TheTravelBlog.at logo refresh 2024 - small, text on the right, beige at
  • Destinations
    • Overview
    • Europe
      • Austria
      • Belgium
      • Denmark
      • France
      • Germany
      • Iceland
      • Ireland
      • Italy
      • Norway
      • Portugal
      • Slovakia
      • Spain
      • Sweden
      • Switzerland
      • United Kingdom
    • Africa
      • Africa Overview
      • Botswana
      • Cape Verde
      • Kenya
      • Morocco
      • Namibia
      • Rwanda
      • South Africa
      • Zambia
      • Zimbabwe
    • America
      • Aruba
      • The Bahamas
      • Cuba
      • Mexico
      • United States of America
    • Asia
      • Azerbaijan
      • Bhutan
      • India
      • Japan
      • Jordan
      • Malaysia
      • Maldives
      • Myanmar
      • Taiwan
      • Thailand
      • Turkey
      • United Arab Emirates
  • Safaris & Wildlife
  • Hotels
  • About & Contact
  • Destinations
    • Overview
    • Europe
      • Austria
      • Belgium
      • Denmark
      • France
      • Germany
      • Iceland
      • Ireland
      • Italy
      • Norway
      • Portugal
      • Slovakia
      • Spain
      • Sweden
      • Switzerland
      • United Kingdom
    • Africa
      • Africa Overview
      • Botswana
      • Cape Verde
      • Kenya
      • Morocco
      • Namibia
      • Rwanda
      • South Africa
      • Zambia
      • Zimbabwe
    • America
      • Aruba
      • The Bahamas
      • Cuba
      • Mexico
      • United States of America
    • Asia
      • Azerbaijan
      • Bhutan
      • India
      • Japan
      • Jordan
      • Malaysia
      • Maldives
      • Myanmar
      • Taiwan
      • Thailand
      • Turkey
      • United Arab Emirates
  • Safaris & Wildlife
  • Hotels
  • About & Contact

Beyond Observation: The Rise of Educational Safaris in Africa

andBeyond WILDeconomy masterclass (Advertisement)

Patina Maldives: A design retreat for the cosmopolitan traveller

(Advertisement)

The mighty Victoria Falls: A responsible travel guide

Ethical & sustainable travel choices

Summer bucket list 2024

Travel tips for your summer holidays

Ski-in, ski-out at TOP Hotel Hochgurgl

Located at 2,150 meters above sea level (Advertisement)

Exploring Ireland in winter

A trip to Howth, The Burren & Kildare with Tourism Ireland (Advertisement)

Where to stay in Ireland

Unique Accommodations from Ireland's Blue Book (Advertisement)

How to go on ethical elephant safari in Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe

On safari with African Bush Camps (Advertisement, Press trip)

High altitude hotels: Austria’s highest mountain retreats

White Christmas (almost) guaranteed

Remote Maldives: A stay in the Thaa Atoll

COMO Maalifushi (Advertisement | Press trip)

1 2 3 4 … 22
logo favicon small weiss
Thank you for visiting thetravelblog.at!

Search on thetravelblog.at:

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.

