Victoria Falls - what to photograph

Visiting SA this weekend, will be at Victoria Falls, in Livingstone for one day, doing the usual morning and then sunset cruise. 

Any tips on best angles, locations? I will most probably be taking the A7R with a metabones adapter and the Canon 16-35 f4 and 24-70 2.8II with me. Will I need longer lenses? I will also have a tripod but is there a good vantage point for it? We are staying at the Royal Livingstone. From what I've read November is a low volume season for the falls so we should be able to get closer to them. 

Is there significant wildlife in the area? 

Thanks in advance,

Pradeep

When are you going to see the falls if you're planning both a morning and an evening cruise?

In the last few years, I've made three 1 day stops at the Royal Livingstone at the end of three trips. A 1 day stop means time to do an evening thing at the falls before needing to check out and get to the airport the next day. I'm not sure how your managing to do both morning and evening stuff on a 1 day stop.

The Royal Livingstone has a path on property and a gate that allows access to the falls without going onto the main streets around the falls. The plus side is being able to get to an from the falls trails quickly. The minus side is that the gate closes too early, before sunset, which will leave you with a rather long walk if you miss getting back in time.

In walking the falls trails, I've never noticed crowds keeping me from anything, if you are patient enough. Most people move quickly from one location to another and it become pretty easy to access "the edge" from just about anywhere along the trails. I have encountered some people who though I "needed help" carrying things, even when all I had was a small camera and a small tripod. Needless to say, I didn't need or want any help and they soon realized that.

The falls are huge and, for me, are very hard to photograph well. You can certainly get parts of the falls with the widest lens you have and I've seen images taken with a 70-200 or longer that I've liked. The last time, I kept my kit down to two small lenses to simplify things. I did carry some ND filters so I could change the shutter speed the image was taken with easily. Obviously, if you do that, a tripod would be needed.

I don't think there is any "best" vantage point along the trails and I've been up and down those trails a number of times. In fact, you might impress more people with a panning video of the falls you can make them go one forever and that makes for an impressive view. Or maybe taking a POV video of you walking the trails and looking at the falls through the trees.

The Royal Livingstone has had a number of animals on property when we've arrived. One year, after spending two weeks in the bush in Botswana, we arrived to find zebra, impala and giraffes all grazing outside our rooms. None of us even took out our cameras since we were shot out after two weeks in Botswana. The other thing you'll see are monkeys and birds.

Of the things I haven't paid for yet and are on my long term "want to do" list includes the walk with Rhino's in a local park, A helicopter ride over the falls either midday or very early morning or very late evening and an ultra light plane ride over the falls (though I don't think you can take a camera on that one). I did Kayaking on Zambezi in 2001 which took care of the need to get on the river for me for a while.

If you plan to eat at the Royal Livingstone, plan on it taking 2-3 hours. A minimum of 1 hour for breakfast once they start servicing. The service is good, not fast.

Thanks Anthony for that information as I too will be there as one of our stops next year with Michael Francis when we repeat going back with Michael  http://www.michaelfrancisphoto.com/photo_tours/Africa_2015.php  (still room).  Last time we went to Africa we could have went over for the afternoon to see the falls but thought that was too short and maybe not the best light.

We have a PBS Nature on the recorder on Victoria Falls that I'm yet to watch.

Tony thanks again, you've been an awesome help.

We are doing a 'guided' tour of the falls in the morning where we will be taken along the 1.7km length of trails which will last for 1.5hrs. I am assuming this will allow photo opportunities at the edge. The rest of the day is up to us and in the evening we have the sunset cruise where we are expected to see the birds etc. I suppose a long lens would be useful then but the light would be too low for any meaningful images.

On the guided tour I am planning to take the small A7R, a wide-angle, a longer zoom, a tripod and an ND filter with me, just in case. Hopefully I will have no problems with that.

Pradeep

I took a boat out to an island in the middle of the river for lunch. Great views, right on the edge of the falls. Highly recommended.

I did the early morning ultralight - no problem taking a camera, but they fly a very fixed route that, while very fun, had nothing to do with getting good photos of the falls.

That trail walk is great. You don't really need a guide as there is just one trail, but it will take you to the base of the falls. Anytime you get near the falls plan on the possibility of getting wet.

Sunset cruise - awesome light for birds. Don't rule this out at all.

And of course plan on getting back in time for a G&T in the evening.


Funny aside - in the early 90's I would stay at the Great Zim hotel on the Zimbabwe side - beautiful classic structure. Stayed there because the Zambia side was too dangerous. Now is it just the opposite. I guess on the bright side, if you wait long enough you'll be able to get whatever angle of the falls you want.

Thanks Steve, that's very helpful. I guess it will also depend upon what the others in the group want to do, but looks like the sunset cruise would also be a lot of fun.

Pradeep

We went in 2004 so things may have changed. Here were my favorite parts:
Helicopter ride over the falls
Breakfast at the Livingstone
Tea on Livingstone Island (in the river near the edge of the falls)
Hike along a trail with a guide
Sunset river cruise on the Africa Queen (where we saw an elephant snorkeling across the river)
Here are a few images from that trip: http://www.mojphoto.com/p744796759
One of the 7 natural wonders of the world.
Mike

Thanks Mike. Just got back yesterday.

The falls on the Zambian side were no more than a trickle, something the agent had not told us about, so we went over to Zimbabwe and Wilderness got one of their guides on that side to hike along the trail. It was spectacular and I can only imagine what the falls would look like in May-June after the rains. For the same reason we did not do any helicopter or similar rides.

The sunset cruise was wonderful, there weren't too many people on our boat although the African Queen was quite full (depends I guess on which boat the agents arrange). It was great viewing although at one point when all the elephants were lined up on the opposite bank drinking water, just as we were crossing over, a jerk in a small motorboat raced too close to them, scattering all the animals away. It would have made a great photo with the entire herd in one single line all along the river bank. THe same thing happened at sunset when one small boat got right in front of ours spoiling the scene. I guess it's not regulated in any way.

The Royal Livingstone was luxury itself, a reminder of the Colonial days. I felt a bit 'guilty' myself, enjoying it, although we were paying quite a bit for it.

We also did a short game drive in the local wildlife park and surprisingly there was quite a bit of game there. They have five rhinos, including two young ones and have a racket going on where the rangers will take you on foot to view them. They have put some grass on the ground so the rhinos stay in the area. You 'tip' the rangers what you like for the opportunity but I am not entirely sure if that's a good thing. However, we did get within thirty feet of the animals. I've never been that close to rhinos on foot before and it was quite thrilling, we had to be ultra careful not to make any noise and stay in single file.

All in all, quite an interesting experience. Thanks all for the very helpful tips.

Pradeep