
Tiger Canyons with Penny Robartes
In July 2024, sitting at a table under the night sky in Botswana, my guests and I were discussing new destinations that they wanted me to suggest for them. They were looking for something very different, a wildlife experience that perhaps they haven’t yet had. This was our second private photo tour together, and they wanted to keep focusing on places were intimacy in wildlife sightings is had wherever possible.
Is there a destination/ reserve in mind that I suggest?
Fast forward to January 2025, where my guests and I have just spent 6 day photographing wild Tigers. In South Africa.

Tiger Canyon was created out of the love for Tigers and understanding the global battle of helping to preserve a species that is at a high risk of extinction. With 95% of their historical range lost to human occupation over the last century, these undeniably majestic and powerful cats are losing ground, and their lives, at such an alarming rate that the public are not even being made aware of the true population statistics of wild Tiger.

Now, as we know from some very successful conservation projects, clear-cut, obvious routes are not always possible nor affective. More often than not, extreme measures and having to be taken, and this is what Ian Player did for the survival of white Rhino in 1961 and projects spurred on from it. Operation Rhino was a groundbreaking conservation project launched in 1961 with the aim of saving the critically endangered white Rhino from extinction in South Africa. At that time, the species was on the brink of vanishing due to poaching and habitat loss, with fewer than 100 individuals remaining in the wild, confined to a small area in the southeastern part of the country. The utter success of Operation Rhino increased white Rhino numbers to over 1,700 by the early 1990s. It spurred Ian Player to relocate a number of White Rhino to Texas in the United States of America to ensure the species’ survival globally by establishing new, safe populations outside Africa where poaching and habitat loss were null and void.

This ex-situ conservation project, which is hugely successful, guided the owner’s of Tiger Canyon in creating one of the first reserves in the world to successfully establish an ex-situ population of wild Tigers outside of Asia, and they are leading the charge.

Tigers are not the only conservation focus on the reserve. Spotted and sleek, Tiger Canyon’s Cheetah form an incredibly important role. In partnership with Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT), Tiger Canyon’s Cheetah are part of their metapopulation breeding program which aims at increasing the number of wild Cheetah in Africa, and reintroducing them to safe areas where they were historically found. The two wild female Cheetah are very habituated, and this offers guests the beautiful experience of walking on foot with them, photographing at low angles, and immersing yourself in the experience of being so close of some of Africa’s wild Big Cats. The photographic and holistic opportunities are varied and potentially endless!

My guests’ main focus, however, was on the wild orange and white striped creatures whose eyes seem ablaze with a never-ending fire. They had never seen wild Tiger before and the thought of being able to spend time with, learn, observe, photograph some (if not all) of the 13 individuals in near solitude (if another vehicle joined, otherwise, in solitude) was so enticing, that it brought them to Tiger Canyon.



Over our 6-day stay, we photographed and saw all 13 individuals and we were treated on every single game drive with such beautiful and connective moments.
I understand that this isn’t the same as finding a wild Tiger in its natural habitat in Asia. This experience is not a replication, nor is it a competition. Tiger Canyon is a conservation spearhead, dedicated to keeping the species wild and thriving outside of their endemic habitats where too, poaching and habitat loss is desperately affecting the survival of the species. It is a place where my guests can spend time with, sit in silence, choose various photographic angles, without large crowds, with an otherworldly species.










I welcome you to join me for a wild Tiger and wild Cheetah experience like no other. I welcome you to join me as we learn about the conservation of these two Big Cats in an intimate setting. Let’s explore the myriad of photographic opportunities, and connect deeply with these apex predators that need us, need you, to partake in and advocate for their survival.
For my 2 person group photo tour, please click here or send an email to ORYX Scheduled Departures [email protected]
To require my photographic expertise on a private safari, please send an email to ORYX Private Departures [email protected]
The world is filled with the most wondrous wildlife and experiences thereof.
Let’s begin or continue your journey together.