My Wildlife Photography Bucket List

TravelTrips
Written By Nick Dale

Kicking it around the world…

Most of us don’t have the time or the budget to go on many wildlife photography trips, so it’s worth making the most of what we have by going to the right place at the right time.

In 2014, I wrote down all the destinations on my bucket list. Here’s an updated version containing all the best places for wildlife photography I’ve never visited...

Africa

  • GMC course in southern Serengeti for blue wildebeest calving season in January/February or Mara river crossing in August/September

  • Cheetahs at Singita Boulders, Singita Lebombo, Singita Faru Faru, Governors Camp, Kichwa Tembo, Namiri Plains, Phinda Vlei Lodge, Phinda Forest Lodge, Phinda Mountain, Samara Private Game Reserve (on foot), Chitabe Camp

  • Mana Pools, Zimbabwe, for wild dogs on foot

  • Zimanga for hides (when BA reintroduces direct flights to Durban!)

  • Cheetah sanctuaries in Namibia

  • Kruger in September, eg Shingwedzi Kamp, Sabi Sands Private Reserve (Sabi Sabi or Mala Mala) or November/December for the impala birthing season

  • White lions at Timbavati

  • Kicheche with Exodus/Big Cat People (and Giza panther in Laikipia?)

  • Lewa in Kenya for cheetahs and black and white rhinos, Big Five (and electric vehicle at Lewa Wilderness Lodge)

  • Lentorre Lodge in Kenya for backlit hides

  • South Luangwa, Zambia, for Big Four and carmine bee-eaters in November (Sparrow Safaris)

  • Leopards at Sabi Sands and in South Luangwa, Zambia

  • Madikwe for Big Five, red hartebeest, brown hyena, wild dogs

  • Majete Wildlife Reserve, Malawi, for Big Five

  • North Luangwa, Zambia, for black rhino

  • Londolozi and Mala Mala private game reserves bordering Kruger National Park in South Africa

Asia

  • Flame of the Forest for tigers

  • Kabini, India for Saya, the black panther

  • Wrangel Island (favourite of Mark Carwardine) with Wildlife Worldwide Travel

  • Tigers, leopards and panthers in Nagarhole NP, India

  • Clouded leopards in Deramakot Forest, Sabah, Borneo

  • Snow leopards in Ladakh or Mongolia

  • Tigers at Pench or Kanha NP

Britain

  • Bempton Cliffs for gannet, guillemot, puffin, razorbill, kittiwake, fulmar, shag and herring gull

  • Beddington Farmlands

  • Slimbridge Wetland Centre, Gloucestershire, for kingfisher, ruff, sandpipers, warblers, whimbrel, grey plover, cuckoo, Mediterranean gull and cranes

  • The Wick, Skomer Island, Pembrokeshire, in July for puffins, guillemots and razorbills

  • Lackford Lakes, Suffolk, for kingfishers

  • Minsmere, Suffolk, for red deer, adders, stoats, bitterns, marsh harriers and bearded tit

  • Ranworth Broad, Norfolk, for ospreys, common terns, Cetti’s warblers

  • Gigrin, Rhayader, or Bwlch Nant Yr Arian in Wales for red kite feeding stations

  • Horn Mill Osprey Hide, Rutland, for ospreys, kingfishers, grey herons, red kites and buzzards (£80 for dawn to 0830 or 1630 to dusk)

  • Lakenheath Fen or Lackford Lakes hide near Cambridge with Kevin Pigney

  • Seal colony on Norfolk coast

  • Colin McCloud near Loch Marie, Westeros for rutting deer in September/October only a few feet away (£200 for argocat for four people). Go in morning.

  • Ospreys in June or July at Aviemore Osprey Centre (if they’ve returned) or Aviemore Ospreys, a hide costing £130 a day or River Spey for free!

Europe

  • Wildlife Dreams Estonia hide in May for bear cubs

  • Flatanger, Norway, in summer for white-tailed eagles

  • Boat trips with fish in Norway with Kvernoboats

  • Tromso for orcas

North America

  • Brown bears of Lake Clark with Tom Bol (or Patrick and Mary)

  • Barter Island, Alaska (September)

  • Barrow, Alaska

  • Wapusk National Park, Canada

  • Seal River Lodge, Canada

  • Baja, California, for boat rides to touch grey whales (cf Chris Bruce)

  • Baffin Island

  • Black bears with Charles Munn in North Carolina (Alligator River)

  • Elk rut in Rocky Mountain National Park

  • Brooks Falls in July (Georgia at Naturetrek to enter lottery)

  • Ellie Rothney trips to Costa Rica?

  • Guy Edwardes Costa Rica workshop

  • Email Tweeds Muir Park Lodge in Canada (credited by Andy Skillen)

South America

  • Peuma Hue or Huechahue in Argentina in September/October

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.

Nick Dale
I read English at Oxford before beginning a career as a strategy consultant in London. After a spell as Project Manager, I left to set up various businesses, including raising $5m in funding as Development Director for www.military.com in San Francisco, building a £1m property portfolio in Notting Hill and the Alps and financing the first two albums by Eden James, an Australian singer-songwriter who has now won record deals with Sony and EMI and reached number one in Greece with his first single Cherub Feathers. In 1998, I had lunch with a friend of mine who had an apartment in the Alps and ended up renting the place for the whole season. That was probably the only real decision I’ve ever made in my life! After ‘retiring’ at the age of 29, I spent seven years skiing and playing golf in France, Belgium, America and Australia before returning to London to settle down and start a family. That hasn’t happened yet, but I’ve now decided to focus on ‘quality of life’. That means trying to maximise my enjoyment rather than my salary. As I love teaching, I spend a few hours a week as a private tutor in south-west London and on assignment in places as far afield as Hong Kong and Bodrum. In my spare time, I enjoy playing tennis, writing, acting, photography, dancing, skiing and coaching golf. I still have all the same problems as everyone else, but at least I never get up in the morning wishing I didn’t have to go to work!
http://www.nickdalephotography.com
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