Join South x Southeast Workshops and Peter Essick on a photographic safari in wild Kenya this March. With the convenience of our own private guides and vehicles, we’ll shoot wildlife in private conservancies and parks in both the Masai Mara National Reserve and Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Laikipia. All-inclusive accommodations at luxurious camps along the way will pamper our needs at the end of the day, and see to it that we are ready to go in the mornings. And, after we’ve returned home and had time to edit our images, Peter will host a Zoom group critique where we can comment on each other’s work, as well as host individual 30-minute Zoom reviews where you’ll meet one-on-one.
This is an all-round photography experience for photographers of all levels.
Please note: This photo safari is limited to 8 students.
Zebras at the water hole ©Celso Gonzalez-Falla
WHAT … this is all about
We’ll enjoy two distinctly different experiences during this adventure.
Beginning with 3 days in the Masai Mara. The Mara is known for prides of lions (including the Big Five), journeys of giraffes, herds of elephants, bloats of hippos, and amazing flocks of birds. From here we’ll go out on sunrise and late afternoon game drives, and we’ll visit a Maasai village where we’ll shoot architecture, nature, and portraiture. As well as enjoy instruction, critique, and photo talks around a blazing fire under the stars each evening.
We’ll then fly to Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Laikipia for 4 days of game drives, and a visit with the last two living white Rhinos, Fatu and Najin. We may also visit the rhino cemetery, with the stone cairns honoring the 16 rhinos lost to poachers. Along with the animals noted above, we’ll also see buffalo, cheetahs, crocodiles, dik-diks, and prickles of nocturnal porcupines.
This trip is a great mix of wildlife safari, environmental portraiture, architectural, and cultural photography. It’s also an opportunity to flex and strengthen your photo skills with one of the finest instructors in the field today. It includes private charter flights, Safari-style Land Cruisers, private guides and drivers, and 2 all-inclusive luxurious safari camps.
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This workshop is limited to 8 students.
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Skill set: All. Beginners to professional photographers welcome. We do ask beginners to be familiar with their cameras or phones.
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March highs of 80 degrees, with lows of 60 degrees.
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Sunrise 6:42, Sunset 6:50
WHO … we are
Peter Essick, our Instructor
Peter Essick is a photographer, editor, author, speaker, instructor, and drone pilot with 30 years of experience working for National Geographic Magazine. He specializes in nature and environmental themes. Named one of the forty most influential nature photographers in the world by Outdoor Photography Magazine UK, Essick has been influenced by many noted American landscape photographers from Carleton Watkins to Robert Adams. His goal is to make photographs that move beyond documentation to reveal in careful compositions the human impact of development as well as the enduring power of the land.
Essick is the author of three books of his photographs, The Ansel Adams Wilderness, Our Beautiful, Fragile World and Fernbank Forest. He has photographed stories for National Geographic on many environmental issues including climate change, high-tech trash, nuclear waste and freshwater. After 30 years travelling the world as an editorial photographer, Essick decided to focus his work on a more personal documentation of the environmental and cultural changes in his hometown of Atlanta.
Essick’s photographs are in the permanent collection of the Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia, the Booth Western Art Museum and many other private collections. He is represented by Spalding Nix Gallery in Atlanta, Georgia.
Nancy McCrary, South x Southeast Workshops, logistics and planning
Nancy founded South x Southeast photomagazine in 2011. In 2015 she began SxSE photoworkshops, followed by the opening of SxSE photogallery at her farm in Molena, Georgia in 2017. From 2005 – 2013 she was co-director of SlowExposures Photography Festival in Concord, Georgia. Prior to South x Southeast she was managing editor of a number of various niche magazines including International Tattoo Art, PopStar!, Contents, and Mutts. She resides on her farm in Georgia.
