Happy Monday! I hope you had a great weekend and are ready for the week ahead! Today’s newsletter is a special one, because we’re finally announcing the winners of our Robin Pope Safaris Photo Competition.
First of all, a huge thank you to each and every one of you who entered. We were honestly overwhelmed by the number of submissions we received – and even more so by the quality. Going through the entries was an absolute joy… and also a real challenge when it came to narrowing things down. We’d also like to send a heartfelt thank you to all of our followers on Facebook and Instagram who took part in the voting. Your support and enthusiasm made this competition even more exciting – and we have to say, you chose very wisely!
This year’s categories were:
- Wildlife
- Wild & Whimsical
- On Safari
- People
- Videos & Reels
If your photos didn’t make it, please don’t be discouraged. There were so many incredible images that didn’t quite make the final cut, and we’ll still be sharing them on our socials and other communications.
And now… the winners!
Wildlife Category Winner: Pablo Varela – Carmine Bee Eaters
A fantastic shot of a pair of carmines took top place.
Other deserving mentions went to Marc Mol’s Lions & Lightning, Matthas Anger’s stunning leopard, and Gareth Evans’ Brown Snake Eagle.
On Safari Category Winner: Fang Tiemann – Where Power Met Mercy
While out on a game drive with Keyala (aka Kiki), Fang and Hermann came across a powerful scene and captured the raw intensity perfectly.
Notable mentions: Rory Micklem’s Lunar Eclipse, Pete Thompson’s Lion & Puku, and Will Johnston’s Pumulani from Above.
Wild & Whimsical Winner: Daniela Anger
Our regular guest Daniela captured a beautiful moment between a leopard and her cub.
Mentions also go to Sheila Humphreys, Steve Haslam, Marc Mol, and Tony Taylor.
People on Safari Winner: Noel Hunt
Noel’s image from Nsefu Camp shows hostess Mulonga and head chef Steve preparing breakfast as the sun rose over the Luangwa River – a truly special camp moment.
Mentions include Daniela Anger, Chris Everett, and Christoph Hager.
Videos & Reels Winner: Tom Ashley
Our first-ever video category was a hit, and Tom’s reel On Safari with RPS was the standout (WATCH).
Close behind were submissions from Mark Mol, an intense scene between wild dogs and a leopard (WATCH), Martin Scott’s video of the elusive African Pitta (WATCH), and Christoph Hager stunning rhino clip (WATCH).
Each of the winners above will have their choice of one of the following prizes:
- A US$500 donation to Project Luangwa,
- US$500 donation to support the Zambezi Valley through the Zambezi Elephant Fund or
- One free night for two at any Robin Pope Safaris property (excluding Mobile Walking Safaris).
And that’s a wrap! We hope you enjoyed following along as much as we enjoyed it. We’re also excited to share that we are running the photo competition again this, please have a look at the details here. Can’t wait to receive your entries!
In other news, been having lots of rain here in South Luangwa and the Luangwa River has come up nicely, just in time for our annual River Journeys! I’ll be sharing more about that soon!
So that’s all for this week! Wishing you a wonderful week ahead, and we’ll be back next Monday with more stories from the bush.
