Travel Notes from the World

I have always been fascinated by the idea of travelling and exploring other countries, and now my work of photographer allows me to visit many of the places that I have always dreamt to see :-) For some trips I have already published in depth articles, but here I want to give some "first impressions" about all the countries I have visited. This page is not meant to give in-depth information about every trip: these are quick notes, impressions, travel tips from the point of view of a nature photographer.

Argentina, February 2010 

 

Argentina is a huge country and it has a great variety of landscapes and wildlife. I have visited Patagonia - the southern half of Argentina - with my friend Emanuele Castronovo; we planned the trip by ourselves and we had chosen February because it is a summer month in Patagonia (in the southern hemisphere the seasons are to opposite in comparison with Europe: Winter is in June, July, August, and summer is in December-February). Argentina is an easy place to visit for the independent traveler. There is not a lot of criminality, if you stay outside of the big cities you are safe; there are many hostels, and the prices are very low in comparison with Europe or USA.  
 
We arrived in Buenos Aires and the same day we toke the flight to Trelew, to explore the Valdes Peninsula. Valdes is a great Place to take photos of South American Sea Lion (Otaria flavescens); I recommend going to Punta Norte near sunset, here you can take great photos of these animals. This is also the place where killer whales arrives very near to the beach to catch the sea lions, even though it is not a thing you can see often - we had no luck. Another great place in Valdes is the "loberia" (that means sea lions colony) near Puerto Piramide: you can take photos there from the right angle with the boat tours organized every day. The tour lasts about three hours and we paid it the equivalent of 30 Euros. The boat is packed with tourists, but we had no difficulties to find good viewpoints. You need luck: the boat trip is in the central hours of the day...we did it in an overcast day and we came back with great photos, but if there had been sun, the trip would have been completely worthless due to harsh light. One last thing about Valdes: if you stay near Puerto Piramide, don't miss the beautiful "La Estacion" bar/restaurant, it is a wonderful place full of color!  
 
The second place we visited was Tierra Del Fuego. Ushuaia is a small city on the Beagle Channel; it is called “La Fin Del Mundo" (the end of the world) because it is the most austral city of the world. From there, you can reach Antarctica with two or four weeks boat trips, with prices ranging from 2000 Euros to 60000 Euros (slightly crazy!). In Ushuaia we stayed in the "Freestyle hostel", very cheap and nice! We visited the Tierra del Fuego National Park (awesome views and many animals; if possible, try to go there near sunrise). In the park I have taken good photos of very tame Caracara and other birds...it is impressive to see how animals don't care about persons there! Other than that, we have done a boar trip in the Beagle Channel near sunset and another trip in the Chilean side, were we have seen a large colony of penguins.  
 
From Ushuaia we flew to El Calafate. If you have time, I recommend to sleep one night here. At sunrise and sunset, you can visit a nearby lake, where you can take photos of flamingos and other birds. If you come here in February, the landscape is awesome, too: there are endless daisy fields...From El Calafate we visited the Perito Moreno glacier...another great place; here you can do a 1-hour boat trip to see the glacier from a different point of view, or walk in one of the many viewpoints. It is quite common to see large blocks of ice falling in the water! After Perito Moreno, you can come back in Calafate and take the bus to Torres Del Paine. Don't forget your passport because Torres Del Paine is in Chile! The transfer last several hours and your documents will be checked twice. Torres Del Paine is an awesome place for landscapes, but it is not one of my favorite places of the trip. If you want to see it really well, you have to stay there 5-6 days and hike around the many trails, sleeping in tent: it is the best way to visit the place, and it is also the only way to visit it if you have a limited budget. There are not cheap hostels in Torres Del Paine, we spent about 50 Euro/person per night in a shared room! Moreover, we stayed in the cheapest places we found. Other than landscapes, Torres Del Paine is also a good place for many birds and for Guanacos; you can easily photograph them with a 300mm lens.  
 
The last place we visited has been El Chalten, were you can see the Fitz Roy and the "out of this world" Cerro Torre. I loved this place, it is the opposite of Torres Del Paine! In TDP you pay for everything...I guess that one day you will end up paying even for the air you breathe ;-) The first thing we were told when we visited the information center of El Chalten, instead, was that camping places were 100% free, and for them it is important to maintain the park and the campings free, even though it is not easy. We slept in a nice hostel for 7 Euro/night, and it even had free Wi-Fi internet!!! El Chalten is a friendly, relaxed place. From the village, you can reach the viewpoints for Cerro Torre in 1 hour and 1.30 hour (if you have fast pace). Getting there at sunrise is grea,; getting there one or two hours before sunrise is even better! I arrived at the Cerro Torre viewpoint at 5.00 a.m. and I had to wait an hour and half for sunrise, but it was great because I have taken some fascinating night photos! I used the 300 2.8 on 1DsIII - the Cerro Torre is not so close, so you need a 300mm or 300mm equivalent (as 70-200mm on APS-C camera). You also need luck; I have been told that very often the mountain is completely hidden by clouds, so it is not so common to see a beautiful sunrise as I have seen!  
 
We planned to stay the last two days in Iguazu, but we had no luck here so we spend the last days in Buenos Aires. Is it worth the visit? Well, it absolutely depends by your interests. For me the cities are only places whence I want to run away as soon as possible :-) My travelmate Emanuele instead has enjoyed the visit to the city. In B.A., magic things can happen unexpectedly: for example, bags and cameras left unattended, even for few seconds, have a surprising tendency to vanish in the air. In other words, pay attention to thieves! Emanuele's D300 and some lenses had been stolen, and we did not even notice when it happened, it was really a matter of few seconds...  
 
Argentina can be very cheap. If you sleep in hostels, you can spend as little as 7-8 Euros per night! You can find a good hostel guide here: www.getsouth.com; booking usually is not necessary. We have always slept in hostels, it is a good way to meet people and to save money; of course you must remember that beds are in shared rooms with 4-6 other persons and usually toilets and showers are shared too...this is why they are called hostels and not four star hotels :-) If you stay in Buenos Aires and you are looking for nightlife, I recommend the Milhouse Hostel (www.milhousehostel.com), we slept here for a couple of nights and it was a pretty crazy place!  
 
My photographic equipment was Canon 7D, Canon 1DsIII, and four lenses: 12-24, 24-105, 180 Macro and 300 2.8 L IS USM. There were not many macro opportunities in Patagonia (anyway, I have used the 180 for some details of the landscape); instead I have used a lot the wide-angles and the 300 2.8 L IS USM. Of course I had my Manfrotto tripod with me, it allowed to get otherwise impossible photos, as the night and sunrise at Cerro Torre. The 7D is a great camera...the more I use it the more I like it! Of course there will always be who say that a 1000 Euro camera can not compete with a 4000 or 6000 Euro camera, that the more expensive cameras are always better, and so on...honestly I keep thinking that if you are not able to take great photos with the 7D, you can only blame yourself ;-) In future, I plan to replace my Sigma 12-24mm with the new Sigma 8-16mm (13-26mm equivalent on 7D), if the image quality of the 8-16 will be satisfying, in my next trips I may even leave at home the 1DsIII, and shoot exclusively with the 7D.
 
