Photo Tour Categories
Wildlife
PHOTOGRAPHY TOURS
Photo tours dedicated to some of the world’s most inspiring wildlife.
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Culture
PHOTOGRAPHY TOURS
Photo tours dedicated to some of the world’s most inspiring cultures.
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Landscape
PHOTOGRAPHY TOURS
Photo tours dedicated to some of the world’s most inspiring landscapes.
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Travel Insurance
Medical and security emergencies happen. When they do, we rely on Global Rescue, the world’s leading membership organization providing integrated medical, security, travel risk and crisis response services to our travelers worldwide. Without a Global Rescue membership, an emergency evacuation could cost you more than $100,000. That’s why over 1 million members trust Global Rescue to get them home when the worst happens. Don’t travel without Global Rescue.
COVID-19 Safety Protocol
Dear ORYX Photo Tours Guests
With the COVID-19 pandemic in mind our tours will operate under strict regulations for the foreseeable future. It is required that ALL guides and guests adhere to the following measures:
Please do not greet anyone by hand and avoid physical contact at all times.
Avoid touching your nose, eyes and mouth.
Masks are to be worn for the duration of your tour. For example, on vehicles, airports, planes and in any social situations where social distancing is difficult. Your guide will authorize when not wearing a mask is acceptable such as in open situations when social distancing can be implemented. Guests are asked to please arrive with their own masks (N95, R95, KN95 or surgical masks) and that they must be worn according to WHO safety standards.
We encourage everyone to wash hands at every opportunity in public situations and use the provided sanitizer regularly – guides will carry hand sanitizer with them throughout the tour.
Please adhere to social distancing as best as possible. A minimum distance of 2 meters (6.5 feet) is generally required however we realize this will be situationally dependent.
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Please keep all personal belongings in the vehicle in protective covering or on your person.
The ORYX Photo Tours team will spray or wipe down all equipment with disinfectant after every use and/or trip.
ORYX Photo Tours staff
ORYX Photo Tours pledges to brief and educate our guides on the protocols and are ready to assist you with your photographic experience and requirements.
Staff are instructed to maintain social distancing at all times. We at ORYX Photo Tours take pride in our work and in our ability to keep our staff and guests happy, safe and healthy at all times.
We trust that the above information has given you peace of mind. We also wanted to provide assurance that we are ready to assist you once the lockdown has been lifted. Please feel free to contact us if you need any additional information or have any recommendations.
– The ORYX Team
ORYX is proud to announce an initiative in celebration of our 10th year, one that will provide participants a chance to photograph a number of big cats while creating lifelong memories and simultaneously enjoying significant monetary savings.
Women Only Photo Tours
By Penny Robartes
Joining a photo tour with other similarly independent, creative women is motivating and empowering as you share, learn and create experiences, memories and photographs together. No matter your marital status or age, whether you are a seasoned traveller or embarking on your first photo tour, many women feel more comfortable and confident traveling with other women as they explore new destinations together.
Featured Photo Tours
Recommended by our photo tour leaders
1 Space Available
1 SPACE AVAILABLE
Polar Photo Expeditions
As far as the inhospitable regions of our planet are considered, few are as truly challenging as Expedition Photography into the polar regions. Climatically, the cold within the Arctic and Antarctic circles can be extreme and this means that over vast areas, human settlements are either few and far between or absent entirely. Accessing these zones for Polar Bear Photo Tours is thus far from straightforward – for many modern travellers, getting there really equates to an expedition in itself, although it must be said it is a most worthwhile one indeed!
As our areas of interest are surrounded by ocean, sailing on an ice-strengthened cruise liner is the best way to explore them and for many, such a Polar Expedition constitutes a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Breath-taking scenery takes centre stage every time in these seemingly pristine environments although the wildlife photography and viewing in both polar regions is compelling and quite simply, unique. Thus a Polar Bear Photo Tour is a must do!
Starting in the northern hemisphere, Svalbard is an archipelago in the Arctic Ocean that is renowned for its Arctic wildlife such as Walrus, Reindeer, Arctic Fox and in places, very dramatic scenery with mountains, fjords and glaciers dominating the landscape – in short, some of the best Arctic Photography can be found here. It is arguably the best place in the world to see the mighty Polar Bear and a Svalbard Photo Tour is thus a dream destination for anyone wanting to photograph this mighty predator – the world’s largest terrestrial carnivore! And everyone wants to get a Polar Bear Photo on an Arctic Photo Tour. Seasonally, the variation in day length at these high latitudes means the light is always interesting, and as we are able to operate such a Svalbard Expedition in autumn and winter, scenes are illuminated in an otherworldly glow. The presence of the hulking, white-coloured Polar Bear is likely Svalbard’s single biggest attraction, and Polar Bear Photography doesn’t get much better than in Svalbard! Add this to sensational landscapes and light, and it is a must see destination for Expedition Photography. We have a highly experienced team that operate the best Svalbard Photo Tours, allowing you to get the Arctic Photo of your dreams.
