Mashatu – Hides & Predators Photo Safari 2025

US$8,295 person sharing

Fully Booked

9 July 2025 – 14 July 2025

Please note that costs & dates for 2025 are subject to change as not all our partner properties and local airlines have released their rates. Should we need to revise costs, we will endeavour to keep fees & dates as close to the original.

ORYX is proud to present a carefully crafted expedition to Botswana’s Mashatu Game Reserve.

This is a land where huge herds of Elephants roam free, where the roar of a Lion punctuates the night, and where ancient and mighty Baobab trees tower like swollen sentinels over the wild savanna. Your Mashatu experience is sure to be unique to anything you have previously experienced in Africa. Mashatu offers amazing hide photography with alluring waterholes attracting mighty beasts to quench their thirst, offering close-ups difficult to imagine, but a joy to photograph! Hides are sunken into the ground, allowing you to photograph from ground level. Your time in the hides is as much a sensory experience as it is a photographic one. No glass separating you from the wild allows you to see, smell, feel and hear the wonders of nature from a worms-eye perspective. Game drives offer superb predator photography (Lion, Leopard and Cheetah).

Why this Photo Tour is for You

Hide Photography

Visit the renowned sunken ‘underground’ photographic hide to photograph wildlife from ground-level. To make the very best of this opportunity, we have secured 3 hide sessions during our stay.

Predators & Elephants

Mashatu is known for its remarkable opportunities to photograph lion, cheetah and leopard! Game drives will be dedicated to tracking these big cats. However, we will also appreciate and photograph other species (big and small) that call Mashatu their home, such as the resident elephants. We will photograph these magnificent giants during game drives and from the underground hide if we are indeed lucky enough to have them visit while we are there!

Night Sky

Spend time admiring Africa’s starry night sky while photographing the milky way.

Small Group Size

Limited to only 3 participants. You will have your own row in our private open safari vehicle.

Photographic Tuition & Guiding

Local knowledge of the region coupled with a strong relationship with the ground team, ensure the ultimate photo tour experience. We will take you to the best locations while assisting you with your photography.

ORYX LEADER
Penny Robartes

6 Days

3 Guests + 1 ORYX Leader

Classic

Wildlife

Destination

Botswana
Departure
Polokwane, Botswana
person sharing
US$8,295
Single Supplement
US$1,950
Photographic Highlights
Elephant, Lion, Leopard, Cheetah, Night Photography, Underground Photographic Hide
Guide

Penny Robartes

Watch the Video

From our gallery

Best of Mashatu

Day 1: Arrival in Polokwane and road transfer to Mashatu

Today we will fly from OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg to Polokwane Airport. After our arrival in Polokwane, we road transfer to Pont Drift border post (+-2 hours) and after a short stop at border control, we enter Botswana, and hop onto our private open safari vehicle and make our way to our home for the next 5-nights of our Botswana Photo Safari: Mashatu Private Game Reserve.

Days 2 to 5: Mashatu Game Reserve

ORYX’s Photo Tour will offer a superb combination of activities at Mashatu, namely hide photography, exciting game drives and visits to key areas with the intention of capturing the starry night skies of remote Botswana. Hide photography takes centre stage as we await the arrival of thirsty mammals and birds. The Matebole Hide is sunken photographic hide placed at a waterhole in prime Elephant habitat, and inside, you are seated so that your head is at ground level, and everything you see will be from the perspective of lying on your stomach looking upwards! A variety of creatures come to the waterhole to quench their thirst (Elephant, various antelope, Chacma Baboon, lots of birds and with a lot of luck even a big cat or two!), and here the ORYX photographic guide will teach creative techniques to best capture the animals as they go about their business. Game drives focus on the cats of the reserve, and Mashatu is gaining a reputation as a superb reserve for Leopard with a number of relaxed individuals! This ideal combination of photographic hides, game drives and scenic exploration while learning new photographic techniques makes this expedition one that you will never forget.

Day 6: Road transfer to Polokwane and depart

This morning after an early breakfast, we depart on our last morning game drive, followed by a road transfer back into South Africa via Pont Drift border post and to the town of Polokwane. This is sadly where this incredible photo tour concludes!

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