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      • Africa Overview
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The undiscovered Faroe Islands: One week Itinerary

Highlights for your first visit

Belmond Grand Hibernian: A luxury train journey through Ireland

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Fuck the hustle: Why it’s ok to walk in idleness.

What I do when I don't post on Instagram!

Namibia: The East of Etosha National Park

A Self-Drive Safari

Wolwedans: A Luxury Eco-Tourism Lodge

in Namibia

Namibia: Our first Safari

The magic of close-up encounters with wildlife

Erindi Private Game Reserve

The perfect place for a Safari in Namibia

Tuscany: Off the beaten path with a Tuk-Tuk

#VisitPomarance

A travelling life: On being a contemporary nomad

Chloé NOMADE #ChloeGirls (Advertorial)

On the road through the “Best of the Alps”

Roadtripping Austria, Italy and Germany (Advertorial)

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marionpayr

Travel photographer and storyteller. 📷🖋Empowering womxn to explore & create. Engaging in acts of travel, photography & conservation. Vienna based. Member of @bellcollective. Co-Founder of @printsforwildlife.

Today, Jane Goodall would have been 92. And yet, Today, Jane Goodall would have been 92. And yet, somehow, she still feels profoundly present. In the forests she fought for, in the chimpanzees she gave a voice to, and in all of us who see the natural world a little differently because of her. There are people who change science. And then there are people who change hearts. Jane did both. She showed us that one person, with patience, compassion, and belief, can shift the way the world sees itself. Many of us found our path because of her. In her honor, we are naming April 3rd Goodall Day and launching The Nature of Hope, a global print collection created with the Jane Goodall Institute (@janegoodallinst) and @vital.impacts. This is a collective love letter from photographers around the world whose lives and work were shaped by Jane, carrying forward her mission to protect our planet and helping people reconnect and fall back in love with the natural world. The collection includes rare hand-signed prints by Jane herself, along with a powerful selection of iconic images from some of the world’s most celebrated photographers. Photos by: @britta.jaschinski.photography @kaigner @evgenia_arbugaeva @beverlyjoubert @rachelbigsby @marinacano @suzieszterhas @daisygilardini @janegoodallinst @ggkenya @thejunglechic @tiinaitkonen @amivitale One hundred percent of the profits from Jane’s signed prints will be donated directly to the @janegoodallinst. Proceeds from all other prints will support the Jane Goodall Institute’s Roots & Shoots program and @vital.impacts fellowships, helping to empower the next generation of people working to protect our planet. The sale opens today. Many of the prints are limited and will not be available again. Find all prints here: https://vitalimpacts.org #goodallday #natureofhope #earthmonth
Endless elephant encounters. I don’t think I have Endless elephant encounters. I don’t think I have ever posted so many elephants in a row, but that’s essentially the camera roll you come back with when you travel to Amboseli in Kenya 🐘🇰🇪✨ We had planned to focus fully on elephants during our four days here and we mostly stayed true to that mission (except for some short cheetah interruptions 😉). I didn’t count how many elephants we saw in total, but I would guess it must’ve been in the hundreds. And the encounters never ceased to amazed us. I always come back to one thought: What if we had megafauna like this roam around back home in Austria? How different would our life be, our landscape look, our ecosystem behave? #amboseli #kenya #elephant #wildlifephotography
Standing in the shadow of a giant. 🐘✨ In Amboseli Standing in the shadow of a giant. 🐘✨ In Amboseli we had the incredible honor of meeting TeeJay, one of the last remaining Supertuskers of Amboseli. Seeing those tusks sweep the earth is a reminder of what the world once looked like. With the recent passing of other legends like Craig, bulls like TeeJay are the final guardians of a rare genetic legacy. To be classified as a Supertusker, at least one tusk must weigh more than 100 lbs (45 kg) 🤯 Amboseli is world-renowned for its elephant population and especially for the few remaining supertuskers. However, the population is fragile. Following the natural passing of the legendary bull Craig early this year, every surviving tusker like TeeJay, Esau, and Vronsky becomes even more critical to the gene pool. These older bulls are the primary breeders. When a Supertusker is killed (whether by poaching or legal trophy hunting across the border in Tanzania), it doesn’t just remove one elephant—it removes the big tusk genes from the future of the species. We have to ensure their paths remain safe as they wander between Kenya and Tanzania and their legacy continues.
At the foothills of Mt. Kilimanjaro 🇰🇪 Kilimanjar At the foothills of Mt. Kilimanjaro 🇰🇪 Kilimanjaro is notoriously shy, often hiding behind a layer of clouds or haze, making it hard to photograph at times. But we were lucky and Kilimanjaro revealed itself every day during our stay in Amboseli. Usually the mornings provide the best chance to see the world‘s highest free-standing mountain. In the afternoon the clouds build up around the top, covering the snow covered peak (that is actually standing in Tanzania, but best seen from the Kenyan side in Amboseli). #amboseli #kilimanjaro #mountkilimanjaro #kenya
Elephants of Amboseli, Part 2. I will never get t Elephants of Amboseli, Part 2. I will never get tired of photographing and watching elephants. Their characters, social dynamics and emotional expressions make them fascinating subjects, but more than that, it makes us relate to them in a way akin to human connections. Therefore I also hope you won’t get tired of me sharing some of these touching moments spent with elephants. Today here’s a selection of some of the most incredible elephant encounters we had in Amboseli. Most of them photographed on the dry lake bed in the early morning or late afternoon hours, when we were there completely by ourselves, trying to figure out if all of this was truly real or just another mirage in the heat. Which one is your favorite? #amboseli #kenya
