The Overseas Adventure Travel (OAT) “Ultimate Africa” trip was from December 14, 2025 to January 1, 2026. The rest we organized ourselves. The shrewd observers amongst you would notice the date gap from December 12 to December 14: We were in Pretoria waiting for the OAT trip to start.
South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia & Botswana — Christmas Safari 2025
We’ve booked our Christmas vacation this year to South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Botswana — another round of safaris, with some extra time in Cape Town. No kids this time, but Sarah and I will be joined by her sister Victoria. She’s easily one of my top four favourite sisters-in-law, so it should be fun.
Most of the safari part (the “lion’s share”?) of the trip is organized by Overseas Adventure Travel (OAT) — the same company that handled our Peru and Ecuador trip last year. All the reviews of their Africa tours have been very positive, so our expectations are high.
This page is mainly a test of the new camera and a refresher on how to update the website. Unlike our Peru and Ecuador trip, I’m going to make an effort to post updates as we go. I’m still annoyed at myself for losing my notes from that last trip.
The New Camera Gear
Earlier this year, I replaced my old Olympus OM-D EM5 II with an OM System OM-1. I’d planned to get the latest EM5 replacement travel camera, but OM System were clearing out the OM-1, and it was only about $100 more than what I intended to spend — an easy decision as the OM-1 is a much better camera than what I was considering.
My lens lineup includes:
a new M.Zuiko 12–100mm f/4 PRO
a new M.Zuiko 100–400mm f/5-6.3 IS II
a lens from my old gear: Leica DG Summilux 25mm f/1.4 prime
I agonized over buying the 100–400mm lens, but finally picked it up during this year’s Black Friday sales — thanks largely to Thomas Eisl’s excellent YouTube review. Since the OM-1 has a Micro Four Thirds sensor, the 35mm equivalent doubles the lens focal length — giving me an equivalent coverage of 24–800mm when combining both zoom lenses.
The new setup is larger and heavier than my old kit, and I hope the weight doesn’t become an issue. I’m going to stick with a wrist camera strap rather than a neck or shoulder strap, so I’ll only look a little like a camera-toting tourist.
Camera Test Runs
To put the OM-1, and particularly the larger zoom lens through its paces, Sarah and I took our grandson to the Calgary Zoo a few weeks ago. Then, back home in Victoria, I headed to Swan Lake for some bird photography. I’m still working on capturing a sharp bird-in-flight shot: stay tuned.
As before, the photos here are on a slider — use the keyboard left and right arrows, or swipe right on your touch screen to progress to the next picture.
Note: There’s no post-processing on these images. The camera produces both JPG and RAW files; these are straight-from-camera JPGs, resized only to fit the website.
Meercat at Calgary zoo
Lioness at Calgary zoo through a chainlink fence
Western Lowland Gorilla at Calgary zoo
Western Lowland Gorilla at Calgary Zoo
Bald Eagle near Swan Lake, Victoria
I think this is a Ring Necked duck. Swan Lake, Victoria
Lots wrong here. This is why I want to practise! Not fast enough shutter speed, and it's flying the wrong way... but it was the only thing flying that I could catch
