Zimanga

If you're going to travel as far as South Africa, it's wasteful to skimp on days. That's why we have a longer trip than others.

All inclusive, now also including all extra drinks and more except expensive wines and similar. Additionally, use of two Land Cruisers where you can lie down and photograph from low angles. Valid for four-six game drives.

Zimanga is a reserve entirely dedicated to photographers with photographically exciting game drives and completely unique photo hides originally designed by Hungarian photographer Bence Máté. By 2026, new small bird hides and perhaps a bat "hide" will be built within the fenced lodge area. Construction of a new third night hide began in 2025.

That Zimanga offers world-class photography opportunities is one thing, but staying here also means a pure luxury vacation. Both the accommodation and food are first-class. The lodge with detached houses is located in the middle of the reserve, close to both hides and game drives. And we've chosen the luxurious fantastic lodge, for the vacation feeling, plenty of space, we live in our own houses, not in cramped rooms! Yet it doesn't cost more per photo day.

Two of the hides are night hides, with space for up to four photographers. We photograph through glass at water level, we sit "below the water surface" ourselves. The hides are built so that several elephants could "jump" on the roof without risk to us. Behind the "photography trench" everyone has their own bed and in a couple of additional back rooms there's a kitchen and bathroom.

Several hides are dedicated to bird life, and here too you photograph at water level or ground level regarding the vulture hide. The latter accommodates four photographers and is visited daily by up to twenty-thirty vultures and raptors. The background is a few kilometers away. Visits from warthogs or spotted hyenas are common, sometimes also from porcupines. Unique opportunities to isolate the vultures or mammals against a softened background far away.

Zimanga's night hides have over a few years gained more and more species as more or less regular visitors. In the beginning it was mostly African buffalo, white rhinos and warthogs and sometimes lions or elephants. The irregular but recurring guests now also include more antelope species, giraffes, zebras, spotted hyenas and leopards, and recently sometimes also serval and, though very rarely, brown hyena and caracal. In 2023 we also had vervet monkeys visit at night to drink water three meters in front of us.

Zimanga was created by Charl Senekal, manager, photographer and PhD student in zoology. He was tired of all the private reserves that wanted to make money from hunters who buy their way in to shoot big game in a small fenced area, what's usually called trophy hunting. Zimanga was therefore created for photographers and nature enthusiasts.

Since the reserve works to save rhinos and elephants, they have fourteen armed guards who watch over the reserve's coveted animals against poachers both day and especially night. As visitors, we help finance this work.

Zimanga is located in the southwestern part of Zululand. The reserve is about 13 kilometers long and has recently expanded when they incorporated land that previously belonged to sugar cultivation (it's Charl's brothers who run the sugar cultivation).

Brutus has visited the reserve about ten times since 2015 and brought groups five times. Nowadays Zimanga is good for photography even during other seasons, but we've rented the reserve exclusively during perhaps the best season, July-August. In South Africa it's winter during July-August and thus the dry period. And for photography at the hides and also for game drives, the dry period is the best period, since many more animals come to drink at the water holes.

But it's not just the photography that's first-class. The same applies to accommodation and food. The lodge with detached houses is located right in the middle of the reserve, and it's therefore close to all hides and we can also start safari tours without long driving distances.

We live in our own houses. Each house has its own terrace with a view over the reserve. The interior is designed entirely with photographers in mind, there are plenty of electrical outlets and two work tables in each double house. Since Charl himself is a photographer, he knows what's appreciated, and he's been extremely involved in designing both accommodation and common areas. Next to the open dining room with terrace and an impressive view over the reserve is a projector room, unusually equipped with a first-class projector that does justice to the images. Here we hold one or two smaller workshops during the ten days, in addition to looking at each other's pictures.

The reserve today has a number of lions, many white but also occasional black rhinos, cheetahs, leopards, spotted but also occasional brown hyenas, black-backed jackals, serval, wildebeest, a large number of African buffalo, zebras, many antelopes and other mammal species, and naturally plenty of warthogs. But the area also has a relatively large group of elephants, just under thirty, plus giraffes. Several hundred species of exciting birds visit or breed in the reserve. For birds there are several hides, both bird baths (sometimes also visited by mongooses) to two simple bee-eater hides. And naturally one must mention the vulture hide high up on a mountain hill, probably the best suited for photography in all of Africa.

