Normally going to a safari park means driving around in your own car taking photos out of your window – unless you’re in the places where the animals eat you, where instead, you have to take photos through a (probably) dirty window, complete with wonderful reflections and optical impurities.

Thankfully someone invented the Big Cat Photographic VIP Experience. Now you get to take photos unobstucted, and close up view of all of the animals that might eat you. But the results are incredible.

Apart from being a really great experience being that close to animals that you’d normally see behind a lot of protection, it also gave me a chance to try out my relatively new Canon RF 800mm f11, along with the even newer Canon RF 70-200 f2.8L – both of them made light work of getting super sharp shots on the Canon EOS R.

Longleat Safari Park Tiger
Tiger sitting on a log
Longleat Safari Park Tiger
Tiger closeup face, black and white
Longleat Safari Park Tiger
Tiger sitting on a log again
Longleat Safari Park Tiger
Tiger closeup face
Longleat Safari Park Tiger
Tiger standing on a log
Longleat Safari Park Tiger
Tiger laughing on a log
Longleat Safari Park Tiger
Tiger stretching on a log
Longleat Safari Park Tiger
Tiger hiding in the trees
Longleat Safari Park Tiger
Tiger closeup black and white
Longleat Safari Park Lion
Lions sitting together
Longleat Safari Park Lion
Lion sitting in the shade

If you get the chance to go on one of these VIP experiences I’d certainly recommend it, the kind of shots you can get are infinitely better than what you can get in your car or at a normal zoo.