 

Costa Rica, November 2008 and November 2009 

 

Unlike other countries, Costa Rica has given me a positive impression regarding the man/nature relationship. I have been impressed by the sensitivity of our guide Yehudi: he clearly knew well the animals, and he taught us how to take photos without disturbing the subject. When photographing the famous Red-Eye Tree Frog he even prohibited to use flash, to avoid damaging the sensitive night vision of these frogs...an huge difference with our Tanzanian guide, who did not even care to slow down the car to avoid killing small animals along the road. In Costa Rica there are many natural parks. You may be disappointed to know that outside national parks, forests and nature had been replaced by cultivations and other human activities; there is very little wilderness outside parks. The good news is that Costa Rica is one of the countries with the largest percentage of protected areas of the world - the 25% of this country is either a national park, a biological reserve or another protected area!  
 
Costa Rica is not a rich country, but in terms of criminality it is one of the "safest" countries in central America. The people we have meet has been always friendly and polite - even tough it must be said that we have always been outside large cities; when we have come back in Italy we have meet two guys that told us they have been assaulted by thieves three times!  
 
My photographic equipment has not appreciated the wet, rainy tropical environment: I have had problems with both camera and lenses. The Canon 1DsIII, in spite of weather sealing, has often had fogging inside the LCD screens; even worse, after one week the exposure meter has gone crazy, underexposing all the photos by about 2-3 stops. Of course, I managed to keep shooting by using exposure compensation on +2 or +3, but if I need to overexpose I have to use manual mode. When I have come back in Italy, I have sent the 1DsIII to Canon for repair and for sensor cleaning (the camera anti-dust function is close to being useless). The sensor now is perfectly clean, but sadly the 1DsIII still show the underexposure problem: Canon has replaced many electronic components, but when they have given me back the camera, it still had the same problem. Maybe in future I'll send again the camera to Canon, but now I need it, so I have to live with the exposure compensation permanently set on +3...  
 
Another victim of the rain has been my Sigma 12-24. I have often taken photos under heavy rain both with the 24-105 and with the 12-24...both have suffered from fogging, but after one day the Canon 24-105 (weather sealed) had dried up and it worked well, while the Sigma has taken a lot more time to dry, and now the AF no longer works. My friend Simone has not had better luck: his Nikon D3 developed various problem, and three lenses got stuck and heavily fogged; other than that, the auto-rotation of his Samsung i900 camera phone stopped working. In conclusion, this experience has taught me that weather sealing sometimes helps (as with the 24-105), but in heavy rain it is not a guarantee, even with the best sealing as those used on 1DsIII and D3. From now I'll no longer thrust the weather sealing - I'll simply protect the camera with a transparent plastic bag, that is light years better than any weather sealing.
 
 

Finland, May 2009 

 

In May 2009, I have spent eight days in Finland for wildlife photography. The trip has been organized by Memy - a nature photographer and member of the Italian JuzaForum - and there were 16 persons! Usually I prefer trips with much smaller groups, but thanks to Memy's effort, the trip has been a success! We reached Helsinki by plane, then we rented four cars and we traveled towards north. Traveling in Finland is very easy - there is always very, very little traffic! On the other hand, we have made about 4000 km in 8 days, we were always around taking photos and we slept 2-3 hours per day!  
 
We have seen bears in various places. We have been at Wild Brown Bear (www.wildbrownbear.fi/en), Kuntivaara (with www.karhukuusamo.com) and Martinselkonen (www.martinselkonen.fi). These places are not zoos as the famous Bayerische Wald Park in Germany: these are places with permanent hides, where wild bears are baited with carcasses of animals or other kind of food.  
 
To take bear photos, you have to enter into hides at about 6 p.m., and you can not leave the hide until 7 a.m. of the next morning: bears are active mainly in late evening, during night and at sunrise. In Finland, in May the nights are very short - the sun sets at 10.30 or 11 p.m. and it rises at 3.30 a.m., so during the 11 hours you spend in the hide you have a lot of time for photography. Since the majority of photos are taken in low light, I highly recommend a bright lens, f/4 or even better f/2.8. A long prime and a tele zoom are the ideal choice - for the majority of my bear photos I have used the Canon 600 f/4 L IS and the Sigma 120-300 f/2.8 EX DG HSM loaned from a friend. In some places the bears were pretty distant so I used the 600 f/4, while in other places I have used mainly the 120-300 on fullframe...actually, in some moments the bears were so close that I could have used a wide angle!  
 
You don't need to bring tripod in the hides; you can use beanbag, or you can mount the tripod head directly on the structure of the hide: these hides are created for photographers. The comfort of the hides varies widely: some hides are extremely small, you can't even stay up and there is not any kind of toilet; other hides are large and they have places to sleep, toilets, and even gas stove to warm up the hide. The only real downside of these structures is price: they range from 150 € to 250 € per person, per night! But they are the only way to take bear photos in Finland.  
 
Finland is not only bears: from these hides you may see even the wolverine, eagles and birds - if you are lucky...we have not seen wolverine nor eagles! We have had great luck, instead, with black grouses: we have seen them from some hides built by Karhu, and we have taken photos and video of grouses fighting in the mating season...a spectacle!  
 
Another beautiful thing of Finland are landscapes: there are lakes everywhere, and every day you can take photos of fantastic sunrises and sunsets! I highly recommend to bring a standard zoom and a wide angle, with a good tripod. I had the Sigma 12-24 and the Canon 24-105, with Manfrotto 055 tripod and ball head. I have taken all the photos of this trip either with the 1Ds MarkIII and the new Canon 500D, that has saved me when the 1DsIII failed...in spite of the extremely high price, the 1DsIII is so far the camera that has given me most problems: in the Costa Rica trip the exposure meter has gone crazy, and Canon never managed to fix it, and in one of the latest days of this Finland trip the lens release lever got stuck! It is a small thing, but it created a big problem, and the camera becomes nearly unusable because lenses may fall from a moment to another...my 600 f/4 IS got off the camera while I was in a hide, and it almost fallen out between bears! The Canon 500D worked pretty well, even though of course it has its limits - the user interface is not as good as the user interface of higher end cameras, the battery life is not great, and it can not be customized as much as the 1DsIII.
 