Switching to the southern hemisphere, an Antarctic Cruise is truly a special, standalone experience and a must do for Expedition Photography. Antarctica is a region that few humans have had the privilege of visiting, and is unmatched in terms of its remoteness and the pristine nature of its environment. Unlike Svalbard, cruises are focused on the Austral summer months, which is the only realistic time that Antarctica can be accessed for an Antarctic Photo Tour.
Many an Expedition Cruise visits South Georgia for a South Georgia Photo Tour, and although this island falls outside the Antarctic Circle, it is for many an integral stop due to its staggering wildlife numbers. A South Georgia Cruise is an amazing thing on its own. As South Georgia is often termed the “Serengeti of the Southern Ocean”, this is a global wildlife highlight. Standing on a beach with 100,000 King Penguins is mind bending enough and Penguin Photography doesn’t get more extravagant than this. But throw in fur and elephant seals, penguins, albatrosses and mountainous backdrops and you have a place that will quite simply blow you away.
Closer to continental Antarctica, towering icebergs ranging from snow white to multitudinous shades of blue provide a vivid backdrop to effortless albatrosses and wheeling flocks of petrels, while the saline waters are host to masses of penguins, seals and whales. The most abundant source of food here is krill, and this is really the cornerstone that supports Antarctica’s remarkable wildlife. The 7th Continent is iconic; an Antarctica Cruise is simultaneously a wildlife and landscape spectacle that needs to be seen to be believed. An Expedition Cruise to Antarctica in order to do a Penguin Photo Tour is an absolute must! We couldn’t recommend our Antarctica Photo Tour more highly! Join ORYX as we unravel the joys of photography in these beautiful, inhospitable, but utterly enthralling landscapes on an Antarctic Photo Tour.
Join ORYX Photo Tours as we journey to Far East Russia to Wrangel Island and its surrounds – an incredible place for Polar Bear Photography on a Wrangel Island Holiday. This unique High Arctic Expedition crosses the Arctic Circle and covers a significant section of the wild North Eastern Siberian coastline in the course of this Wrangel Island Cruise. It is a voyage only made possible in recent years by the thawing in the politics of the region and the retreat of summer pack ice in the Chukchi Sea.
The very small distance between Russia and the USA along this border area was known as the Ice Curtain, behind which then and now lies one of the last great undiscovered wilderness areas in the world, and one we access on our Wrangel Island Expedition. Untouched by glaciers during the last ice age, this island is a treasure trove of Arctic biodiversity and is perhaps best known for the multitude of Polar Bears that breed here – Polar Bear Photography on Wrangel Island is excellent. It also boasts the world’s largest population of Pacific Walrus and lies near major feeding grounds for the Gray Whales that migrate thousands of kilometres north from their breeding grounds in Baja, Mexico, making a Wrangel Island Photo Tour highly attractive. There is a distinct allure to this North Eastern Siberian Photo Tour, and this comes from the presence of large mammals, both past and present. The ‘mammoth steppe’ vegetation complex, a rich and diverse relic from the Pleistocene epoch nurtures over 400 plant species and never fails to astound visitors with its sublime beauty during a Russia Photo Tour. The number and type of endemic plant species, the diversity within plant communities, the presence of relatively recent mammoth tusks and skulls, a range of terrain types and geological formations in the small geographical space are all visible evidence of Wrangel’s rich natural history and its unique evolutionary status within the Arctic. This makes it a superb Russia Photo Tour. The expedition team on this Far East Russia Photo Tour will take us on guided walks, zodiac cruises and provide lectures to help better understand and appreciate this unique High Arctic landscape, all while being able to capture its natural splendors with our lenses. We encourage guests to come and experience Wrangel Island on this Far East Russia Expedition.
SPACES AVAILABLE
Limited Space Available
Antarctica, Falkland Islands & South Georgia Photo Co-Charter Expedition 2021 US$12,995 - US$22,495
Limited Space Available
Ross Sea & Sub Antarctic Islands Photo Expedition 2022 US$21,995 - US$32,995
Welcome
ORYX the company was conceived after Marius Coetzee and Adam Riley converted a thought, a dream, into reality. ORYX has been in the business of delivering outstanding photographic experiences to our guests for the past 10 years – transforming our guest’s dreams into experiences that will remain with them in abstract form as memories, and also in many cases as digital ones in the form of millions of pixels depicting a moment in time as displayed on a screen or as a print. The ORYX way is to make sure both these versions are as exceptional as possible.
