"Kenya - Life of Predators 2021"

Having travelled to Africa multiple times before and having fallen in love with its wildlife and nature, this was my first photo tour with ORYX. The overall experience was clearly beyond my expectations.
From my first email contact with Nicolette, I have felt very welcomed by everyone. Every detail of the tour was well planned and perfectly organized. Given all the rapidly changing Covid regulations, the ORYX team made sure everyone of us was able to meet all requirements and even arranged a Covid testing in the bush while we were on game drive.
Returning to the Mara with its abundance of wildlife felt marvelous. Our base for the following six days was Alex Walker’s Serian The Original, a serene and beautiful "classic" bush camp in the best sense of the word with a prime location right by the Mara river, superb food and exceptional staff, who made me feel at home from the first moment. I loved my spacious and comfortable tent by the river and enjoyed falling asleep to the sound of the hippos around every night.
Penny, our photo tour leader and photographer, is a real gem. She is an excellent photographer, a brilliant teacher and an inspiring travel companion, always generous in sharing her knowledge, skills and vision. Penny made every effort to ensure everyone was feeling comfortable all the time and assisted whenever necessary. You could feel every moment, that her aim is providing her guests the best possible experience. I owe her a lot of inspiration for my personal photographic development.

I’m already looking forward to my next tour!

"Heaven in The Pearl of Africa"

Another absolute incredible trip to Africa (this time Uganda) arranged by Oryx, simply outstanding. Unbelievable primate and savannah experiences (Kidepo!), all expertly organised. And to think they had 2 days to arrange it as Kenya hit the red list just makes it even more remarkable!! Thank you so much to Marius, Rainer and the whole team... i cant wait to be travel with Oryx again!

"Fabulous Predators of the Masai Mara"

Our Predators of the Masai Mara trip was well-organized, superbly led and very fun. The result was unique image-making and a week well spent. Thank you Oryx!!

"Masai Mara/Life of Predator with ORYX"

Our Life of Predator Photo Tour was magnificent! My dad and I had a marvelous time. Penny was fantastic--patient, professional, kind, helpful, passionate, and an all around wonderful person! The location, camp hosts (THANK YOU Roshin!!) and staff were amazing - so friendly, & willing to help do whatever they could to make our stay over the top great! (While my dad didn't care for the hot water bottles in bed at night, I thought it was a fabulous extra!!)

Our guides and drivers were brilliant with their knowledge of the area the animals and people - everything! in the Masai Mara. They were funny, fun, kind, helpful, and made our game drives and (lovely) meals in the Bush all the more special because of their personalities, attentiveness, and sharing of their vast knowledge! They were also impressive with knowing where and how to get in the best position for the best angle/lighting/view to take pictures of the amazing animals they were so good and spotting and getting us to. They were just as an important part of our experience as the animals and the location.

We appreciated the communication of Oryx as we prepared and planned and had a lot of questions pre-tour. And for their help as the Covid travel restrictions and requirements changed (more than once).

And while they were helpful in putting together options for the two days we had in Nairobi before the official start of the tour, we felt and discovered the cost was overpriced and ended up booking our own pre-tour accommodations and activities. And it wasn't the admin fees, as we understand that there should be some compensation for the bookings, but the cost of hotel, driver, etc was found much cheaper on our own.
--update - While they forgot the hamper promised if we booked before Oct 31st - Nicolette made sure that they shipped it to us later! Thank you! --

And, as Penny said to include in the review, and we understand Oryx has/had no control over, but just as a note, the steak we had (my dad and I shared a large platter) at the Ole Sereni hotel the first night was extremely tough, not at all great and surprising for a 5 star hotel. Also, we had to pay for water at breakfast. (The food that the Alex Walker staff and Roshin planned and prepared though was MARVELOUS!!)

Thank you for a fantastic tour, ORYX Team! If we have the opportunity to go on another photography tour in the future, Oryxphoto is at the top of our list!!

"Life of Predators Photo Safari February…"

Life of Predators Photo Safari February 2021

Such a great phototour with Oryx! Perfectly organised by Nicolette. Due to Covid the preparations for this tour were quire complicated. But as soon as I had arrived at the hotel in Nairobi I felt that this trip was the best thing I could do in this strenuous time. Our camp in the Masai Mara war a real Safari camp, comfy and cosy. Loved it very much. Food was excellent, our guides and drivers as well. Penny is the perfect tour leader, great knowledge, a very good teacher and a very charming person. You'll definitely see me again :-).

"Kenya Life of Predators 2021, PHENOMENAL!"