 

France, December 2009 

 

As many of my trips, I decided to visit France at last minute - I had no idea about where to go in late december 2009/early january 2010, and I ended up choosing the north of the France because it is relatively close to my home (about 1200km, that is one day of driving) and it has a mild climate even in winter, thanks to the Gulf Stream. The purpose of this trip were landscapes, and I have been really happy, Normandy and Bretagne are fabulous!!  
 
I have visited countless nice places on the coast, but there are some places I really recommend. The first is the Falaises of Etretat...impressive! The photos I had seen on internet does not give the idea of the beauty of this place...there are a lot of nice views, a joy for the landscape photographer. I have spend one day here, but if I'll come back I'll stay at least two days. Another cool place is the famous Mont Saint Michel: it has a very unreal look, it looks like a place from some fantasy book...other than that, if you come at low tide, you can walk all around St. Michel in the endless sandy beach - even though you have to pay attention, both for the tides and for the presence of quicksand.  
 
Bretagne is famous for its many lighthouses: even though I have not been lucky to see them surrounded by spectacular huge waves as in some photos seen on the web, they have offered many beautiful views and photo occasions. If you visit Bretagne you must absolutely see the lighthouse of St. Mathieu - it is placed on a spectacular cliff and it is close to the ancient abbey of St. Mathieu...by the way, this lighthouse is open for visiting and you can reach the top, a very interesting experience both to see the inside of a lighthouse and to view the landscape from above. One last suggestion: do not limit you visit to the most famous places...explore the coast as much as you can, you will find a lot of photo opportunities!  
 
I have done the trip with my own car, and I think that it is the best way to visit this area. I slept in cheap hotels; you can find rooms for 35-50 Euros...overall the cost of this trip has been about 1200 Eur for 11 days (including fuel, toll roads, food, hotels), and I was travelling alone...if you do this trip with one or two friends and you share the costs, you can spend as little as 600/400 Eur per person! Summer month may be more expensive, but I won't hesitate to come back in winter...in my opinion it has been perfect for this trip! The days are short, so you don't have to wake up too early - sunrise is about at 8.40 a.m. and sunset at 5.30 p.m.; the climate on the coast is surprisingly mild (between 0 and 10 degrees in late december!), and the weather is often cloudy. Clouds are a bonus for the landscape, they make the sky a lot more interesting than a cloudless sky, and when you are lucky to see a sunrise or sunset with golden and red clouds it is awesome!  
 
My photo gear for this trip was my new Canon 7D, the 1DsIII, Sigma 12-24, Sigma 20 f/1.8, Canon 24-105 and Canon 300 2.8 L IS. I have never used the Sigma 20 1.8 (too much light pollution for milky way photos) nor the Canon 300 2.8 (I have seen many bird, but at the end I preferred to spend all the time for landscapes). Instead, I have used a lot the 12-24, mounted on the fullframe 1DsIII, and the 24-105, mounted on 7D. Of course I had the tripod, it has been essential for the best landscape photos.
 
 

Greece, March 2011 

 

I have traveled in Greece with my friend Sandro for ten days in a trip focused mainly on landscapes. We have visited some famous places, as Meteora, but the majority of the photos had been taken in less know and less touristic area. To reduce the costs, we have chosen to avoid hotels and restaurants, and instead we have traveled with Sandro's car, a modified Toyota Land Cruiser with space for sleeping and cooking. Other than the expense of gasoline, the expense of the trip has been close to zero!  
 
The landscape of Greece alternates mountains, rural area and beautiful beaches; we traveled from west to east and then from north to south. The already mentioned Meteora is one of the highlights of the trip: these mountains and the monasteries built about the rock towers are a real spectacle, and if you have time I'd suggest to spend more than one day here, because there are many possible points of view. Of course, the sunrise and sunset are the best moments, both thanks to the warm light and to the absence of tourists.  
 
For birders, another "must-see" place is Lake Kerkini, where it is possible to see various species of birds, in particular the pelicans, a great subject for photos. The pelicans can be photographed from little distance near the fishermen huts along the lake; if you get some fish for the birds, you can even take photos with a wide-angle! Personally, I photographed with the Canon 300 f/2.8 L IS; we did a short boat trip with a fisherman to get closer. After Kerkini, we traveled to east, to explore less know places. Many times we choose random destinations and we set the navigator on "shortest route", instead of "fastest route" - this way, the navigator often include little secondary roads and even offroad trails, and it allows to discover places that otherwise would be missed. Many photos had been taken in the countryside or along the coast, in places that we discovered by "playing" with the navigator (we used a TomTom GO 1000).  
 
Another place that I recommend to visit is the island of Zakynthos or Zante; you can easily reach it with an hour of ferry boat, and its beaches offer good landscape opportunities. I have not been impressed, instead, by the visit of Athens; the temples and monuments are very nice, but they are also very touristic and it is nearly impossible to take a photo that is different from the billions of photos of these sites that you can already see everywhere.  
 
For nearly all the photos of this trip, I have used the Canon 7D with just two lenses: Sigma 8-16mm f/4.5-5.6 and Canon 24-105mm f/4; the only exception are the bird photos, taken with the 300mm and extenders. Of course I had with me the tripod, that is almost essential for landscape. This time I left at home the 1DsIII, and I have not regretted this choice: the 7D, coupled with the amazing 8-16, is an awesome landscape camera. Other than the three lenses that I mentioned, I had brought the Canon 180 macro, but I have never used it in this trip. We have not had many occasion to talk with people, but from the few occasion I have had a positive impression, we have found friendly persons.
 
 

India, August 2010 

 

India is a very large country, so what I have seen is only a small part of it: at least for this part, I can say that I have not liked it. I have been glad to leave and I have no plans to come back in India. In the past I wrote a long article to describe this trip, but after receiving insults and even menaces, I removed the article. In these paragraph, I'll try to summarize my experience in a softer and sadly, censored, way.  
 
The purpose of this trip was reportage, not nature, so we visited mainly cities, and in particular Delhi, Varanasi and Calcutta. In terms of photography, India is spectacular: colors and picturesque scenes are everywhere, in particular in the ancient Varanasi. A single camera with a zoom lens (24-105 or 24-120 is the ideal range on fullframe) is enough for the majority of situations; I had the tripod with me but I never used it.  
 
What made me run away from this country is, essentially, the unfriendly attitude of most people. I don't want to generalize - I know a lot of kind, friendly Indian persons, both on the international JuzaForum and of FaceBook. But during of this trip, our experience has been very negative; I have visited many poor countries, but until this trip I had never found this careless, unfriendly attitude. The cities alternate very modern areas (I was impressed by the New Delhi Airport, that is much more modern than many European airports) with areas of extreme poverty, chaos and decadence.  
 