Since the end of 2019, our reality as a species has been altered irrevocably, and currently, many of our dreams have evaporated and have instead been replaced with a reality that seems to be a bit of a nightmare. The effects of Coronavirus pandemic have been catastrophic, and it is safe to say that the world will never be quite the same from this point on. The scars of previous global crises serve as reminders of their occurrence, and within these memories lie the lessons. Our office team has amassed over a century of experience in the travel industry, and we are using the collective lessons learned both individually and as a company since we opened ORYX’s doors a decade ago to move forward, stronger and wiser. To paraphrase an oft used quote – it is not the strongest that survive, nor the most intelligent, but those most adaptable to change. ORYX prides itself on its dynamism and adaptability, and we are working smart to ensure that we will be ready to offer you, our esteemed client, our world-class photo tours when global travel restarts. One thing at ORYX that we will strive to maintain unchanged is our relentless desire to deliver a world-class photographic and holiday experience to our guests.
We look forward to welcoming you on an ORYX photo tour! #ORYXliveyourdreams
Yours sincerely,
Marius Coetzee, Adam Riley
& the Team at ORYX
Donations & Conservation Contributions
Biodiversity Protection & Donations:
(Mar ’18 – Current)
(Mar ’18 – Current)
Meet our
PHOTO TOUR LEADERS
Our photo leaders and partners are carefully selected for their exceptional photographic, tutoring and hosting skills. They are highly experienced and skilled photographers, as well as passionate and patient teachers, all of which are essential skills for ensuring a well-run and enjoyable photo tour.
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Meet our
OFFICE TEAM
Our expert office staff has the capacity necessary to keep abreast of the complex arrangements that efficient and organized travelling requires. Our hard-working and passionate team are dedicated to making your photographic travel dreams a reality – there is no task too big or small!
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Meet our
GUESTS
Want to know what it’s like to be on an ORYX photo tour? Check out our Behind the Scenes images, read our Client Testimonials, Client Blog Posts, and more from guests who have had incredible experiences taking photographs in their dream locations. This can be your experience!
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Our Promise To You
ORYX PHOTO TOURS IS RENOWNED FOR ITS INNOVATIVE APPROACH TO THE CREATION AND HOSTING OF DEDICATED PHOTOGRAPHIC TOURS THAT SPAN THE GLOBE.
All our tours are created and conducted with the guarantee that when you choose to travel with ORYX, your dreams will be made a reality. We will not only reach your travel and photographic expectations, but hope to exceed them in more ways than you ever imagined.
Each individual member at ORYX wholeheartedly believes in our collective ethos and takes it very seriously to ensure that it is applied to every avenue of our company and work tasks.
Reward yourself and live your dreams with an ORYX Photo Tour today!
#ORYXliveyourdreams
Reviews by ORYX Guests
Feedback from our fans
Mongolia
Mongolia was fascinating, a trip which I will always remember with a smile on my face. Lovely group, Sam was just beautiful, tour guides and drives endlessly helpful and kind, I cannot praise everybody enough. We would happily recommend this tour to everybody, who wants great company, interesting people and see a totally different and interesting way of life. Thanks for arranging it so beautiful, you and your team deserve all the recognition! Sam was not just the prefect hostess, but also was extremely patient with us and taking photographs. Hope to go on another trip with your team soon. Keep well and successful (as you deserve!)
Kenya - Mara Migration
This was my first experience with ORYX Photo Tours and I came on this trip with high expectations, especially on the migration and river crossing part. What struck me most was the massive wildlife in the area and how close we came to it at various sightings. It is almost unreal to get to see close ups of Lion kills, Cheetah kills and a Leopard in only 3 days. The local Maasai scouters in great cooperation with our ORYX photo tour guide, Penny Robartes, did a fantastic job and kept the energy up throughout 12-14 hours day trips. Excellent photo coaching by Penny on site was also a great contribution for higher quality images… Well done!! I have now added several thousands of new great images that I will enjoy reviewing in the months ahead.