Zimanga offers fantastic photo opportunities of many South African mammals. For more than ten years a pack of African wild dogs lived in the reserve, but the hope is to resume work with saving this endangered species within a few years. During these ten years Zimanga contributed to at least ten new packs being formed in other reserves and national parks even outside South Africa.

Many of the reserve's animals we can photograph on "classic" game drives; guides and management work together with the reserve's fourteen armed guards to keep track of where many animals are located and they help each other. This means we usually know where to go, though sometimes the choices can instead become difficult.

The hides are located at water holes with a couple of exceptions. Two of these hides are night hides with artificial lighting. In the night hides there's room for four photographers, and behind the "photography trench" there's a bed for everyone (so you can take turns resting while one or two keep watch). And behind that room there's also a kitchen and bathroom with flush toilet. The night hides naturally have electricity, in the kitchen there's a microwave so you can heat up food, water heater, refrigerator and what you might need. The water holes are visited by everything from warthogs, white rhinos, African buffalo, antelopes to lions, leopards, elephants and sometimes also serval and hyena. While it's light, sometimes giraffes come and drink. The image opportunities provided, I usually say, correspond many times to images I might only have dreamed of.

The night hides are also visited by many birds when it's light, in the afternoon and morning, and at night by for example spotted eagle-owl.

In the lagoon hide we photograph masses of different wading birds, larger and smaller, it's constantly visited by grey herons, herons of various kinds and a series of other exciting birds like thick-knee, white-faced whistling duck, glossy ibis, blacksmith lapwing, African snipe and saddle-billed stork. Additionally crocodiles that we can thus also photograph from water level.

The hippos and crocodiles mostly stay in the reserve's large dam, where the river flows out.

The ten days contain a varied combination of hides and game drives. The jeeps have four rows, each photographer usually has their own row. Off-road driving is permitted throughout the reserve, as long as it doesn't mean we disturb the animals in a way we don't want. In some places, dense bushes and mud can make it difficult and risky to leave the "road".

Besides our own photographer on site to help those who wish, the guides themselves are very skilled photographers who ensure the jeep is positioned in the best way in relation to animals and light. Hendri Venter is for example one of South Africa's best safari photographers.

With reservation for minor writing/calculation errors and possibly not comprehensive changed conditions.

We rent the entire reserve for ourselves. No other photographers crowding around photo subjects, and we avoid experiencing a bunch of safari vehicles standing in line.

If you're going to travel as far as South Africa, it's wasteful to skimp on days. That's why we have a longer trip than others.

And we've chosen the luxurious fantastic lodge, for the vacation feeling, plenty of space, we live in our own houses, not in cramped rooms! Yet it doesn't cost more per photo day.

We've chosen August because half of July-August is the best time, but also because August means we can more easily photograph the Milky Way at night.

The hides are absolutely world-class. They're built so you photograph both birds and mammals from water or ground level.

Off-road safari is possible everywhere in the reserve, as long as we don't risk disturbing the animals.

By being alone in the reserve, at least three hide nights are included for each participant.

Regarding certain animals we sometimes go on foot, this might apply to for example the cheetahs that we can then photograph from ground level.

Zimanga also has much big game, antelopes, wildebeest, buffalo, which is interesting in itself, but it's not uncommon that we also get to follow hunts where lions or cheetahs try to bring down prey.

From 2024 we can also use Land Cruisers where you can lie down and photograph from low angles. During 2025-2026 additional converted jeeps will be added.

The hippos and crocodiles stay in the reserve's large dam, where the river flows out. We get out of the jeeps and photograph from ground level, which basically becomes water level if you lie down.

Both the accommodation and food are first-class. The lodge with detached houses is located in the middle of the reserve, close to both hides and game drives.

The vulture hide accommodates four photographers and is visited daily by up to twenty-thirty vultures and often also raptors. But also by warthogs, jackal or spotted hyena, some days also by porcupines. Unique opportunities to isolate the vultures and mammals against a softened background far away.