Nancy manages planning, logistics, marketing, and whatever else can present itself for all South x Southeast workshops.
email: nancy@sxsemagazine.com
Insta:
sxsemagazine
sxsephotogallery
Only The Best Guides and Drivers:
Our private guides are all members of the Kenya Professional Safari Guides Association which trains guides specifically for photography. From their approaches and positioning to the angle of the lighting they are professionals at putting you exactly where you’ll want to be. Our lead guide, Sayialel Jackson, was voted Photographer of the year 2022 with the Gamewatchers and Porini Safari Camps, and has years of experience with game drives in the Masai Mara. Sayialel and his team will be our private drivers, using their own vehicles, for both the Mara and Ol Pejeta Conservancy, available only to our group for the best times for drives. By hiring our own driver guides and vehicles we assure that our game drives have no fixed time or length. Your time with these seasoned guides will be a highlight of your safari adventure.
Giraffe at sunset in Mara ©nmccrary
WHERE and WHEN …
Please note:
Everything we do is a choice, and if someone chooses to sit out an activity or game drive that is perfectly okay. There will be plenty of other activites at the camps. Or, you may just want to sit on the porch with a cold beverage and take in whatever animals wander by.
Day 1: 3/2/2024, Saturday (leave the US 3/1/2024)
Arrive Nairobi:
Fly into Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta Internationala (NBO) airport. A hotel van will be waiting for you, and you’ll be delivered to the Eka Hotel.
The Eka Hotel is a 4-star, full-service hotel with comfortable rooms, restaurants, bars, and a fine swimming pool.
We’ll enjoy a good night’s rest before an early morning start.
Day 2: 3/3/2024, Sunday
And we’re off to the Masai Mara!
The workshop begins this morning with breakfast at the hotel where your last minute questions will be answered, and we’ll all meet each other! From there we’ll travel to Wilson Airport and our charter flights to the Mara.
Once we land, our driver guides will pick us up for the 15 minute drive to Amazing Mara Camp on the Talek River. We’ll arrive in time for lunch, a quick unpack, and off on our first afternoon game drive.
Amazing Mara is a new, semi-permanent camp made up of large tents on wooden platforms, with excellent beds, and out-of-this-world food. It is right on the Talek River. This is an eco-camp, with all solar energy. Wifi is only available at the gathering area, not in individual tents. Each tent has a small solar generator for working on your laptop that lasts long enough. Hot showers and a somewhat open-air bath area are enclosed on each platform. It is covered, but you can see the stars! Charging batteries is not a problem in the communal dining/bar/living area, and the staff are friendly, warm, and always ready to help wherever you need it.
Amazing is a small, intimate camp with only 7 tents and a lovely way to ease into the safari.
The Masai Mara is world renowned for its density of big cats and offers unparalleled experiences for both the keen photographer and the casual wildlife watcher alike. Guests at Amazing Mara Camp regularly see all of the big cats before lunch (they call this a “cat-trick”) and often see the Big Five during their stay! And its not just about the big game – the Mara hosts an amazing variety of smaller mammals, primates, reptiles and is every bird lovers paradise.
Our first evening, we’ll gather post-dinner in the communal area for a presentation by Peter.
Day 3: 3/4/2024, Monday, full day in the Mara
5:00 — Wake up before dawn and out on the savannah for sunrise. Breakfast will be packed for us to enjoy al fresco.
Post lunch, we’ll take a rest. Meeting up mid-afternoon Peter will give us a talk and answer any technical questions that you may have. And then, we’ll head back out for a late afternoon drive getting back out of the park before 6pm as is now required by the National Reserve.
Day 4:
3/5/2024, Tuesday, Maasai Village, and afternoon game drive
After breakfast we’ll load up for a visit to a Maasai Village. Architectural, nature, and portrait photography will be useful here as we learn about the traditional Maasai way of life, and meet some incredibly lovely people.
Returning to the camp for lunch and a siesta, we’ll head back out @3 pm for late afternoon hours with the animals.
After dinner this evening Peter will give another short talk on tech issues, and answer any questions you may have.