India
Having travelled with ORYX Photo Tours on two previous occasions when I decided to visit India again they was the first choice company to arrange it for me .I wanted some culture to sit alongside an Indian wildlife experience. The trip was perfect – great hotels, great sightseeing and best of all wonderful wildlife. Our tiger sightings were phenomenal and I we really could not have asked for more. The local guides were excellent and Marius Coetzee (our ORYX photo tour leader) could not do enough for us and improved everyone’s photography over the course of the trip. We have all decided to travel with ORYX Photo Tours in India again next year and look forward to another great trip.
Borneo
Nancy and I had an absolutely fabulous time travelling and photographing with Dale in Borneo. We came home with some spectacular images of primates, and with so many of them it’s going to take us weeks to get through them all and process all the ones we want to. We were very impressed with all of the arrangements ORYX Photo Tours made to assure that this was a very high quality trip. The ground agents, the lodges, the local guides, the transportation, were all absolutely first class. Thanks again for such a superb photo tour. We hope to travel with ORYX again soon!
Antarctica
Hi Nicolette, Thanks to you and the entire ORYX Photo Tours team. This was truly the experience of a lifetime. My only wish was that my wife was there to share it with me. Having said that Penny did everything possible to make this trip the absolute best it could be. She was so attentive – to both shooting and post production, that I know my photography skills took a big jump forward. I have been on many photo expeditions over the last 6 or 7 years and Penny’s instruction and attention were well beyond what I have experienced previously.
Ethiopia
I travel overseas 18 times a year, many of these being photo tours. Ethiopia is not an easy destination – truly beautiful but definitely hard roads and weather conditions. This is a trip that I had been planning for 2 years. I went through every single Tripadvisor review on Ethiopia and looked at many webpages of travel agents and photographers offering photo expeditions to this place. During our trip, we bumped into a few other travel expeditions by other travel companies. It is clear that the deal given to me by ORYX Photo Tours was the best. Everything was carefully planned, we did not have to compete with other tour groups. Very happy with this trip altogether…my highest recommendations. Thank you Marius once again for making all this possible!
ORYX Photo Tours has since 2010 offered luxury African photography tours with an ever growing portfolio that has expanded to cover every continent on earth. One of our strengths remains constructing the perfect custom photo tour for you! Botswana offers excellent wildlife photography and high end accommodation, and we at ORYX simply love arranging a Private African Photo Safari’s to this landlocked nation for just this reason – bespoke travel doesn’t get better, and the opportunities for a holiday of a lifetime are sensational. Ethiopia is a nation of huge variety, from both a wildlife and cultural standpoint, with high mountain moorlands home to numerous endemics, and hot, Acacia-strewn lowlands, home to some of the most unique tribes on earth. ORYX has a strong connections in Ethiopia, and a tailor made photo safari to this nation is something we do better than anyone! Kenya, the “home of the safari” is a just an amazing place to enjoy a private photo safari with its classic, heart-wrenchingly beautiful scenery, fabulous wildlife and effective travel system to allow easy access to various portions of the country such that bespoke photo tours can function seamlessly. The world’s fourth largest island is Madagascar, and we have a proud tradition of Custom photography tours to this Indian Ocean marvel. A biodiversity hotspot, a tailor made photo safari can easily incorporate the rich eastern rainforests, abode of many lemurs, herps and birds and the dry, spiny and otherworldly south, which is home to the celebrated Ring-tailed Lemur amongst others. A desert wonderland, Namibia showcases colourful, textured desert scenes with surprising amounts of wildlife and is simply perfect for a private photo tour. Aerial photography of the landscape is a must do – something we routinely arrange for tailor made African photography tours! Rwanda lies in Africa’s mountainous central highlands on the edge of the western, “Albertine” Rift and is fast becoming the perfect add-on to one of Kenya or Tanzania due to its habituated Mountain Gorillas. A Private African Photography Tour to this small, friendly nation will surely make you fall in love with the people, gorillas and lovely photo opportunities! Rounding off the southern edge of the “Dark Continent” is South Africa, and what a place for a bespoke photo tour! Home to world-class wildlife photography, wines and food, and backed by sensational accommodation, this has got to be one of the contenders for best place in Africa for a Luxury African Photography Tour! Home to the Serengeti, the world’s most famous game reserve, the stunning Ngorongoro Crater and Africa’s tallest mountain, the iconic Kilimanjaro, Tanzania is an excellent choice for a private photo safari. It is a beautiful country with superb wildlife viewing and is just marvellous for filling ones portfolio with wonderful images and mind with memories on a private photo tour. Zambia receives less attention than it really should! This central African country has a long safari tradition and is well set up to accommodate travellers on a bespoke photo tour; from Victoria Falls to game rich South Luangwa and through to the broad Busanga Plains, Zambia has the wildlife, scenery and accommodation that make it perfect for a Luxury African Safari! Sharing Victoria Falls with its northerly neighbour across the Zambezi, Zimbabwe is another world-class safari destination. Surprisingly well set up for bespoke travel, Zimbabwe protects some sizeable areas which also have incredible accommodations and wildlife, from scenic Mana Pools to rugged Hwange, this nation is an excellent place in which to enjoy a private safari.