If you want to visit India for nature and wildlife, you won't encounter many of the difficulties that we faced, but if you visit India for people and reportage...be prepared; the cities of India are not an easy place to visit.
 
 

Ireland, June 2009 

 

Ireland has been a pleasant surprise. I have travelled all around the country for a trip focused on landscapes - we visited mainly the coastline...some places are truly impressive! The most beautiful places I have seen are the "Giant's Causeway", thousand of basaltic columns with geometric shapes, created by a volcanic eruption millions of years ago...it is an amazing view, and it is very easy to reach: it is close to the village of Bushmills (we slept in the beautiful Kal-Mark B&B, 64A Causeway Road, Bushmills), and with a 20 minutes walk you can easily reach it. Other spectacular places are the Slieve League Cliffs, near Donegal, and the Cliffs of Moher, 200mt high cliffs on the Atlantic Ocean. For visits to the Cliffs of Moher, I recommend to stay in Doolin, that is close to the Doonagore Castle, another good photographic opportunity. In Doolin we slept in the Paddy's Doolin Hostel (www.doolinhostel.com), it is nice and cheap, and it sells "relaxing stones" for 0.10 € ...these stones are simply common stones, as you can find everywhere for free, but I thought it was funny that Paddy sold them, and I wondered who can be so crazy to buy an useless common stone... I ended up buying one :-)  
 
We have visited also the Killarney National Park - we had been there only one day but this place is worth a more in-depth visit! Here I have photographed the Torc Waterfall and some forest landscapes; the forest looks like a tropical rainforest, it remind me the forest of Malaysia and Costa Rica! All these places can be quite crowded during the day: if you want to take photos without people, I recommend to get these at sunset or, even better, at sunrise, when at most you can meet few others early morning photographers.  
 
Traveling in Ireland is easy and safe: there are a lot of small lovely villages, and there are Bed&Breackfast everywhere - there is no need for booking, you will always find a place to sleep! People is kind and friendly, and even "big" cities as Dublin looks quite nice and safe, they are much less chaotic than Italian big cities! On the other hand, Ireland has its downsides. Driving is a pleasure for the eye, there is almost everywhere lovely countryside, but it is less a pleasure for the driver: roads are crazy tight, and speed limits make no sense. The speed limit on the majority of Ireland roads is 100 km/h...both on small curvy roads between the mountains, where driving at 50 km/h is already dangerous, and on highways, where you could drive safely even at 200 km/h... The other downside of Ireland are prices: everything is very expensive! Many things cost almost twice than in Italy.  
 
In this trip I had the 1DsIII, 500D, Sigma 12-24, Canon 24-105 and Canon 180 Macro. I have not taken any macro during this trip - in Ireland there is always wind! But the 180 Macro has been useful for details of the landscape. Other than that, I have used a lot the wide angles (on 1DsIII), in particular my Sigma 12-24, that has broken during this trip...I was shooting on the top of the Cliff of Moher, on a flat rock few meters from the edge, when the tripod fell on the rock due to strong wind...it almost fell out of the cliff! The lens toke the impact, and it was completely destroyed, while the camera had only few scratches. The funny thing is that before this incident the 1DsIII had stuck lens release (it got stuck in the previous Finland trip), and after the accident the lens release was working again! But this is a very expensive way to fix things ;-) Now I have already ordered a new Sigma 12-24, it is a lens I use a lot: in my opinion the best wide-angle for fullframe.
 
 

Madagascar, September 2009 

 

Madagascar has been pretty different from what I imagined: I expected something like Costa Rica, a country covered by forests, instead many parts of Madagascar are very arid. There are forests in the north, while the south of the country is pretty dry, sometimes even desert. I have visited this country with my friend Emanuele Castronovo - we had not prepared this trip so we trusted a local agency, that gave us a far from perfect itinerary. From Antananarivo, we have made a long round trip passing by Morondava, Tulear, Ambalavao...even though this itinerary is good for landscapes and for reportage, it is not good for wildlife: if you want to take macro and wildlife photos, I recommend to visit the north of the country, covered by forests. Other than that, you have to carefully plan your trip, considering that it takes a lot of time to move from one place to another: the majority of roads are in very poor conditions, and to move of 250-300km may take an entire day.  
 
Even though I don't recommend the itinerary we have done (for wildlife photography), if you are interested mainly in landscapes and reportage there are some places I suggest: the market of Morondava, the Baobab Avenue near Morondava, the Tsingy formations (awesome landscape, but make sure to visit is at sunrise or sunset, and take just a couple of lenses with you, it is a very hard walk/climb!), the Isalo National Park (great landscapes and some wildlife) and the Ranomafana Park (the only forest we have seen). By the way, if you stay in Morondava I recommend the Hotel Tre Cicogne (http://hoteltrecicogne.com) of our friend Gabriele! If you want some music and nightlife, you won't find a lot in Morondava, but I recommend the Oasis Hotel Restaurant, run by Jean Le Rasta.  
 
Sadly, it is very difficult to rent a car by yourself, the majority of car rentals in Madagascar rent only car with driver...the cost is not an big problem, you can find a jeep + driver for reasonable costs, but it does not give the freedom of movement that you can have by driving by yourself, and it may be a pretty "adventurous" experience - many Madagascan drive like mad! Many parks in Madagascar can not be visited by yourself, too, so you need to get a guide (other than the driver); usually you "rent" the guide immediately when you arrive at the park, or you can book him the day before. Having a guide has both positive and negative aspects: sometimes we got some truly good guides, who helped us to find animals we would have not found by ourselves, and some of the guides knew many languages, even Italian! The negative side is that you have less freedom in comparison of a visit by yourself.  
 
The accommodations range from super cheap hotels, where a room costs just 4-5 $, to mid-range hotels (25-40$ per room) to luxury structures that make cost several hundred dollars per room. I recommend to avoid both the cheapest places (they are really poor and dirty) and the luxury hotels (money threw away); mid range hotels are already pretty good, almost European standard, and they are a great value for their price. Food is very cheap, but it is also very shitty - I have never ate such bad food as in Madagascar...my recommendation is to bring something from home ;-) Even though Madagascar is a very poor country, it is surprisingly safe to visit by yourself - outside big cities, we have had no problems walking around with all our photo gear. People is friendly and often they are happy to be photographed, and they rarely ask money for the photos...Madagascar is an heaven for the reportage photographer!  
 
