Big Picture St Helena Island Tours - Hiking and Photography

Big Picture St Helena Island Tours offers a photography themed, guided hiking tour experience of St Helena. An opportunity to hike the island’s well-established post boxes, as well as exploring different scenic walks in other parts of the island.

Big Picture Tours is the newest part of our What The Saints Did Next adventure, combining two activities we’re always doing – photography and hiking.

Big Picture Tours – guided tour around the Diana’s Peak National Park.

Photography Hiking Tours

Photography hiking tours is a natural blend for us, something we’ve actually been doing informally for many years before starting Big Picture Tours. We’ve played walking tour guides to both locals and visitors to St Helena on a regular basis, especially since starting our blog in 2015.

Photography guidance on our tour is, of course, optional. There are many who prefer just the guided walk element of the tour, which is absolutely fine.

Click Here to Download our FREE Post Box Walks of St Helena map

How To Take Better Landscapes

Those who choose the photography option, can expect the following:

First it’s important to note, our photography assistance/guidance is aimed at beginners to intermediate users. Competent enthusiasts will already be familiar with the topics and techniques we share.

We begin with an introductory talk on the basics of photography. How to compose good landscape pictures, tips for documenting your own walk and advice on how to get the best from your camera.

The advice is generic. Whether you’re Canon or Nikon, mobile or DSLR – the suggestions generally work for all.

Big Picture Tours – includes photography tips on how to capture the best landscapes of St Helena.

Big Picture Tours – photography tips on on a guided tour to Blue Point post box.

Big Picture Tours – amazing coastal views on a guided hike to Lot’s Wife’s Ponds post box.

Click Here for Hiking Wear & Gear we use and recommend from Amazon

Hiking on Severe Terrain

We then begin the hike which is chosen based on abilities within the group.

On St Helena most of our walks can include a combination of narrow pathways, uneven terrain, steep gradients and cliffs or severe drop-offs. Even visitors who are experienced walkers with a good level of fitness can sometimes struggle with the severity of terrain on St Helena, especially those nervous with heights.

We will do our best to work out competencies in advance so we can provide a suitable walk.

The pace of the walks are designed to be enjoyable. We take regular rest stops when needed and will suggest good photography spots and local features along the way. Photography advice is also available as and when required throughout the walk.

Big Picture Tours – coastal hike to Cox’s Battery post box.

Knowledgeable Tour Guides

As St Helenians, born on St Helena but with experience living and working on nearby Ascension Island and in the UK, we offer a rounded perspective of the island. Sharing insights into life on St Helena are part of the tour, one of the most enjoyable aspects for us.

As well as bloggers who document the life and culture of St Helena, we have also worked as journalists on the island and operated in local private business for 15 years. Photography has been an ever-present, but until recently we were also film-makers, producing documentaries about the island, the first of which was cut in 1996.

Difficulty of Hike

On St Helena each of the 21 post box walks have been allocated a grading of 1 (easy) to 10 (very challenging) for both effort and terrain.

Lot’s Wife’s Ponds (effort 6/10, terrain 8/10) or the Longwood Barn (effort 8/10, terrain 9/10), are two examples of the more challenging walks.

Blue Point (effort and terrain 3/10) and Peak Dale (effort 3/10, terrain 2/10) are both less daunting.

Spectacular views though, are not tied to these ratings. Blue Point, for example, is breath-taking.

Purely from a safety perspective, we are reluctant to take inexperienced hikers on the more difficult trails without a face-to-face discussion about the route ahead of time.

Big Picture Tours – descending the rope on a guided hike to Lot’s Wife’s Ponds post box.

Booking A Big Picture Hiking and Photography Tour

Booking an excursion with Big Picture St Helena Island Tours is easy. Just use the contact form here on the blog to get in touch, supplying your dates, numbers and type of hike you are interested in.

Based on your enquiry we can make suggestions on which walks might be suitable, time of year weather considerations and other local factors that might affect plans.

We look forward to hearing from you.