Borneo is a tropical island that is home to an astonishingly good level of infrastructure and amazing tropical wildlife! A Custom photography tour could allow you to be photographing Orangutans in the lowland forests of Danum Valley in the morning, and sipping cocktails overlooking the South China Sea by sundown! With superb mammals, birds and macro opportunities, Borneo truly is a good candidate for a private photo tour. India really has few equals – a massive country with diverse cultures, landscapes and wildlife, it is poised to take Asian luxury travel to a new level. It has the history, iconic wildlife and dramatically luxurious accommodation to make bespoke travel a dream. ORYX has a many years of experience in this nation, and we love setting up Private photography holidays to India! Mongolia is remote, but beautiful and truly unique culturally, and is the perfect place for people willing to rough it on an adventurous custom photo tour – the rewards are huge, as will be your photographic portfolio! Nepal is synonymous with the Himalayas, although Bespoke photography Tours to this small nation are typically focussed on Kathmandu and its surrounds’ cultural photography. On clear days, one can sometimes gaze onto the planets most lofty peaks from the capital! An enormous nation, Russia has inhospitable areas that by virtue of their remoteness, are wildlife havens, such as the far north-east: just the place for a photo safari to capture iconic images of Polar Bears and other Arctic wildlife. “Land of the Thunder Dragon”, Bhutan is one of the most beautiful and pristine countries in the world. This mountain nation still retains much of its forest cover, and also has a very strong cultural identity, which is evidenced in the dress traditions of the people. Visiting a dzong, or “temple fortress” is a must on a Bespoke photo tour! Sri Lanka is a friendly country that is well suited to offering a Private photography tour. Home to a variety of Asian wildlife, it offers superb opportunities to photograph Leopard and Asian Elephant, and furthermore is an endemic hotspot, meaning that itinerant wildlife photographers will benefit immensely from a custom photo tour to this island!
Antarctica is truly a frontier of travel, but we can do a Tailor made photo safari to this outlandish place – this is bespoke travel at its most outlandish! Papua New Guinea is best known for its Birds of Paradise and wildly decorated tribes. It is an island that is covered in large tracks of tropical forest, is still fairly wild, and begging to be explored on a photo safari! Photographing mainly from hides, Finland allows excellent opportunities to photograph Eurasian wildlife such as Wolverine, Brown Bear, Golden Eagle, Black Grouse and Great Grey Owl and is place that is perfectly set up for a Private Photo Tour. Svalbard is truly the gateway to the Arctic and is the best place to photograph the iconic Polar Bear, and ORYX can arrange Bespoke Photo Tours to this fascinating archipelago. Alaska is the USA’s most sparsely populated state, but on the reverse side it has excellent wildlife areas which benefit from the low human populations. It is wild, beautiful and a place that is perfect for a photography tour. At the junction of North and South America, Panama is a rainforest clad country that is the perfect introduction to Neotropical wildlife. With a huge array of birds, amphibians and mammals and an excellent ground team, a bespoke photo tour to Panama can be arranged that will deliver superb photographic opportunities! Argentina and Chile share the sensational landscapes of Patagonia, an area that is known for its craggy mountains, ice, and Pumas, and Photo safari’s to these countries are excellent ways to enjoy these worthy photographic subjects. A Photo safari to Bolivia is a landscape photographers dream, with an incredible array of colours and textures on Salar de Uyuni and the Andes! Brazil is the undoubtedly the best wildlife destination in South America, and one that is well suited to bespoke travel. Home to the Pantanal, the best place on earth to see Jaguars, a tailor made safari to this sizeable country is sure to deliver an amazing holiday and portfolio of images! An incredible country, Colombia is now a safe and appealing travel destination with a huge cultural appeal, making it an attractive place to enjoy a Photography tour. Ecuador and its most celebrated island, the Galapagos, are products of various geographical and environmental factors, with a Private Photo tour to these areas able to offer incredible biological treasures as well as rich cultural experiences. Many people associate the high Andes with Peru, and this country is certainly home to some of the most legendary South American scenery such as around Machu Picchu, making it a must for a Tailor Made photo safari!