Talking about photo gear, I had with me the 1DsIII, the 500D (now replaced by 7D), 12-24, 20 f/1.8, 24-105, 180 Macro and 300 2.8 + teleconverters. I have used a lot all lenses, expect for the 180 Macro, since we did not have many macro opportunities in this trip. For the first time I have got great results from the Sigma 20 f/1.8: even though image quality is poor, the night sky in Madagascar is awesome, and you can take great photos of the stars and Milky way...in many rural areas there are no lights during the night, so light pollution is not a problem. September is a great month for this kind of photography, since it is pretty dry and we often found clear sky...that said, for all other kinds of photography I'd prefer more rainy months, some clouds in the sky are better both for landscapes and for wildlife/macro.  
 
In September the climate is dry so humidity was not a problem; sometimes the equipment become very dirty with dust, but everything kept working well. During the day the temperature may be quite hot, while the nights are cool, and in the central areas of the country they may even be cold - about 10 degrees. Remember to bring with you spare batteries and triple electric socket, in many hotels there is electric energy only for a couple of hours so you may need to charge everything at the same time.
 
 

Malaysia, February 2009 

 

In February 2009, I visited the peninsular Malaysia in a three weeks trip with my great friend Daniela...we have chosen this country mainly because we were fascinated by the idea of tropical rainforest, and because we hoped to see the rare Malaysian orchid mantis (Hymenopus coronatus) and leaf insects (Phyllium sp.). We did not found any of these two, but still it has been a great experience! Peninsular Malaysia has a great variety of environments: tropical rainforest, mountain "moss-forests", and spectacular islands with a beautiful sea. The forest is for sure the most fascinating environment, but it is far from easy to find animals and to take photos between the abundant vegetation and the high trees. In Taman Negara, for example, we spent an entire day walking in the forest, taking almost no photos. We have seen many spectacular butterflies, but they never stay still enough to be photographed, and often they flew too high and too distant, even for the 300 f/2.8 + 2x. Overall, we have taken much more photos in small grass fields we found along the road than into the forest.  
 
The society of Malaysia has left me a mixed bag of impressions. Most people were kind and friendly; traveling by yourself generally is quite easy and safe (English is widely understood). For an European visitor, prices are really cheap - unleaded gas costs just 1.8 Ringgit per liter, that is three times cheaper than in Italy; food and restaurants are cheap, and even hotels prices are very low: the cheapest hotels cost just 30-40 Ringgit per room (6-8 Euros), and luxury hotels costs 200-300 Ringgit per room (40-60 Euros). The capital, Kuala Lumpur, is a modern city and its symbol, the Petronas Towers, are a truly amazing view, in particular at night, when they are brightly illuminated.  
 
On the other hand, many times we have seen a lot of rubbish along the roads, in the fields, on the beaches...even on some small islands (as Pulau Lang Tengah), sometimes there was a lot of rubbish badly hidden few meters from the beach. My impression is that many Malaysians don't care much about nature - it is truly a pity for such a beautiful country...  
 
In this trip I brought with me nearly all my photo equipment, with the exception of the 600 f/4. The lenses I have used more often had been the Canon 180 Macro - often mated with the 2x teleconverter, to get more working distance - and the Sigma 12-24, that is one of my favorite landscape lenses. Since the Costa Rica trip my 12-24 autofocus no longer works, but it has not been a big problem. Sometimes I have used the 24-105 and the 300 f/2.8 L IS, but not as much as the other two lenses. I did not use at all, instead, the Sigma 20mm f/1.8 - it has been one of my worst purchases, and I'm going to sell it. I have not had any problem with humidity, since the rain season finished in late January. In Tioman island, I have done some snorkeling, and I have been amazed by the beauty of many fishes: even at few meters from the beach, you can see corals and colorful fishes. I did not have underwater equipment, but I am seriously considering an underwater housing for my next trips that include islands and sea!

Malawi, April 2012

 

I have visited Malawi and Zambia in a trip organized by AfricaWildTruck. In Malawi we have visited mainly the Liwonde national park, a very nice place along the Shire river. Other than the classic jeep safari, the park offers a more unusual boat safari that I highly recommend: it is a nice way to see wildlife from a different point of view. The wildlife is quite easy to photograph; I have taken nearly all the photos with the 300 f/2.8 IS and teleconverters. I had the 24-105 and the 8-16 too, but I have used these lenses only for very few photos. Even though I had the tripod, all the photos from jeep and boat are handheld.  
 
We slept inside the park, in the Mvuu Camp - camping is much less expensive than lodges and I recommend it a lot, in particular if you are traveling on a budget. Wildlife can enter easily into the camping so you have to bee prudent, in particular at night: hippos often enter in the camp area and they can be very dangerous, so it is not recommended to leave the tent during the night. We have not spent much time to visit the rest of the country, but I have had a positive impression - in spite of poverty, the safety is quite good and people is friendly.
 
 

Morocco, October 2010 

 

I have been in Morocco for three weeks with my friend Sandro Tessoni, and we have visited the most remote places in search of photos and adventure. We have chosen October for our trip: in this month, the days are not too hot and the nights are fresh. Instead of renting a car, we traveled with Sandro's Toyota Land Cruiser: a three ton monster that has made possible to reach the wilderness of mountains and deserts. We have done more than 5000 kilometers traveling from Tangeri to Agadir, but the most beautiful things that we have seen are in the center of the country. The Atlas mountains are a joy for the eye and a great opportunity for photography.  
 
Some "must visit" places are the Dades Gorges, the Ouzud Waterfalls and the road between Taliouine and Tafraoute, but every place in the Atlas can be a fantastic place, if you are there when there is good light and you have a bit of luck. One of the reasons of the success of this trip is the stormy sky; we have often found spectacular light conditions, beautiful clouds and rainbows. If possible, I recommend to rent and offroad 4x4 vehicle or to do this trip with your own jeep; some remote places can not be reached with a standard car. We had Jacques Gandini's "Pistes du Maroc" guides; they are great books with a lot of good suggestions and GPS waypoints. Our Toyota was well equipped so we have been able to complete most tracks, even though sometimes it has been necessary to come back or find alternatives due to landslides.  
 
We have spent near all the times in the wilderness, we have quickly visited just two cities: Marrakesh and Fes. The latter is really worth the visit because there you can see huge leather tanneries, a pretty unique view. We have always felt safe, of course in the big cities you have to pay attention but we have had no problems walking around with our cameras; generally persons are friendly, even though sometimes they may get a bit insistent and there is always the risk of scams: we have seen a lot of fake fossils and fake mineral for sale.  
 
Landscapes are the best photo opportunity in Morocco. We have not seen much wildlife, and it is not a good place for reportage because most people does not want to be photographed, so we avoided this kind of photos to respect their feelings. If I'll come back, I think that I will bring only two lenses: the Sigma 8-16 and the Canon 24-105, both on 7D. (in this trip I have used the 12-24 on 1DsIII instead of 8-16 on 7D because my 8-16 is broken and I have not repaired it yet). Don't forget to bring the tripod, it is very important for landscapes!  
 