Day 5: 3/6/2024
Say Good-bye to the Mara….and hello to the rhinos of Ol Pejeta
After breakfast we’ll leave for our flight to Ol Pejeta and the Sweetwaters Camp. We have reserved single occupancies in the deluxe Morani Wing of the camp, with private terraces overlooking Mount Kenya. (For double occupancies just let Nancy know, she’ll take care of the details). Sweetwater is a larger camp than Amazing, farther north and at the foot of Mount Kenya.
We’ll have different private driver guides, those who specialize in Ol Pejeta, who will meet us at the local airstrip and deliver us to Sweetwaters for lunch. Afterwards, we’ll settle in and then head out for our first game drive.
Day 6: 3/7/2024
Today is a full day in the Ol Pejeta with morning and afternoon game drives. Also, Peter will give presentations on technical topics, Q&A, and critiques.
Day 7 : 3/8/2024
The Last Two White Rhinos:
We’ll start the day with an early morning game drive in the conservancy before returning to camp for lunch. Post-lunch we’ll take a break before setting out to visit the last two white rhinos in the world, Fatu and Najin.
Day 8: 3/9/2024
Full Day in Ol Pejeta
Leaving before sunrise we’ll be on the plains as the animals begin to wake up and move, or head home for the night – depending! We’ll break late morning for sustenance and a bit of a rest before heading back out in the afternoon.
After supper Peter will lead a fireside photo chat before we tuck in under the stars for the last evening on safari.
Day 9: 3/10/2024
Last Game Drive and flight back to town
We’ll enjoy one last game drive in Ol Pejeta before heading to the air strip and our flight back to Nairobi. The workshop will end when we arrive back at Wilson Airport Nairobi. For those of us with flights departing NBO later in the evening we have booked a day room back at the Eka Hotel where everyone can nap, shower, and enjoy a meal before catching the van to the airport.
Hiding in Plain Site ©Connor Falla
Covered in Fee:
Single occupancy in all accommodations is included. (For Double Occupancy, please contact nancy@sxsemagazine.com)
Transport to and from Nairobi airports to Eka Hotel
One night at Eka Hotel Nairobi upon arrival
Private charter flight from Wilson Airport Nairobi to the airstrip near Amazing Mara Camp, Masai Mara
3 nights in the Amazing Mara Camp, all inclusive.
Game Drives with private guides/drivers each day (Safari Style Land Cruisers (5 photographers to each) tricked out with photo gear (bean bags, larger windows, access to roof, etc)
Visit to a Maasai Village
Flight from Amazing Mara Camp, Masai Mara Reserve, to Laikipia, Ol Pejeta Conservancy
4 nights in Sweetwaters Camp, Ol Pejeta Conservancy, all inclusive – along with daily game drives
Visit with the last two remaining white Rhinos
Visit to the Rhino Cemetery
Night Game Drive (dependent upon Conservancy Rules at that time)
Instruction during the day, plus presentations and critiques in the evenings with Peter Essick
Zoom group critique, as well as individual reviews post-workshop with Peter
Flight from the Ol Pejeta to Nairobi
Day Room at the Eka Hotel Nairobi while awaiting our flights home
Not Covered in Fee:
Airfare from your home base to Nairobi
Kenyan Visa
Vaccinations
Travel Insurance – highly recommended
Tips – generally 10% in restaurants, $20/tent per night on safari
Meals and miscellaneous expenses on day one, and day 10 once back in Nairobi.
FEES:
$11,800, single occupancy, if paying by check.
$10,900, double occupancy, if paying by check. If you’re not traveling with a partner, this rate is only available should there be another workshop attendee wanting to share.
$12,250 if paying by debit or credit card.
To pay by check:
Email nancy@sxsemagazine.com with your name, address, phone number. She will reply with address.
To pay by card:
Go HERE to pay the fee of $12,250 by card.
Hope to see you in Kenya soon!
