Thinking about hiring a photographer in Zimbabwe for our visit. Have you done that before? Was your experience good, and who did you use?

Have you worked with African-Eye photographers?

I'm going to answer my own question. Now that I've been and returned, I'll confirm that I did hire a photographer for one of our African safaris and it was a pricey splurge that was TOTALLY WORTH THE EXPENSE. I went through African Eye and they assigned us an excellent photographer who was with us from our arrival at the Victoria Falls airport through three nights at our safari lodge in Hwange and returned with us to Victoria Falls. He accompanied us on all game drives and had meals with us and in addition to providing wonderful photos we all will treasure forever, he was an excellent spotter of game on the drives and told us about his life in Africa.

If you're thinking about hiring a photographer and an African safari MAY turn out to be your only one, or you're on it with people special to you (it was our family of four) and making memories you want to preserve, I'll vouch for our experience as a completely positive one.

Thank you for your post, but I'm rather unclear what the service you hired was: 1) Was this a private "photo safari," where the photog was there to help you get better pics by acting as a coach and telling the driver where to be? 2) Was the photog there to capture pics of your family? 3) Was the photog there to capture better pics -- with his own camera -- of what you're seeing than what you'd take yourself? Or some combination of #1-3?

I can see 1, 2 and 3 each being beneficial to different types of people.

I don't see so much benefit in #1. All my safari guides have been great and are well trained on how to get their clients in good position for photography. I guess if you had a mediocre driver, it would be helpful to have a photo guide there to tell the driver where to be.

I actually would put a high value on #2 when traveling generally. It'd be nice to have a pro photog get quality family pics, rather than take your chances handing your camera over to random people who may or may not take good pics.

I personally couldn't care less about #3. I'm a wannabe photog w/ a dSLR. I'm happy with my safari photos from my safaris. They're not Nat Geo photos (you have to spend weeks in the bush to get the perfect Nat Geo photo), but they wow friends and family. I wouldn't place much value on having a collection of photos taken by someone else on my trip, even if they're overall better than my photos. If I wanted better photos than mine, I might as well use stock photos. I like the memories of knowing my photos are mine.

No. 2. I wanted good photos of my family in that environment. We also took our own photos of course, but having photos of US there -- in the bush, at watering holes, with animals, at sunsets and sundowners, at sunrise coffees around the campfire, at dinner under the stars -- for three full days and nights is priceless.

If I had been able to choose the length of time I would have chosen one day, but the logistics required him to travel to the safari camp with us, and leave with us, and spend the three nights there, so he captured us in many settings, and on every game drive, and the photos are candid and excellent and a wonderful memento of our trip.

Very cool. If you have the money, why not?