Prices are much lower in comparison to Europe so this is a good trip if you are on a budget. You can stay in a decent hotel with 20-30€ (price per room), and sometimes with 40 € you can find awesome place - near Dades Gorges, we slept in a marvelous hotel-kashban at this price. Food is pretty cheap, too; usually the main expense of the trip is fuel: diesel costs about 0.7 €/liter, and unleaded gas costs 1 €/liter, that is close to the Italian price and much higher than U.S. gas prices.
 
 

Netherlands, 2007-2009 

 

I have been in the Netherlands two times, in 2007 and 2009, to take bird photos on the Texel island. From northern Italy, you can reach Texel with an about 15 hours drive; otherwise, you can fly to Amsterdam, rent a car and reach the island in about one hour. Texel is a small island with few little villages; it is a lovely, relaxing place, both for nature lovers and for those who just want a relaxing holyday. The are a lot of tulip fields, green grass fields with sheep; roads are small but there is little traffic, and the villages are really nice - cute houses with huge roofs and large windows. On the north of the island there is a red lighthouse, and a beautiful endless beach - it is almost 1 kilometer wide and it looks like a desert! In late afternoon light, it is an awesome view, even though it is difficult to capture in photo the magic beauty of the sand blown by the wind into the golden light...  
 
For birding, the best place I have found is on the western size of the island, very close to the coast (here) : there as some swamps where you can take photos of dozen of birds! You don't even need blinds or camouflaging - the birds are relatively tame, and you can take great photos even with a 300mm or 400mm lens. That said, longer lenses give more opportunities: in my Texel trips, I have used a lot the 600 f/4 L IS, often mated with 1.4x teleconverter (on fullframe Canon 1DsIII). Other than that, I recommend to bring with you some wide angles for landscapes; I have used mainly the Sigma 12-24, that has an amazing angle of view.  
 
Visiting by yourself the Netherlands is quite easy; the only problem may be the language, but at least the main hotels and restaurants understand English. If you are going to stay in Texel, I highly recommend the Residentie Californië (www.californie.nl) : its room are really nice and they are not too expensive, if you travel with friends (we paid 90 Eur per night per room, but every room can accommodate four persons, so you can spend less than 25 Eur per night if you are in a small group).
 
 

Norway, September 2007 

 

The trip to North Cape, in 2007, has been my first real trip outside Italy.  
 
Norway is a very nice country, in (almost) every respect. The landscapes are marvelous! You can take fantastic landscapes even with little or no walking, you just have to stop along the road! I have visited Norway in September: it is already quite cold, and very rainy, but I loved it...the cloudy sky and the autumnal colors created awesome colors and very moody landscapes. Other than that, in September there are very few tourists, and you can truly appreciate the wilderness of the place.  
 
This trip was mainly for landscapes, so I did not spend much time in search of wildlife. Nevertheless, near North Cape I have enjoyed a lot taking photos of reindeers, they are everywhere and you can easily get close! My longest lens was the Canon 100-400 L IS and it has been more than enough for reindeers.  
 
Renting a car or driving your own car is a great way to explore Norway...I have travelled all around the country, from south to north, and every day was a new marvel! I have never booked and hotel - every evening I searched a place to stay; usually I have had no problem to find camping or hostels, even though some times I have had to sleep in my car. Many roads in Norway are not kept very well, and you have to be careful when you drive during heavy rains. But even when there is sun and large straight road, you can't go very fast - the speed limits in Norway are sloooooow! Here in Italy the limit on highways is 130 km/h (even though people often drives way faster); in Germany there are even roads without speed limit at all, while in Norway you can't go faster than 80 km/h...  
 
I have spent the majority of this trip either driving or in the solitude of the wilderness, so I have not much to say about Norwegian people; anyway my impression has been positive - I have always met kind persons, and nearly everyone speak English, so I have not had any problem with the language.  
 
In late 2007 I still used the Canon 20D has my main camera. I have liked it very much; it was a great camera both for landscapes and wildlife, and it worked really well for this trip. I have used a lot the 24-105 and the 10-22 for landscapes; two great lenses - the 24-105 L is one of my all times favorite, I bought it in 2006 and I still use it! I used the 100-400 L IS as tele lens for this trip: even though now I have replaced it with the stellar Canon 300 2.8 IS, I always consider the 100-400 an excellent lens for its price...it is a small, lightweight and versatile tele lens. I brought with me even the 180 Macro; I have used it only for a couple of photos: in September there are not many occasions for macro photography.
 
 

Portugal (and Spain), May 2011

 

The original plan was to explore Portugal, but we included also a little part of Spain in this low cost, adventure trip. As I often do when I travel in Europe, I have chosen to travel with my own car: it gives less luggage limitations than plane, and it helps to save money. I shared to costs of the trip with my two travelmates, Marco and Domenico, and overall we spent 400 Euro/person for the entire 8-days trip! Of course, to save money we had to avoid some confort, so we slept in tent and we avoided all not-essential expenses.  
 
In the northern half of Portugal there are many beautiful mountain areas: in particular, I highly recommend the visit to Serra da Estrela, the highest mountain of Portugal, with many great views on the landscape. The coast, instead, is not spectacular, until you go south: the lower half of the country has less mountains but its coast is truly beautiful; it offers a landscape very similar to Bretagne (France). We spent a couple of days near Zambujeira Do Mar, but every place in the coast between Sinses and Vila do Bispo offers good landscape opportunities.  
 
If you are looking for great landscapes, you must not miss the other-wordly Rio Tinto, that is in Spain but it is very close to the Portugal border. The Rio Tinto is a river "polluted" by iron mining; its water have a incredible deep red color. To reach this place, I suggest to set the navigator on Minas de Rio Tinto (Spain): from there, you can drive to various point of Rio Tinto; for 15-20 kilometers the water maintains its peculiar color.  
 
Since this trip was focussed exclusively on landscapes, I have used just two lenses: Sigma 8-16mm and Canon 24-105mm. I had the Canon 180mm, too, but I have never used it. I have taken all the photos with the 7D, and of course the tripod was always in my bag. Near Rio Tinto, I recommend to take photos of the details of rocks, mud and water: they offer fantastic combination of colors.  
 
Overall, Portugal (and the nearby areas of Spain) is a great destination for the landscape photographer; the cost of life is similar to other European Countries, but if you are a bit adventurous and you share the costs, it can be a very cheap destination, in particular for those living in Europe.
 
 

Switzerland, 2006-2007-2008 

 

Switzerland is at few hours of drive from my home, so I have been there many times. I have been in Switzerland for the first time in 2006, with my friend Luigi Ziotti, a great nature photographer and videomarker. In my first trips I have visited mainly Engadin, that is famous for its birds: in winter, it is easy to get close to many small birds, and sometimes they even take food from your hands!  
 
