padlocks to secure my bags?

The same goes for clothing.

Photographic trips can involve travelling to some pretty far-flung places, so it’s wise to ask what gear you’ll need to keep yourself warm enough, cold enough and dry enough!

• In the polar regions, that’ll probably involve a base layer, a fleece and a rainproof jacket and trousers, plus boots, gloves and a woolly hat.

• In Africa, it’s a good idea to pack cargo pants (with lots of pockets!), suncream and a sunhat.

• In tropical climes, there are places where it’s so hot that you really, really, REALLY won’t need a jacket…!

Tour guide

If you want to go on a group expedition, then the identity of your tour guide is vitally important.

Again, you have to ask yourself what your priorities are: do you just want someone to point you in the direction of the restaurant and give you a list of spa treatments at your hotel, or do you want someone who will do whatever it takes to provide you with the opportunities to take great wildlife shots?

To me, that’s a no-brainer, and that’s why I’ve been on so many trips with Paul Goldstein: yes, he’s been described as ‘Marmite’ - you either love him or you hate him - but I know without a shadow of a doubt that he’ll do his very best to set up the most amazing wildlife encounters.

The first week I spent with him at Kicheche Bush Camp, I saw five cheetah kills - and that’s worth all the bush baths and massages in the world!

Guests

Almost inevitably, going on a photographic trip means going with other people.

That can be a good thing, and it can also be a bad thing: we all have our peculiarities and peccadilloes, so it’s not surprising that we have to bite our tongues occasionally!

I’ve been lucky in that I’ve met some wonderful people on my photographic trips: I made friends with a lovely couple in India, and I’ve generally found that the kind of people who go on safari tend to be very intelligent successful and a pleasure to talk to, especially given the shared passion for wildlife.

One thing you can often do before you book a trip is to ask about the demographic breakdown of the other guests.

Exodus and G Adventures are pretty good at doing that for you, and it just helps a little bit to know the age, sex and number of guests - plus whatever else you can wheedle out of the person on the other end of the phone!

Once you go on the actual trip, of course, it’s far too late to complain, and there’s usually nothing anyone can do about the annoying American bloke in Room 201!

However, with good manners and a LOT of patience, it’s not the end of the world.

You’ll be on holiday, after all, so try to make the most of it…

If you’d like to order a framed print of one of my wildlife photographs, please visit the Prints page.

If you’d like to book a lesson or order an online photography course, please visit my Lessons and Courses pages.