In February 2020 we travelled overland to the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, Makgadikgadi and Nxai Pan National Parks in Botswana to film the desert wildlife of the Kalahari and the zebra migration during the rainy season. In this short film, I hope to show you a bit about what goes into filming high resolution content in the remote African wilderness. This is my first behindthescenes video, so please let us know in the comments if you would like me to make more of this kind of content.

The adventure starts in Hermanus, near the Southern tip of Africa. Since my usual assistant was unable to come on this trip, my mother kindly offered to join and help with the driving. We travelled via the Karoo into Botswana and on to the Central Kalahari Game Reserve. In the CKGR we camped for 3 nights in Deception Valley filming desert wildlife, birds, lions and cheetahs. Then we travelled West to Tau Pan Camp where we spent most of our time on the pan itself, filming the herds of wildebeest, gemsbok (oryx) and springbok, as well as a beautiful male lion, a cheetah, a giraffe, bateared foxes, and blackbacked jackals. After a few nights at Tau Pan, we moved East again to Leopard Pan, where we camped for a 3 more nights. From Leopard Pan, they visited the small copse of trees where Mark and Delia Owens camped in the 1970s. They later wrote the book 'Cry of the Kalahari' about this experience.

After more sightings of lions and other Kalahari birds and animals, we headed out of the park. In part 2 of this series we visit Boteti River Camp, near the gate of the Makgadikgadi Pans National Park as well as South Camp in Nxai Pan National Park.

Part 2:    • Botswana 2020 Behindthescenes (Part...  

Filmed on Red Weapon Magnesium, GoPro Hero 8, DJI Mavic Pro, and Samsung Gear 360.

Special thanks to:
Kwando Safaris www.kwando.co.bw
Bush Ways Safaris www.bushways.com
Carma Quip www.carmaquip.co.za