Zimanga Birds
The original wildlife population has been successfully restored at Zimanga Private Game Reserve. The area is often visited by photographers hoping to capture rhinos, elephants, giraffes, and big cats, which can be observed both on game drives and from the photographic hides built by Bence Máté.
The hides in particular also offer outstanding opportunities for bird photographers. Photography takes place through glass, so the birds are not disturbed. As a result, they come very close, and focal lengths of 100–300 mm are perfectly adequate in the hides.
Mia Surakka served as the tour leader on a photography trip organized by Suomen Kuvausmatkat in November 2025. Surakka, who specializes especially in bird photography, praised the reserve’s bird photography opportunities. Most of the images in Surakka’s collection were taken from the hides.
The Lagoon Hide in particular had a lot of herons. In the small bird hides, you could admire several colorful species. There was a great variety of birds, and it was fascinating to first photograph them and then find out exactly what species had been captured in the images, Surakka says.
