Mike travelled with me last in April 2023. It was extremely wet! We drove through deep water, there were many roads we couldn’t drive and it was damp, overcast and very humid. This time could barely have been more different. With El Niño in full swing, we have had a very dry rainy season and April 2024 looks more like June in recent years. It was a great contrast, and the sightings were totally different to match. Not better, but strikingly different. Gone were the birds in breeding plumage. Gone were the flooded roads and images of zebras in the driving rain. But we welcomed excellent leopard sightings, some moody skies and lovely bird behaviour. Mike, over to you:

“I can’t believe this was my seventh trip with Ed in South Luangwa. As usual South Luangwa served up many special moments, and I’ve included some of my favourite shots here. There was one very special moment though that will always stick in my mind. I’m a mainly landscape photographer. When it comes to landscapes a bit of mist always helps create depth and separation, especially when it’s in the woods. So, I couldn’t believe it one morning when I spotted some mist in the distant woods. We dashed over there and would you believe it an elephant walked into this beautiful scene. As one of the landscape vloggers would say, “it doesn’t get much better than this!”. An absolutely stunning moment. We also had more than our fair share of leopard sightings, with the first one only ten minutes are leaving camp!

Thanks, Ed, for another amazing trip and hope to see you again soon!”

I’m so pleased to see the dramatic improvement in Mike’s images from the time he started travelling to Luangwa in 2017 to now..! Really a marked and impressive change. Congratulations!