My 55,000+ Safari Photos: From Chaos to a Perfectly Sorted Wildlife Journal in Under an Hour!

An honest review of PhotoGlobe Sorter from an amateur safari photographer in South Africa.

"That first time I saw a leopard up close in the Kruger, heart pounding, camera clicking... I must have taken 300 photos! Over seven years, those magical moments piled up. Kruger, Addo, Kgalagadi, Pilanesberg... Thousands of shots of elephants, lions, rhinos, incredible birds. But try finding 'that specific photo of the cheetah cub in Kgalagadi from 2022.' Impossible! My digital photo archive was a complete disaster, a monument to disorganisation. It was driving me absolutely crazy."

Sawubona! My name is Thabo. My passion is wildlife photography. Every year, I try to visit at least two or three national parks and game reserves here in beautiful South Africa. Kruger National Park, Addo Elephant Park, Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, Pilanesberg... I've been fortunate to see so much incredible wildlife.

But my passion had a dark side: a mountain of unorganised digital photos. This article is my story of how I finally conquered that mountain, not with an expensive cloud subscription or complex software, but with a clever little program called PhotoGlobe Sorter, which cost me a mere €39 (about R780, one-time payment).

My Problem: A Tangle of 55,000+ Safari Moments

My biggest frustration? My wife, Nomusa, would often say, "Remember that beautiful photo of the lioness hunting in the Kruger, from our trip in 2020? I want to print it!"

I would sigh. I'd open my "Kruger Trip" folder, and find hundreds of photos from *other* parks, mixed in with blurry shots of my breakfast. I'd have to scroll through thousands of IMG_XXXX.NEF or DSC_XXXX.CR2 files. It was an absolute nightmare. Forget trying to find a specific birding photo or comparing the wildlife sightings between my 2019 and 2023 Addo trips.

I needed a way to organize my safari photos by national park. I needed an automatic photo sorter by location (geotagging). The problem of sorting thousands of animal photos was taking away the joy of my hobby.

I was desperate for a tool that could handle bulk categorizing wildlife pictures by GPS, and help me find that specific safari photo in a huge archive.

What I Tried Before (And Why It Failed for Wildlife Photographers)

I'm an IT professional, so I know my way around software. But even I was struggling to find a solution for my particular needs as an amateur safari photographer.

Alternative I Tried	Why It Didn't Work for My Safaris
Manual Sorting in Windows	With 55,000+ RAW files, this is simply not feasible. I tried it for a weekend and just gave up. You'd need months, not hours.
Google Photos	It's great for some things, but I have 750 GB of RAW files. Uploading that to Google Photos is slow, expensive (subscription!), and I prefer my photos to stay on my local drives. I wanted an alternative to Google Photos for wildlife photography that was offline.
Adobe Lightroom	Excellent for professional editing, but I don't need all those features just to *organize* my files. It's overkill, complicated, and another costly monthly subscription I don't need.

I stumbled upon PhotoGlobe Sorter while desperately searching for "best photo organizer for wildlife photographers" that used location data. What caught my eye wasn't just the incredible €39 one-time payment, but a screenshot of its "Structure Builder" feature.

It allowed me to drag and drop "bricks" to create my desired folder structure. I saw a "City" brick. That was it! My iPhone (and even my camera, with a GPS attachment) tags photos with "Kruger National Park", "Addo Elephant Park", "Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park" as the "City" or "Place" in the metadata.

This meant I could finally tell the software: "Create a folder for each National Park, then sort by year and month inside!" This was the exact precise control I needed to finally organize my photos from Kruger, Addo, and Kgalagadi National Parks.

My Experience: 7 Years of Wildlife Photography Sorted in 45 Minutes

I purchased the license immediately (after testing the free 500-photo trial, of course). Here's a step-by-step account of how I processed my 55,670 safari photos.

Step 1: Building My "Safari Journal" Structure (10 Minutes)

This is where the magic happens. In the "Organize Photos" section, I used the "Structure Builder". I dragged and dropped the elements to create my perfect wildlife archive:

Country → Region/State → City (This is where the Park name goes!) → Year → Month → Day

This was exactly what I needed. It would automatically create folders like `South Africa > Mpumalanga > Kruger National Park > 2023 > 05_May > 15_Wednesday`.

I also checked the option for "Rename Files" to include the location and date. So, a file like DSC_4567.CR2 would become 2023-05-15_Kruger_Lion_Sighting.CR2 (I can add my own text too!). This would be invaluable for finding specific moments.

Step 2: Geotagging the Old Shots (About 1.5 Hours)

The software relies on GPS data. My newer gear has it, but my older DSLR (before 2019) didn't. This meant about 8,000 photos were labelled "Unknown Location".

PhotoGlobe Sorter has a "Geotagging" tool. I spent about 90 minutes over a Sunday afternoon, selecting batches of old photos (e.g., all my 2018 Addo photos), clicking on the Addo Elephant Park on the map, and applying the geotag. It was a bit tedious, but a crucial one-time effort for perfect organisation.

Step 3: The Big Sort (45 Minutes and 3 Seconds)

I selected my multiple messy hard drives as the "Source" and a brand new 2TB external SSD as the "Destination." I clicked "Start Sorting."

