On the trip of a lifetime, I left my camera behind. I don’t regret it

You really know you’re alive when a bull elephant in musth is chasing your vehicle, flapping his ears, and shaking his impressive tusks and trunk. Likewise when you see lions up close, or giraffes feeding, or even huge clusters of herd animals. We’ve experienced all this, and we’re only halfway through our stay at &Beyond Ngala Tented Camp, in the Greater Kruger National Park, South Africa.

Up close with the elephants.Credit: Josh van der Ploeg/&Beyond

But it’s at 8.30am on our third morning safari drive, after more than three hours of thrilling wildlife spotting, when I realise I am fully present. No distractions, no everyday worries. I’m breathing in the fresh African air, drinking in the scenery and fully appreciating what is in front of me.

We are out of our LandCruiser for a coffee, snack, and, importantly for me, a bush wee, when we spy a herd of elephants in the distance. It’s far from our most exciting animal encounter. But one of our party members says, “We get so excited about getting close to the animals, but sometimes it’s just as beautiful seeing them from afar in the wider context of their natural environment.”

On earlier safaris I have taken, I might have outwardly nodded in agreement, but internally felt a niggly FOMO, ruing the distance between the creatures and the limits of my telephoto lens, my shutter finger twitching at an opportunity lost.

Now, I get what my fellow safari participant means. And I am, as they say, in the moment. It seems my rehabilitation from being what I call a “photo bro” is coming along nicely.

What’s a photo bro? If you’ve been on safari, you’ve encountered them: the people with the DSLR gear, for whom getting the best pics of the animals is everything. Click goes the shutter, bro, click, click, click. The photo bro experiences the whole encounter through the viewfinder on their $10,000-plus cameras.

Leaving the big lense behind.Credit: Josh van der Ploeg/&Beyond

I certainly didn’t have a $10,000 camera, but I’ve been a voracious photographer, especially in wildlife-forward locations in Africa, Antarctica, the Kimberley, India and Sri Lanka.

My photo bro rehab began when, tired of carrying all that hardware, I sold my kit, replacing it with a small, lightweight mirrorless camera with two lenses but limited capabilities.

It’s when I’m packing for this trip that I realise I have one small-plane flight with severe luggage restrictions. At the last minute, I decide to leave the new camera behind.

As I’m driven to the airport, however, I feel like I’ve left my passport at home, that’s how important this piece of equipment feels to my identity as a traveller. And that’s when I catch a glimpse of my past self being one of those photo bro types.

And when the very same charter flight that caused me to leave my camera behind swoops down across Kruger National Park, affording impressive panoramas of the 2-million-hectare vastness, it is just begging to be captured with a wide-angle lens.

A &Beyond Ngala Tented Camp suite.

The plane lands at Ngala’s private airstrip, where one of the special green LandCruisers awaits with its three-tiered open-air seating for our party of five, our tracker Ernie and guide Marcus standing by it smiling welcomely. It’s a Kodak moment.

And it won’t be long before I realise the camp, edging the wide, sandy, bed of the Timbavati River, is built right on an elephant crossing which the (mostly) gentle giants often use to access the lush greenery directly in front of Ngala’s spa, bar and dining areas. I’m full of high-res regret.

Fortunately, at camp, there’s plenty to distract me. The marvellously situated 25-year-old property greatly pleases this design devotee.

Lounge with a view.

It has just emerged from a six-month closure during which it was fully renovated to reflect modern tastes as well as its environment. A spa was added, and the tented suites were given large verandahs.

Considered the benchmark for ethical luxury safari, &Beyond’s credentials are many. It is also at the higher end of experiences. With only one other property, the family-friendly Ngala Safari Lodge on its nearly 15,000-hectare unfenced reserve, the couple-focused Ngala Tented Camp offers exclusivity and a price to go with it.

The tariff, however, not only covers these exquisite digs, but three sublime meals a day, with three courses at lunch and dinner and matched wines during the latter. There are drinks available all day, including a help-yourself bar by the pool, a cocktail bar featuring full bottles of premium spirits alongside a beans-grinding Jura coffee machine and snacks. A scrumptious afternoon tea is served and the staff organise special treat meals, such as breakfast and dinner, to be served in the bush or poolside.

The camp, the pool and the safari LandCruiser.

Then there’s the opportunity to visit communities to learn about the good works &Beyond affiliate, Wild Impact is doing in inventive and inspiring ways.

But of course, the main game is those safari drives. And therein lies the true value for money.