This recent photo tour to Kenya's Maasai Mara with Oryx is my third Oryx tour, and as usual, exceeded all expectations. Apart from non-cooperative leopards, the sightings were all excellent; the accommodation at Alex Walker's Serian (The Original lodge) extremely comfortable (delicious food prepared by Rosian Allan); and the lodge guides, drivers and staff very accomplished and attentive.
Penny is a VERY personable, friendly, knowledgeable and competent tour leader and instructor. She has a gentle and engaging nature which wins everyone over and makes them comfortable within their photographic skill-set, while also encouraging them to strive for greater mastery of their cameras and their artistic expression. She guides and instructs with positive reinforcement and is very generous with her time. I greatly benefited from her knowledge, appreciated her patient guidance and encouragement, and feel that I learned a lot.
I can highly recommend Oryx Photo Tours for their seamless organization, and Penny for her highly professional instruction and leadership, and I look forward to my next tour!

"Dale Morris and Oryx: outstanding for Madagascar photo tour"

Late in 2019, I joined a wildlife-focused photo tour in Madagascar, superbly organized by Oryx Photo Tours and terrifically led by Dale Morris. I had intended to post this review earlier, but the once-in-century challenges of 2020 got in the way.

Oryx was well-organized, flexible and responsive throughout my interactions with them, starting with my first inquiries about the trip through the trip itself and on to my immediately following trip to the remote Omo Valley in Ethiopia. (I gather that this combination of photo tours presents the toughest "bifecta" in their catalog in terms of travel challenges, but their arrangements were excellent; I survived and thrived!)

Dale is a terrific photo tour leader. He is an excellent photographer and teacher of photography (separate talents that don't always come packaged together in one person). He is highly knowledgeable about the locations and their available wildlife subjects where he leads tours (in this case the highly idiosyncratic world of Madagascar wildlife and often very challenging photographic conditions). Just as important, Dale is fully committed to meeting the needs and aspirations of his photo tour clients, including making sure the tour is fun and enlightening for everyone. Here's one example of his commitment. There was another cycle of our tour scheduled right after ours with another Oryx tour leader. When that tour leader had passport difficulties and could travel to Madagascar, Dale agreed to stay on (and away from his family) for another three weeks to take care of that later group.

I would, without hesitation, take another photo tour with Dale Morris and Oryx. Hopefully, we'll emerge from this pandemic and that will be possible again soon!

"Penny Robartes, outstanding photographic guide and charming person"

Penny Robartes, outstanding photographic guide and charming person, has opened my eyes to a broader way of seeing the African bush. Through her guiding I began to see the majesty and the mystery, as well as the beauty and harmony of the animals as part of the whole environment. She helped me see not just the photographic beauty of the lion but the wonder of the predator; the lioness and her companionship with her sisters, her times of tolerance and intolerance of her cubs, the way they hide or move boldly into the open. Penny took us to photograph a hyena family with babies and youngsters. Not only did she point out the photo opportunities but gave us time to watch and get a good feel for these often poorly stereotyped creatures. To travel with Penny is to be shown amazing wildlife places and have the time to observe and feel the spirit of the African bush. Back at camp she will share her processing techniques, share time around the fire, and attend to all those daily behind-the-scenes details. As part of the total Oryx Photo Tours experience, you can be sure the destinations are extremely well chosen, the lodges are superb, the trip is super well organized and all details are considered. All my Oryx experiences have been top notch, and I feel I get the very best photographic opportunities.

"An inspiring escape into the wild"

Although my husband and I are keen underwater photographers, we have for some time watched and been been inspired by Penny Robartes’ amazing wildlife photography and were thus excited to join her on a recent Oryx Photo Tour to Mala Mala game reserve. We were blown away by amazing sightings and great photo opportunities, which were so ably guided by this creative and experienced tour leader. Penny showed an intuitive understanding of each guest’s needs and was happy to share her passion through clear, professional input related to both technical and creative aspects of land based photography...while simultaneously ensuring her three guests enjoyed relaxed "time out" from a weird 2020! Thanks to Penny and our great ranger, Daniel Bailey, we were encouraged to explore flora and fauna, big and small, and felt we not only gained from a photographic perspective but in our knowledge of the wild. Clearly, the Mala Mala team and Oryx work in comfortable synergy, as they all went out of their way to make it a fabulous experience. Finally, although I am generally inclined to organise all my own travel, I was pleasantly surprised by the ease and accommodating manner in which everything was handled by the Oryx team and would like to extend thanks not only to Penny for ensuring a wonderful photo tour but also to Nicolette and Rainer for their “behind the scenes” organisation. Highly recommended!

"Back to Mala Mala with Oryx"

I returned to Mala Mala with Oryx, and more specifically with Penny Robartes, for a follow up photographic course and it was excellent in every way: great resort, superb food, a wonderful guide, fabulous sightings and insightful, helpful instruction from Penny. Building on what I learnt on the first course I did in October, I was more confident technically and was therefore able to develop compositionally. A valuable experience in every way. HIGHLY recommended.