The best place for this kind of photos is near Pontresin, a small village in the Swiss Alps. Here you can take frame filling photos of birds and other wildlife (squirrels) even with a wide angle! Of course, a tele helps if you want to get separation from subject and background. Many times the light is difficult, so a flash may help to fill the shadows and to give a more pleasing light to the photo. In winter the temperature may be really cold, be prepared! One time I have photographer at -20 Celsius degrees...  
 
Other than wildlife, Switzerland is a great place for landscapes. In November 2007 I tried to make a landscape trip but I had to come back after a couple of days because there was too much snow and many road where closed; in October 2008 I have come back with my friend Daniela, and this time we have had better luck: we have photographed some marvelous landscapes. I have used a lot the 24-105 and the 12-24 on my 1DsIII; of course tripod is essential. When I do landscape trips in Switzerland I leave home the 180 Macro and the teles.  
 
As the majority of European countries, Switzerland is a safe place and it can be easily visited by yourself; if you travel by car in the winter month you must have snow chains, and of course you should be prepared for cold temperatures.
 
 

Tanzania, July 2008 

 

Tanzania is famous for its wildlife; many nature photographers visit the parks of Tanzania to take photos of the classic African wildlife...lions, elephants, zebras, hippos, and a lot more. No doubt about that: Tanzania is a nature photographer dream! I have never taken so many photos as in this trip; I filled up three 32 GB CF cards, and I have even had to make selection between the photos!  
 
Tanzania is also a place that makes you think...about many things.  
 
I have read countless discussions about photography in captivity vs photography in nature...there are those who say that true nature photography is only photography in the wild, and there are those who don't make any distinction between wild environment and captivity. Personally, I have begun bird photography photographing ducks in captivity, but nowadays I take photos only in the "wild"; nevertheless, I'd never say that who take photos in zoos is not a nature photographer...  
 
When I posted my Tanzania photos on a discussion forum, a reader commented that "Tanzania is an open-air zoo"...honestly I agree; in terms of difficulty, photographing a lion in Tanzania or in a zoo is about the same...the main difference is that in a zoo you can see immediately the animal, but it is difficult to exclude man made elements, and the animal behavior is heavily influenced by captivity, while in Tanzania it is not guaranteed to see immediately the animal (but during a 10-15 days safari it is sure to see it), and of course in Tanzania you can take photos in a natural environment, observing the natural behavior of the animal...  
 
In other words, I think that taking photos in the wild don't makes automatically you a "better" nature photographer than someone that takes photos in a zoos...in my opinion, the photos that have the greatest value are those that catch the attention of the people, those that transmit emotions and those that tell a story.  
 
Another thing that you can not ignore in Tanzania is poverty and its consequences. There is a stark difference between the tourists structures and the life of Tanzanian people - the lodges are as good as European hotels, or even better, they are modern and opulent...but as soon as you move away from the structures created for the rich tourists, you will see an appalling poverty. Walking around outside the tourist structures is very difficult for the "tourist"; sometimes we stopped in small cities and as soon as we come out from the jeep we were surrounded by people that tried to sell us something, sometimes even very aggressively. Don't even thing of taking photos of people: if someone see you, he will ask you money with insistence. Of course there are exceptions...near the end of our trip, we visited the Masai village of Jorna, that turned out to be a very kind, friendly and honest person!  
 
Obviously, poverty influences the relationship between man an nature. I have had the impression that people in Tanzania consider nature only as a way to make money...the thing that has impressed me most was the behavior of our driver (in many Tanzanian national parks you can no longer drive by yourself, you have to rent a car with authorized driver/safari guide). During the "working hours", he drove very slowly on the tracks to allow us to take wildlife photos; as soon as it was 6 'o clock, he drove back to the lodge or camping at crazy speed, without paying any attention to the animals on our track - if the animal was not fast enough to run away, it ended up being killed by our jeep...appalling. One day we found a small gazelle agonizing near the road, with wounds clearly caused by the impact with a car; another victim of the many careless drivers.  
 
Don't get me wrong: Tanzania is an unique place for the nature photographer, I highly recommend the visit and I'm going to come back there soon! But it is not a place that transmit peace and harmony; it is a place full of contradictions...  
 
In terms of equipment, the main difficulty is dust. After few hours driving on the dry roads, there was dust everywhere... sometimes in our car there was so much dust that it was like being in the fog! (it sound unbelievable, but I am not kidding!) Of course, all the equipment has got very dirty, but it has not given me any problem. I had the 1DsIII with 12-24, 24-105, 300 2.8 and teleconverters; I have used a lot of time the 300 and TC and I loved it...I did not miss a lot the 600 f/4. In Tanzania many animals are very close and even a 300mm is enough for many photos.  
 
The 24-105 once again proved to be an awesome all around lens; the stabilizer helped a lot considering that it was impossible to mount the tripod (you can shoot only from the Jeep, it is strictly forbidden to come out from the car when you are in the field). I almost never used, instead, the 12-24, except for some night shots from our campsite. I am very glad that I brought with me the three Transcend 32 GB cards, instead of choosing other solutions. One day we have meet two Italian photographers that had brought some portable hard drives: out of four, two drives had failed after one week!
 
 

Tunisia, June 2010 

 

Tunisia is a great place to visit: there are many fascinating things to see, it is easy and safe to explore and the prices are really low, at least in comparison to Europe or USA. Usually the trip begins from Tunis: if you can, I'd suggest to get there with your car; otherwise you have to rent something - a 4x4 is essential for off-road trips in the desert, but for the majority of the country a cheap car is OK (we had a Ford Fiesta). From Tunis, go south: there are some great places even in the north (I highly recommend to visit Tabarka with its beautiful beach; the roman ruins of Sbeitla; the quiet city of Madhia), but the south is the most amazing part of the country. The area near Tataouine has been the set of "Star Wars" movies, and indeed the barren landscape offers great opportunities for photos. Near Tataouine you can visit the abandoned village of Douiret, the big Ksar of Ouled Soltane, the village of Chenini, and many other Ksour. Another otherworldly place is the Chott El Jerid dry lake, between Kebili and Tozeur: it is an endless desert of salt, where few puddles show unbelievable colors: in some places the water is so salty that it becomes...pink!  
 