Island stopover at Little Vumbura Camp. (@wearewil Island stopover at Little Vumbura Camp. (@wearewilderness | Advertisement) It’s a short cruise by boat through narrow channels filled to the brim with water lilies to arrive at the island getaway. We navigate through the reeds and maybe our captain gets lost once for a bit, but then suddenly an island appears. This is where Little Vumbura is located. It’s an intimate camp with just six rooms and a strong focus on water activities. I can see why it’s such a popular camp immediately. The atmosphere on this private island—only shared with wildlife—surrounded by shimmering waterways is special. This feels like quintessential Okavango delta. #WeAreWilderness
#Wilderness
#WildernessDestinations #WildernessLittleVumbura #OkavangoDelta #Botswana
Elephant encounters in the Okavango delta, Botswan Elephant encounters in the Okavango delta, Botswana 🇧🇼 (@wearewilderness | Advertisement) That second photo might be my favorite. A small detail, a fleeting moment. Yet a gentle reminder how things are connected in the simplest way ✨ Even though elephants are huge and need to eat 100-200 kilos of food daily, they’re surprisingly picky and selective feeders, not just mindless grazers. They don’t just eat any grass or bark — they actively choose the most nutritious, tender, and palatable parts of plants they can find. In a savanna with 100+ species of plants, elephants might repeatedly select only a handful of species they know are digestible and rich in energy. Because they only have a limited number of molar sets in a lifetime, they also avoid excessively hard, fibrous material until they have no choice. So although they eat vast quantities, they spend most of their day (16–18 hours!) feeding and walking to find the right plants, because they’re constantly balancing energy intake, water needs, and tooth wear. Watching them is one of the most magical things you can do on a safari. The way their social bonds work, how they clean roots or splash water—every single encounter is meaningful and can be a lesson in awareness. #WeAreWilderness
#Wilderness
#WildernessDestinations #WildernessVumburaPlains #OkavangoDelta #Botswana #AfricaSafari #IconicPlaces #WildlifeConservation
Conservation & co-existence in the Okavango delta, Conservation & co-existence in the Okavango delta, Botswana 🚁✨ (@wearewilderness | Advertisement) During my time at Wilderness Vumbura Plains I had the privilege to experience something truly special — a journey into the villages of the Okavango delta, where two coexistence projects show how communities and wildlife can thrive together. Getting there by helicopter was already half the fun (although it took our pilots a while to find our designated landing spot near a boma, which was well hidden in the shrubs and bushes 😅). From the air, the delta unfolded in all its beauty… but below, the realities of living among lions and elephants come to life. 🦁🐘 At CLAWS (Communities Living Among Wildlife Sustainably @clawsconservancy), we visited a cattle boma project that’s drastically reduced lion attacks on livestock — while empowering the herders, who proudly showed us their cows and told stories of their life herding cattle in an area with over 18,000 elephants. Each day they bring their cows to their grazing grounds needs to be carefully planned and executed. But at night the cattle now remains safe in the Boma. Then, in the traditional Hambukushu village of Eretsha, Life With Elephants (@lifewithelephantstour) shared moving stories of coexistence — elders and farmers who’ve faced unimaginable danger with an undeniable resilience (and a sprinkle of humor). They showed us how they produce chili-bricks made with cooking oil and elephant dung to deter wildlife from their farms and how they hide from elephants when necessary. And yet they value the wildlife despite the dangers. It’s their deep knowledge of the land that reminds us what sustainable, people-driven conservation really looks like. This was a rare insight into how people and wildlife share space and resources in a way that honours both and I’m thankful I got the chance to experience this thanks to @wearewilderness who are working closely with these organisations. #WeAreWilderness
#Wilderness
#WildernessDestinations #WildernessVumburaPlains #Botswana #OkavangoDelta #SustainableTourism #CLAWS #LifeWithElephants #WildlifeConservation #EnvironmentalImpact
Sighting of my dreams ✨ (On safari with @wearewi Sighting of my dreams ✨ (On safari with @wearewilderness | Advertisement). A massive Keitumetse (thank you!) goes to my guide Kabo for making this happen 😍 When I arrived at Vumbura Plains I told Kabo that I’m dreaming of a sighting of a leopard in a tree. But secretly I was hoping for a special tree, one with large beautiful branches, standing tall in front of a clear background and unfolding in front of us in soft light. I never tell my guides these secret wishes, it’s enough pressure to find a leopard and then hope it ascends a tree per se, the rest is more than luck 😅 So one evening while we were watching a troop of baboons playfully get ready for their night up in the trees Kabo receives a radio call. There‘s a leopard in a tree, but at the far reaches of the private concession. The message comes in Setswana, so I don’t understand it of course. But I’m not alone. With me is Attorney Vasco, Botswana PR and Community Relations Manager at Wilderness. And he immediately laughs and turns towards me asking me: „are you ready“? „For what!?“ I ask, and he answers „A Ferrari Safari.“ 😅 I sense there’s a reason for such urgency, so I laugh and say „Of course“ and off we go speeding through the open plains. Kabo tells me we might not make it in time… so I’m only cautiously hopeful 🫠 And then when the last rays of sun had already vanished we see a car next to a tree in the distance and I hope it means what I belief it might mean: that there’s a leopard up in that tree. The last light is illuminating the landscape in a pale rosé color and there she is. An incredible female leopard up in a stunning Sycamore fig tree. We have about five minutes before she decides it’s time for her evening hunt and descends the tree and disappears into the night, but those minutes were precious ♥️ Photo settings: ISO 14400, 460 mm, 0 ev, f/6, 1/1600 s Shot on @nikondach Z8 with NIKKOR Z 180-600mm f5.6-6.3 VR lens. #WeAreWilderness
#Wilderness
#WildernessDestinations #WildernessVumburaPlains #OkavangoDelta #Botswana #nikondach #nikoncreator
