East Africa 2025: Kenya and Tanzania

Elephants marching across the plains of Amboseli National Park

In March 2025 I was fortunate enough to go on a photo safari to East Africa with Ann and Steve Toon, who run a great safari operation aimed principally at photographers. With a maximum of six participants in two vehicles, only three photographers shared a landcruiser, leaving plenty of room for lots of gear and giving each of us unrestricted access to shots in any direction. We did two game drives each day, leaving camp at the crack of dawn to catch the morning light, and then again at 4 pm for the evening light. I would highly recommend their operation for serious photographers looking for great opportunities to capture wildlife images. They have a great website with lots of information, images and educational tutorials:

On this trip we visited four different reserves/game parks. We started out in Amboseli National Park in southern Kenya, where we spent three nights. As our driver James put it, "Amboseli is all about the elephants and The Mountain," meaning Mount Kilimanjaro. Kilimanjaro is often obscured by clouds and haze, but we were fortunate enough to get very nice views of The Mountain with elephants in the foreground. Next we crossed the border into Tanzania, where we visited the famous Ngorongoro crater, which is a truly unique and magnificent environment. From there it was on to the unforgettable Serengeti National Park. Serengeti is derived from the Masai word meaning "endless plains," which is truly an apt description. Known for its "big cats" this park did not disappoint, with numerous close-in sightings of lions, leopards and cheetah. Our final destination was the Ndutu Region, nestled between the Serengeti and Ngorongoro. Here the vehicles are allowed to travel off-road (you must stay on the dirt tracks in all other parks we visited), allowing some fantastic sightings while the guides carefully respected the well being of the animals we were observing. In its entirety the trip was fantastic, and certainly one of the most productive photographic trips I've taken.