Dianne Tipping-Woods

The slaughter of millions of American bison is one of the great tragedies in US history.
In 1870, an estimated 10 million to 15 million bison (or buffalo) roamed the Great Plains, where they maintained healthy ecosystems and supported Indigenous lifeways. But as European settlers and hunters advanced west, they massacred the animals for their hides, supplying a booming trade. At the same time, the US government and military backed campaigns to eliminate the species to subju...

Nowhere is the distinct topography of the Okavango Delta more apparent than from the air. A bird’s-eye view gives shape and form to the beauty and diversity in the vast wetland wilderness in the middle of the Kalahari Desert. You get this view if you explore Botswana using air transfers, enjoying a helicopter experience, or combining the two on a once-in-a-lifetime safari.
As the Robinson R44 Raven II helicopter skimmed the grassy verge of a large lagoon and swooped up over the treeline, ther...

A deep dive into where, why, and how whales migrate – and how to protect their blue corridors.

From gray whales undertaking epic transoceanic journeys to minkes navigating shorter, seasonal shifts, whale migrations are deeply entwined with the arc of their lives and the health of the world's oceans...

Exciting new craft beers and small-batch gins are adding their distinctive flavours to southern Africa's sundowner scene. Brewed and distilled just a stone's throw from places like the world-famous Victoria Falls and Okavango Delta, these drinks are inspired by the people and flavours around them. They are fast becoming icons in their own right…

Follow some of southern Africa's most distinctive mammals as they make their annual trek from Nambia's Zambezi Region to Nxai Pans in Botswana.

Driving slowly along a two-track road through a vivid green landscape, we watched a hyena loping off into the distance. It was green season in Botswana's Nxai Pan National Park, and the landscape was a lush mosaic of fresh grasses and wildflowers, animated by bird song and, at night, the chirping of insects and frogs. We'd come for the zebras, and just a few kilometres further, we spotted hundreds of them scattered through the vast, open landscape.

"We visited Twyfelfontein, a massive, open-air art gallery and UNESCO World Heritage Site with one of Africa's largest concentrations of rock art. We hiked boot-striping terrain while tracking black rhinos in the Palmwag Concession, spent hours with desert-adapted elephants in the Huab River, and found lions near the Khowarib Schlucht, a deep canyon formed where the Hoanib River cuts through the mountains east of Khowarib. We visited an old fort-turned-hotel in Sesfontein, slept under st

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Author: Diane Tipping-Woods
When Harvey Williams Jr. started brewing distilling vodka from sweet potatoes in Phillips County, Arkansas, in 2017, he didn't know his grandfather's story. "We were setting up the distillery, and [my dad] came in and said, 'Hey, your granddad used to do moonshine, and this is one of his jugs.' Then he went on to tell the story about how we came by way of getting the farm."
It’s a story that stretches back over five generations, from the brutal era of slavery...

Resources and learning materials from the inaugural six-month Oxpeckers training course are now available to advance data journalism and environmental reporting around the globe

By Dianne Tipping-Woods

In a boost for environmental crime reporting in Southern Africa, journalists who completed the inaugural six-month Oxpeckers course on using data to report on wildlife crime have committed to using their freshly honed skills to keep pushing for access to information in their respective countrie...

Dianne Tipping-Woods takes a close up look at some of the best Botswana Safaris as she reviews three luxury safari camps.
We had landed amid a miracle: late rain falling over Nxai Pan in northeastern Botswana. The parched terrain around the dried-up salt pan sighed with relief as the shower washed the chalky dust off the short shrubs. I was on the safari-of-a-lifetime: a fly-in trip starting in the timeless Nxai Pan National Park landscape and ending in Kasane, a small town near where Botswan...

A decade later, Pigors is on the cusp of releasing a troop of 15 rescued baboons back into the wild in collaboration with Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority. The baboons have been cared for at her wildlife sanctuary, Free To Be Wild, on the outskirts of Bulawayo.
LATE one afternoon in 2013, on a cattle and game ranch in the Midlands province of Zimbabwe, Baye Pigors shot a baboon. It wasn’t the first animal that the trainee guide had shot. But it was the last.
A decade later, Pi...

Written by Dianne Tipping-Woods
On a challenging multi-day hike through Makuya Nature Reserve in northern Limpopo, Dianne Tipping-Woods and seven other women rediscover their wild natures.
Also read: 5 easy hiking trails in Cape Town
The more subtle you are, the more you’re going to fit into this landscape.’ Did naked in the Luvuvhu River count as subtle? I wasn’t sure, but Lowveld Trails Company guide Wayne te Brake, wasn’t around to ask. He’d given our group of eight loosely acquainted wome...

What do you get when you add Pafuri Tented Camp, cold GnTs, an exhausted mom and daughter, and the wilds of northern Kruger? An unforgettable trip and all the inspiration you need to plan a getaway with your mom as soon as possible.
Written by Dianne Tipping-Woods
My mom Brigid and I have an incredible bond, but we spend much of our shared time taking care of work or life logistics. And lately, the logistics have been hectic – moving country, a robbery, life with Parkinson’s Disease, a new ba...

Mariepskop’s story is as convoluted as its trails, as bumpy as its access roads and as compelling as its endless views, as Dianne Tipping-Woods discovered when she decided to head up the mountain and see the Blyde River Canyon from the other side.
Guide Thabelo Sekome was unruffled by my sensory vertigo. He’s taken enough people up to the top of Mariepskop to know they need a few moments to gush, exclaim or stand in awe of the vistas, the fynbos, the aloes or the proteas, ‘I first fell in lov...

The shadow of Mariepskop stretches long and inviting, a siren call for adventurers and nature enthusiasts alike. As the clouds weave their patterns, occasionally granting a peek into the vastness beyond, the horizon seems to whisper tales from ancient times, especially when the distant view reaches as far as Maputo on clearer days.
Please note: We’ve included the prices as a guideline – but although they were correct at the time of travel, they’re liable to change at the owner’s discretion. P...