The progress screen showed it processing 20.5 photos per second! I went to check on my braai and had a quick chat with my neighbour.

Total time for 55,670 files (RAW and JPEG): 45 minutes and 3 seconds.

Step 4: The Result (Pure Joy)

I opened the new SSD. And there it was. Beautifully organised. Every majestic animal, every breathtaking landscape, perfectly filed away.

I could finally navigate my memories like a true wildlife expert:

D:\Safari_Archive\South Africa\Mpumalanga\Kruger National Park\2023\05_May\15_Wednesday\

...and instantly find that incredible lioness photo. Or compare my Addo sightings:

D:\Safari_Archive\South Africa\Eastern Cape\Addo Elephant National Park\2022\
D:\Safari_Archive\South Africa\Eastern Cape\Addo Elephant National Park\2024\

It was a revelation. My digital photo organization for nature photographers was finally solved!

What I Absolutely LOVE (The "Safari Photographer" Highlights)

1. The "City" (Park/Reserve) Sorting is a Game-Changer!
   This is the ultimate feature for me. The software reads the exact name of the national park or game reserve from the photo's GPS metadata. So, "Kruger National Park", "Addo Elephant Park", "Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park" are automatically created as folders. This is the only way to effectively organize photos by national park or reserve.
2. ONE-TIME Payment (€39)! NO SUBSCRIPTION!
   I cannot stress this enough. R780 once (approximate, depending on exchange rate), and it's mine forever. No more monthly bills for photo management. This is huge for a hobbyist like me. The perfect one-time payment photo sorting software.
3. 100% OFFLINE. My Photos Stay Mine.
   No cloud uploads. My 750 GB of precious RAW files stay on my physical hard drives. This gives me complete peace of mind and full control over my intellectual property. The ideal offline photo organizer for Windows.
4. Lightning Fast Processing.
   Sorting 55,000+ RAW files in under an hour? That's seriously impressive. My PC's CPU and SSD were working hard, but the software handled it with ease.
5. The PDF Report (A Cool Bonus).
   After the sort, it generates a PDF. It includes a "heatmap" of where all my photos were taken in South Africa. You could clearly see big red clusters over Kruger, Addo, and Kgalagadi. It was a beautiful visualisation of my photographic journeys!

What's Not Perfect (Every Safari Has a Few Bumps)

To be completely honest, here are a few minor downsides I noted:

• Windows Only.
  This is a shame. Many photographers use Macs. My friend, who also does safaris, has a MacBook and cannot use this fantastic software.
• No Built-in Photo Viewer/Editor.
  This is strictly an *organising* tool. It doesn't have a sophisticated photo viewer like other software, nor does it allow for editing. You'll need other software (like Adobe Bridge or your favourite RAW editor) for that. (For me, this is a plus as it keeps the software lightweight and focused.)
• Initial Geotagging Can Be Tedious.
  If you have many old photos without GPS data, manually geotagging them can take time. It's a one-time effort, but be prepared to spend an hour or two on it.

Who Is This For? (My Honest Opinion)

FAQ - Questions I Had Before Buying

Here are some common questions I had, and the answers I've found.

Q: Does it recognise South African National Parks as "cities"?
A: Yes! My iPhone and camera's GPS metadata clearly tag photos with "Kruger National Park", "Addo Elephant National Park", "Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park". The software reads this perfectly and creates folders with these names. It's brilliant for sorting photos by game reserve.

Q: What about photos from different gates within Kruger (e.g., Phabeni, Orpen)?
A: This depends on how your camera/phone records the GPS data. Most just tag "Kruger National Park." If you need to differentiate by gate, you might need to use the "Geotagging" tool to manually refine specific photos or rename sub-folders after the main sort.

Q: Is it difficult for someone who isn't an IT expert?
A: Not at all. The interface is intuitive, especially the "Structure Builder." My parents, who are not tech-savvy, could probably use it (with a little help for the initial setup). It's very user-friendly.

Q: Can it handle RAW files from my DSLR?
A: Absolutely. It processed all my Nikon NEF files and my friend's Canon CR2 files without any issues. It's designed for serious photographers.

Q: Is €39 (R780) a fair price for a photo sorting software?
A: For a lifetime license with no subscriptions, considering the time it saves and the organisation it provides, it's an absolute steal. It's easily one of the best investments I've made in my hobby. The best value for professional photo organization for amateurs.

My Safari Archive, 6 Months Later...

The biggest change is the joy I feel when looking at my photos now. I don't dread importing new photos anymore. After a recent weekend trip to Pilanesberg National Park, I simply dumped all my new photos into a temporary folder. I ran PhotoGlobe Sorter, and in 3 minutes, all 1,200 photos were perfectly filed under `\South Africa\North West\Pilanesberg National Park\2025\09_September\`. Effortless!

Just last week, Nomusa asked for that cheetah cub photo. Instead of an hour of frustration, I navigated to `\South Africa\Northern Cape\Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park\2022\07_July\` and found it in under 30 seconds. That feeling of instant access to my precious memories is priceless.

"This isn't just a software; it's a digital ranger for my photo archive. It brought order to the wilderness of my hard drives, allowing me to relive every safari moment without the stress of searching. Every organised folder is like a perfectly kept field guide."

Final Verdict: The Best R780 I've Spent on My Wildlife Photography!