Photography Workshops at Erindi

It’s hard for me to find the right words to describe the one week stay I had at Erindi. It’s totally different to what I experienced on all my other travels. For a guy living in Switzerland, who can be happy to see once in a while a few ibex or marmots and who is mostly used to snow and moderate temperatures.  The adventurous safari and wildlife spotting in Namibia starts as soon as you enter the gates of the Erindi Private Game Reserve. You feel an amazing fairytale coming true. In the first 15 minutes driving up to the Lodge I saw more animals than I could have ever imagined, and I was amazed in every single way.

It didn’t stop when we reached the Lodge. Starting from the friendly staff to a beautiful terrace with a waterhole right in front of it, where some elephants, crocodiles and hippos were waiting for us. I couldn’t have been happier to be right there and enjoying the beautiful landscape at Erindi.

After a refreshing welcome drink our workshop leader and photographer Donal Boyd gave a little speech about what we could expect over the next couple of days, during our game drives and the time at the Lodge. We went to our beautiful and luxurious rooms, dropped our bags and got out camera gear ready for our first field trip.

The reason I chose to visit Namibia was to learn more about wildlife photography and conservation. It was a huge honour for me to learn more about all those topics from men like Donal Boyd, Benjamin Hardman and Erindi guide Warren. It made the experience and the stay at Erindi even more unforgettable, knowing that you are in good hands, surrounded by people who enjoy what they’re doing and ready to share their knowledge.

Our days started before sunrise so we could be in the right place to capture the sun coming over the horizon. This was definitely the hardest part of our trip. Not because we had to get up early but because of the freezing morning temperatures in the open game viewer.

Anyway, this doesn’t matter that much because as soon as the first rays of sun hit the ground, you started to feel the heat and began searching for a cool place in the shadows. Sunrise tours at Erindi were my favourite. Being at an outstanding location, surrounded by wildlife during golden hour is what I was looking for and all this with a coffee in my hand. Well, it was just perfect.

After the first game drive of the day we went back to the Lodge for a delicious breakfast buffet and got ready to spend a few hours learning more about editing in Lightroom and Photoshop. After that, the second game drive started. Later on, lunch was served somewhere in the park. Taking pictures during daytime light can be pretty hard. Lucky for us, we went there during rainy season when it was more cloudy than usual.

Everyone who would like to learn more about photography and wildlife in general should take the time to visit Erindi. The passion the workshop leaders share is definitely amazing and you can be sure they will do everything to make your stay a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

With every single hour I spent at Erindi, surrounded by my friends, I fell more in love and it was hard to leave this breathtaking place.

I hope to be back in the very near future.

—Kai