Of course, if you visit Tunisia you must not miss the Sahara desert! Without a 4x4 and good driving skills, the only place that you can reach in the desert is the Oasis of Ksar Ghilane, 150 kilometers from Douz. Ksar Ghilane is a beautiful oasis with limpid water, palms and endless dunes all around: here we slept in tent, and we did a camel ride to the ancient ruins, 2 km from the oasis. Overall, I spent two weeks in Tunisia, even though one week is enough to visit the most beautiful places, if you don't mind driving a lot every day. The prices are really low - I spent about 7-8 Euro per night in cheap hotels, and food costs few dinars, if you eat in non-touristic places of if you buy food at the market. English is rarely understood, while most people understand French, and sometimes Italian. The persons are friendly, even though sometimes they try to sell you souvenirs and guided tours very insistently.  
 
A thing that has hit my attention are the ubiquitous photos of the president Ben Ali. Tunisia was a protectorate of France until 1956, when Habib Bourguiba declared the independence and become president. Bourguiba did very important steps towards the modernization of the country: he gave more freedom to women and he eradicated the religious fondamentalism. In 1983, Ben Ali become president with a coup. In spite of the declared "democracy", Tunisia has always been a kind of "benevolent dictatorship", both under Bourguiba and Ben Ali. In 27 years, Ben Ali has made the country much more stable and modern than the majority of other African countries. The price to pay for this wellness are limitations of personal freedom: magazines, television and internet are censored by the government; it is mandatory to show a portrait of Ben Ali in all public places, and the "democracy" is in practice non-existent.  
 
Talking about photos, in this trip I have used only two lenses: Sigma 8-16mm for the majority of the photos, and canon 24-105. Both lenses were mounted on my beloved Canon 7D :-) As you can imagine, for me landscapes and reportage had been the main interests in Tunisia. In the desert the fine sand blown by the wind can be a problem for the lenses; other than that there are not big difficulties for the equipment.
 
 

United States - Florida & Louisiana, May 2008 

 

There had been two great things that have led me to visit Florida and Louisiana: the famous Everglades Park and the possibility to meet the mythical Ronnie Gaubert, the world most talented macro photographer! I knew him from a lot of time by forums and e-mails, but I had never met him personally, until this trip. The idea of visiting US had been proposed by my friend Daniela, but I gladly accepted. For this trip we have chosen my favorite way to travel: we had planned only an approximate itinerary, and we decided the places to visit directly on the place, day per day.  
 
In the US I have often had the impression that everything is big, sometimes even exaggeratedly big...the road are large, way larger than here in Italy; the cars are big, even the portions of food often are huge...I remember one time I ordered a (single) portion of chocolate pie, it was so big that me and Daniela were not able to eat it all :-) But huge does not mean better - while I loved some foods, other times food was really poor...sometimes we had been in "Italian Restaurants" that had nothing of Italian, except for the name...the only Italian Restaurant where we have been really happy was "Fratelli La Bufala" in Miami Beach, where we have eaten delicious pasta...  
 
Gasoline prices are dirty cheap in the US, in comparison with Europe - this is one of the main reasons that make huge SUVs so popular in the US. We had, instead, a nice Dodge Avenger, that allowed us to travel for more than 4,500 kilometers with just 250 € (350 US$) of fuel! (in May 2008, the fuel was at 4$ per gallon).  
 
Driving is the US is quite pleasing; the roads usually are well kept and they are much larger than in Italy. Of course, there are some small differences: for example, the traffic light are on the opposite side of the road, while in Italy they are near corner at traffic's right side (it may take a little to get used, but I prefer the US way); you can pass other vehicles both on the left or on the right (I like it); speed limits are lower than in Italy (way to low...). Last but not least, the majority of cars in the US have automatic transmission: you may like it or not, depending by your personal preferences, but for sure it is very comfortable and easy to use. Unlike other countries, travelling by yourself in the US is easy and quite safe; we did not even make a detailed travel plan, but we choose the destination every day. There are a lot of motels everywhere so we had not any problem to find a place to sleep; usually the rates are very affordable.  
 
Nature in the US is great! Actually, it is even better than what I expected: there are many large parks, and it is a lot easier to see wildlife than in Europe... for this trip I had the 300 f/2.8 and converters as wildlife lens, and it has been enough almost always. The Everglades park is huge and it offers many good opportunities, even though many areas can be reached only by boat. During the first months of the year, it is a great place for birding, while august and September are the best months for macro. When walking around in the grass fields of the everglades, I highly recommend to wear long trousers and boots: there are some dangerous snakes, one time I have even had a close encounter with a rattle snake! Other than that, mosquitoes are a real pain, but the beautiful nature that you can photograph is worth the efforts.  
 
Other than the already mentioned 300 2.8, in this trip I have brought with the the 1DsIII, 12-24, 24-105 and 180 Macro. The macro and the tele had been for sure the most used lenses, but the wide angles turned out useful for landscape photos. Cameras and lenses have not given me any problem, while I have not been happy with the Manfrotto 190MF4 tripod - in the Everglades it got stuck in the mud, and when I toke it out I lost the "foot" of the tripod leg. Other than that, after a couple of weeks the legs became dirty with sand, and they often got stuck. (now I have replaced it with a Manfrotto 055 WNXB)

Zambia, April 2012

 

I have visited Malawi and Zambia in a trip organized by AfricaWildTruck; in particular, in Zambia we have visited the South Luangwa National Park. The park is different from the classic savanna: many areas are covered by bush or forest. It is possible to see a lot of wildlife and many species of birds; we have been lucky to see the leopard serveral times, often with good opportunities for photography. An interesting aspect of this park is that it is possible to stay inside the park until 8 p.m. and to make night safaris: even though this kind of safari does not offer great photographic opportunities, it is an interesting experience to see many nocturnal animals.  
 
The majority of wildlife is quite tame so it is possible to take great photos with a 300mm. All my photos from this trip had been taken with Canon 7D, Canon 300 f/2.8 IS and teleconverters, plus few photos taken with Canon 24-105. I never used the tripod, from the jeep it is way better to hand hold the lens. In this park the majority of jeeps are old Toyota Land Cruiser with completely open roof, they are great for photography because you can take photos from every angle. The guides know well the wildlife and the best spots, and they have a respectful attitute towards wildlife and environment, unlike in other countries - the guide we had in Tanzania was a "pirate", he drove without any attention to every animal that crossed the road.  
 
Other than visiting the park, we spend some time in a nearby village and we really appreciated the friendly attitude of most people. It is not possible to find budget accomodations in the park, so we slept at few kilometers from the gate, in the Croc Valley Camp. The camp is placed directly on the Lungwa river; there is a beautiful view, and the managers - Luois and Lisa - are really great guys! There is even a small restaurant (food is good!), showers and eletricity, at least for some hours. Animals can enter in the camp, so at night it is dangerous to leave the tent (hippos can be very aggressive), but staying in tent is quite safe and after a couple of days you get used to the many "visitors" of the camp.