Ngala was the first private game reserve to be incorporated into the Kruger National Park and has exclusive traversing rights over wilderness owned by the World Wildlife Foundation and leased to &Beyond. At the tented camp, there are only nine suites.

And it’s this that really facilitates my photo bro rehab.

In the frame.Credit: Josh van der Ploeg/&Beyond

Africa is far from immune to overtourism and crowding has become a serious issue in popular safari destinations with large numbers of vehicles jostling for the best positions to view wildlife that may become skittish because of this human activity, not to mention endangering said animals.

It is anxiety inducing for humans as well. The frantic atmosphere of competition and limited opportunity contributes to the compulsion to mindlessly snap away, for fear the moment ends without having something to show for it.

At Ngala, we watch the animals live their lives without greatly interrupting them, mostly with one, perhaps two safari vehicles present. In eight drives (two a day) of around four hours each, we only have one instance of three vehicles in situ, and because they are all on the same team, the interaction is respectful and careful.

And because of this minimal interruption, the interface with the wildlife is extended. That, my friends, is a real luxury.

There are many highlights across our stay. They begin with our first drive, when a male lion saunters around a corner directly in front of us and stops at a small body of water in the river bed to drink. We are so close, we hear him lapping.

A leopard appears on the same patch of road, letting out a low growl as it passes our stopped vehicle, so near, I see her whiskers twitch.

A leopard wanders by.Credit: Josh van der Ploeg/&Beyond

Amid a group of nine lions, part of a bigger group known as the Birmingham Pride, we watch a white lion cub, one of only four of this hue known in the wild.

I relish hearing the soft shuffle of elephant feet in sandy soil, the rustle of rhino in bushes, the chomp-chomp of giraffe feeding, lions calling and oh, the birds. So many stunning feathered friends. We even love watching the grisly spectacle of vultures finishing off a buffalo carcass. I giggle like a kid to hear an elephant fart.

Ngala is famous for lions – the name actually means “lion” in the local Shangaan language. On one of our last drives we witness a lioness attacking a zebra. We hear the thud as she lands on its back, and a crack as the zebra kicks her and escapes.

We sit and watch a dam for an hour as hippos emerge, measuring whether the heat of the day has dissipated enough to warrant them fully getting out of the water. There, the sky turns a deep velvet blue splashed with tutti-frutti – oranges, yellows and pinks. Ernie and Marcus set up the sundowners. The stars emerge and spangle. It’s one of the most peaceful interludes I can recall, and mostly, I have simply immersed myself in it.

I say mostly – I have my iPhone with me, and snap plenty of memories. That’s a different kind of photography, at least, for me: more about reminders, less about possession and obsession.

Will I always leave my camera behind? No. I enjoy photography, and truthfully, I would have loved to have seen what my new equipment could do with all that beauty and magnificence at Ngala. But I know I’ll be different the next time I go visiting a wildlife and wilderness environment.

The author, snapping memories on the iPhone.Credit: Josh van der Ploeg/&Beyond

I will probably still chase that dopamine fix of Instagram posts, but I hope, as with this trip, I’ll do it considerably less. And I’ll be mindful of tempering the ego- and anxiety-driven desire to get the best shot of an animal, enjoying instead the feelings of humility and awe that come from simply watching such precious creatures go about their business.

THE DETAILS

VISIT
&Beyond Ngala Tented Camp is in &Beyond Ngala Private Game Reserve, Timbavati, South Africa; From $2080 (ZAR24,100) fully inclusive per person a night twin share. Transfers are not included in the price. See andbeyond.com

STAY
On arrival in Johannesburg, we stayed at Fairlawns Boutique Hotel & Spa, a European villa-style property with maximalist decor and a great restaurant, 20 kilometres from the city centre. Rooms from $380 a night. 1 Alma Rd, Morningside, Sandton, South Africa; [phone]. See fairlawns.co.za.

On the way home, I bunked in at the InterContinental O.R. Tambo Airport, one of the nicest airport hotels anywhere – and very conveniently situated opposite the International Arrivals Hall. Rooms from around $630 a night. O.R. Tambo International Airport, Kempton Park, Johannesburg; [phone]. See ihg.com

TRANSFER
Transfer options include by road in a private car – Ngala is about six hours from Johannesburg. Federal Airlines flies charters and shuttles from Johannesburg to Ngala Private Airfield. See fedair.com. Airlink flies between Johannesburg and Hoedspruit. See flyairlink.com. &Beyond can organise a pick-up from there. The road trip takes about an hour.

FLY
Qantas flies Sydney-Johannesburg six times a week. See qantas.com

The writer travelled as a guest of &Beyond and IHG.