Let me introduce you to #WildernessVumburaPlains 🇧🇼 (@wearewilderness | Advertisement) This is one of Wilderness’ flagship camps in Botswana with access to a private concession in the Okavango delta and excellent game viewing year-round, with land and water based activities. One of the most inspiring parts of my stay at Wilderness Vumbura Plains was seeing first-hand how deeply conservation and community are connected here. This lodge isn’t just a beautiful place in the heart of the Okavango — it’s built on land leased from five local villages, whose chiefs and people are true partners in protecting this incredible wilderness. While I was there, the community chiefs were actually meeting at the lodge to discuss fishing rights for their communities — a powerful reminder that this land is not just a safari destination, but a home, and that conservation only works when it works for the people too. I also got the chance to take part in a community visit, which I’ll share soon, so stay tuned. #WeAreWilderness
#Wilderness
#WildernessDestinations #OkavangoDelta #Botswana #AfricaSafari #IconicPlaces
Back to Botswana with @wearewilderness 🇧🇼 (A Back to Botswana with @wearewilderness 🇧🇼 (Advertisement). Seeing African wild dogs is one of the most incredible privileges to have on a safari. They are inquisitive and social animals, but boy they move fast. Tracking them is often an impossible undertaking. When they’re on the move you can easily lose them within seconds. They cross through dense bushes, jump over channels and just never stop 😅 On this occasion we were lucky. They had come to a pond to drink and stumbled not just upon us, but also a lioness with a carcass of a wildebeest. And so they decided to stick around in hopes of getting lucky to steal a bit of food from the sole female. They sat down, vocalizing, letting her know they were there and they were hungry. This game lasted for about an hour before they eventually got chased off by the lioness. We followed them when they ran off, but lost them about 2 minutes into their hunt 😅 #WeAreWilderness
#Wilderness
#WildernessDestinations #WildernessTubuTree @thejaoreserve #TubuTreeCamp #JaoReserve #OkavangoDelta #Botswana #AfricaSafari #IconicPlaces #WildlifeConservation
A little time out at @hotel_das_tegernsee. (Adver A little time out at @hotel_das_tegernsee. (Advertisement) Escaping the city heat or the more important question to contemplate: what would Bavarians say to „Brezn“ for breakfast? 🥨😅 To be honest, we were hoping for a bit of a coolcation (oh my those trendy tourism words), meaning just getting out of the city to a cool place in nature. Vienna was meltingly hot for most of June and when we booked the trip we were craving some time at a lake in a cooler climate in the mountains. Well, our wishes were granted. 😅 But maybe Tegernsee took it a bit too seriously with the cooling off!? 🌧️ To be fair most of Central Europe got struck with a cold rainy front the last few days, which meant we couldn’t go for a swim in the lake or take a boat ride. Instead we ate our way through the day (and @hotel_das_tegernsee has some of the best hotel food we had in a while, the chanterelle pasta will be imprinted in my memory forever I think!! 😍). We relaxed at the pool, joined a sound meditation class and just spent time cuddling on the couch of our incredible suite. It looks like we have to return to also be able to enjoy the terrace with the views over the lake next time 😉 I certainly wouldn’t mind! #tegernsee #dastegernsee
The news I’ve been wanting to share: @printsforw The news I’ve been wanting to share: @printsforwildlife is coming back in 2025! ♥️ This has been a long time coming. Months and years of preparation, but finally it’s here. We are bringing back the fundraiser in a year full of challenges and despair. This time, the threat is quieter but no less urgent. Around the globe, political decisions are unraveling decades of conservation work. Protections are being reversed. Funding is vanishing overnight. Nature is being commodified, and communities are being left behind. We believe photography can be a powerful form of resistance, a reminder of what’s at stake and what’s still possible. We feel the responsibility to bring back hope. ♥️ Together we will join forces to unite some of the world’s most celebrated wildlife & conservation photographers alongside new talents to sell photo prints for the security of biodiversity, wildlife and the benefit of people. We’ll come back with a new purpose, but the same philosophy: To give back to nature. Stay tuned for more soon! #printsforwildlife Photos by: @erikaexplores @willembakhuysroozeboom @scottramsay.africa
Mokoro rides into sunset… a Botswana classic 🛶 (On safari with @wearewilderness | Advertisement). It took 6 years for me to return to Botswana to finally do what I had set out to do there in the first place. But remember, in 2019 I couldn’t go on a Mokoro as there was no water due to a massive drought. But this year I finally could go. 🙌🏼 Mokoro rides are the quintessential Okavango delta activity. The Mokoro boats used to be dugout canoes made entirely from one piece of wood, but for sustainability reasons they’re now made of fiberglass. Covered in brown lacquer they still resemble the traditional mokoros though… ☺️ The specialty is the poling. There’s no paddles, but long wooden poles used to navigate the boats through the shallow water of the channels. It takes special training to become a poler on a Mokoro and not all the guides have it. My guide Lucas joined us on his own Mokoro, but he’s not allowed to take guests, arguing „with my lack of balance that wouldn’t be a good idea“ 😅 So we make our way through the channels, two mokoros side by side, Lucas explaining things while trying not to topple his Mokoro, me in a separate boat with an expert poler. And not long after a bull elephant decides to cross the water in front of us. We keep a safe distance, letting him feed and drink casually (all while trying not to inhale too many midges, that fly around us in swarms 😅). It’s a little buggy, but the serenity of the elephant in the water towering above us makes me forget everything around me. This was worth waiting 6 years for in case someone’s wondering ✨🙌🏼 #WeAreWilderness
#Wilderness
#WildernessDestinations #WildernessTubuTree @thejaoreserve #TubuTreeCamp #JaoReserve #OkavangoDelta #Botswana #AfricaSafari #mokoro
Follow on Instagram

  • Imprint / Impressum
© THETRAVELBLOG.at 2016-2025. Unauthorized use of any photos or texts on this website are not allowed without written consent of Marion Payr.
|
Back to top
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept All”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent.
Cookie SettingsAccept AllReject All
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
CookieDurationDescription
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional11 monthsThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy11 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Others
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
SAVE & ACCEPT