Hi! I am Sabine from Pangolin Photo Safaris, and today I am out in the beautiful Chobe National Park
on one of our custom designed photo boats.
I would like to give you a little bit of an introduction of how our boats are designed.
Before I get to that...please don't forget to subscribe and hit the bell icon,
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When you come to the Chobe to visit us, I would like to show you what you can expect from our photo boats.
Our photo boats are nice and long - 9 meters - and about 2.2 meters wide.
So, there is plenty of space...even for you to put your camera bags down.
Then we have 8 equally spaced chairs in the middle of the boat,
so that every guest has the same opportunity for taking pictures!
The boat is very stable. It has got stabilising fins underneath and it has a
very strong nose - with lots of lead and weight - so that it stays stable in the water.
Even if there are some waves and a little bit of a current.
Our chairs rotate 360 degrees, which is great, so you can move in each in every direction...
wherever your animal is going to be.
...and then we have those really nice mounts, where you can mount your camera on
with an Arca-Swiss Universal Quick Release Plate.
If you don't have one, we will supply you with one.
If you don't have a camera, we also supply you with one and a nice big zoom lens!
Once you have mounted your camera, you can adjust to every person's height and size.
So, we can bring the arm up higher if we want to...if the person is a little bit taller.
OR we can push it down for smaller people....
We can also rotate in each and every direction - with our camera - to be able to follow the subject.
We also have a roof that covers the entire length of the boat...
and I am often asked if that would obstruct us taking birds in flight, for example?
Well, to be honest, I don't think so...as we still have a big degree of view where we can point up against the sky
getting the bird nicely in flight....
and to be honest, I am not interested shooting a bird straight up into the air,
because I am only going to get the underside of the bird.
I have put my big lens on - to demonstrate how flexible I can be - on those mounts...
once all those big wheels are loosened up.
I can now move around in each and every direction.
...and also, if you visit us, and and you bring your own camera,
please make sure that you have a lens collar on your camera,
because that will enable you to also swing the camera into a vertical position, if you like.
I am joined here today by Toby, to demonstrate...
...even if there's two people sitting next to each other, with big lenses...
how easy you can turn right next to each other...
...without hitting each other!
You also have the option to tighten the wheels,
so that you can just leave your camera be, without worrying about it,
and maybe have your hands free to have a drink.
Then you can just leave it be, and even move around, or stand up.
Another great feature we have on our photo boats, are the canvas flaps you see down there,
which enables us to take the cameras out of the mounts,
and go right down onto eye level with our subject,
to get a more intimate perspective.
So, if you rest your a big lens - with the shoe right on here -
you can now shoot water wading birds, crocodiles, hippos...everything nice and low on eye level!
Now every time we go out, we go out together as a team.
I am the photo host, and then we have Phenyo, our professional field guide,
who is here to position the boat for us for photography...
We have lots of space, as you can see behind the chairs, so I am free to walk around right behind you guys...
...and help you with your settings.
Another great feature of our photo boats are the cup holders...
2 built-in...right into your chair, so you can always have two refreshing drinks at a time.
Since it is early morning right now, I am choosing to have water,
but later, at sunset time, I guess it's also nice to have a nice refreshing beer.
Thanks for watching, and I hope to see you soon on our photo boats, in the Chobe National Park.
If you have any questions, or comments,
please leave them below, and we will get back to you!