Elephants commute on Amboseli‘s dry lake bed 🇰🇪🐘 Elephants commute on Amboseli‘s dry lake bed 🇰🇪🐘 There is a specific kind of silence that only exists in the dust of Amboseli. Getting out of the car on the lake and lying down to watch the elephants crossing is one of the most reflective moments you can have. There’s nothing but the sound of the wind and sometimes the soft rumble of the matriarch vocalizing where to go to her herd. The name Amboseli actually comes from the Maasai word Empusel, which means „salty, dusty place“. And the dry lake bed is the icon, the symbol for it all. This vast pan is a remnant of a massive Pleistocene lake. Today, it only fills during the heavy long rains (that typically run from March to May), transforming from a cracked desert into a shallow, shimmering oasis. The ecology here is a delicate balancing act: It’s a landscape defined by transition—shifting from dust to water, and back again. When Lake Amboseli dries out, the survival of the ecosystem shifts. Water from the snows of Mt. Kilimanjaro filters through volcanic rock and emerges as permanent swamps on the Eastern side of lake Amboseli. And this is where elephants are headed for water. Throughout the day, the herds commute across the vast, cracked salt pans of the lake bed—a direct, open highway connecting their grazing plains on the Western side of the lake to the life-giving, spring-fed swamps in the East. They move with an ancient, quiet intelligence, following paths that have likely been walked by their ancestors for centuries. Watching them traverse is pure magic ✨ #kenya #amboseli #amboselinationalpark #elephants
Amboseli elephant magic 🐘 This ecosystem is one o Amboseli elephant magic 🐘 This ecosystem is one of the few places in Africa where the elephant age structure remains undisturbed, meaning we get to see Super Tuskers and massive family herds led by experienced matriarchs. In most parts of Africa, poaching and historical culling (managed thinning of herds) specifically targeted the largest elephants—usually the oldest matriarchs and the „Super Tusker“ bulls—because they carried the most ivory. This left many populations skewed and there aren’t many places where you can find super tuskers anymore. Amboseli is a rare time capsule. Because the Amboseli Trust for Elephants (@amboseli_trust) has been on the ground since 1972, they have a family tree for almost every elephant in the park. This constant human presence also acted as a massive deterrent to poachers during the ivory crises of the 70s and 80s. Founded by Cynthia Moss, this is the longest-running study of wild elephants in the world 🙌🏼 They’ve tracked over 3,000 individuals, giving us most of what we know about elephant social structure and brilliance. With the population currently thriving at over 1,900 individuals, Amboseli is a rare conservation success story! ✨ #amboseli #kenya
Touchdown in Amboseli, Kenya 🇰🇪 There’s complex Touchdown in Amboseli, Kenya 🇰🇪 There’s complex places in the world and Amboseli certainly is one of those. Fed by the subterranean meltwater of Kilimanjaro, Amboseli is home to massive swamps that serve as permanent lifelines in a sea of dust. The contrasts couldn’t be more stark. You can go from the dried out lake bed that seems like nothing could survive on it to emerald green swamps teeming with life within minutes in Amboseli. But the beauty hides a complex challenge: as the climate shifts and population grows, the pressure on the ecosystem intensifies. The Reality: The park itself is only 392 km2, but the wildlife relies on a surrounding area twenty times that size. Those critical wildlife dispersal areas and corridors are heavily fragmented—in terms of land ownership and economic uses—which creates massive challenges for conservation efforts. Large-scale agricultural developments (like avocado farming) are threatening to block elephant movement (and that’s just one of the challenges Amboseli is facing). The survival of Amboseli’s flora and fauna depends largely on the economic benefit-sharing with local communities. If the Maasai people—who have lived alongside these animals for centuries—cannot find a sustainable livelihood through conservation, the fences will continue to go up, and Amboseli as we know it might vanish. #amboseli #kenya
Never not loving a visit at @sheldricktrust ♥️ (Un Never not loving a visit at @sheldricktrust ♥️ (Unpaid advertisement) Visiting an animal orphanage is a dream for many travelers, but the reality is that the „sanctuary“ industry is often a mask for exploitation. It can be hard to tell an unethical orphanage from a true sanctuary. Here is why Sheldrick is widely respected by conservationists: • The goal is reintegration: The clear mission here is to rewild all orphans. Once the elephants are old enough, they move to reintegration units in Tsavo National Park to slowly join wild herds, that are constantly monitored. • Limited human interaction: To prevent the elephants from becoming too habituated to humans, public visits are limited to one hour per day. • Hands-Off Policy: Visitors are kept behind a rope cordon. You are there to observe their natural social play and feeding, not to pet, ride or bathe them. How can you tell if a sanctuary is ethical? Before you book an animal experience, look for these RED FLAGS 🚩 that indicate a place may be putting profits over welfare: 🚩 Direct interaction: If you can ride it, hug it, bathe it, or take a selfie with an animal it’s not a sanctuary. Ethical places keep a distance to ensure animals don’t become too accustomed to humans to survive in the wild. 🚩 Constant supply of babies: If there are always „orphaned“ newborns, it could be a breeding facility in disguise. Make sure to check backstories on rescues! 🚩 No rewilding strategy: A real orphanage wants to put itself out of a job for that animal. If there is no plan for release or long-term care in a natural habitat, it’s a zoo with better branding. 🚩 Performance for crowds: If animals are forced to perform tricks, paint pictures, or parade for visitors on a schedule that lasts all day, they are being exploited. 🚩 Lack of transparency: Ethical sanctuaries are clear about where their funding goes (conservation) and where their animals come from. Pro Tip: If you plan to visit the Nairobi Nursery, remember that advance booking is mandatory and usually fills up weeks (or months) in advance. You can book directly through their official website.
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