I was in Africa on safari at the end of May. Here are a few things I learned on my trip. If you are going to be on safari with a group of people, you are going to want a nice zoom lens. For my trip, I was in a truck with 4-7 other people, and we were not allowed out of the truck for obvious reasons. A versatile zoom lens worked great since your choice of shooting position is limited on where the driver stops and your seat in the truck! I took a 70-200mm f/2.8L IS on one body, and a 100-400 f4.5-5.6L IS on the other. I rented both of these lenses for this trip. I also had the 24-70mm f/2.8L with me in case we stopped closer to larger animals. I have a 170-500mm lens, but opted for the shorter zoom with IS because I knew it would help a great deal while shooting from the back of the truck with other people moving around. Also the 100-400mm was faster. I also rented the 1.4xTC. Wait for the driver to stop the truck, and turn off the motor before attempting to shoot. It also helps to wait for the others to get their shots and to settle down before trying to get yours. A tripod in a crowded truck wasn’t practical, but a monopod worked great once everyone else was still.

As far as traveling goes, I kept all of my gear with me on the plane, except my tripod and monopod. When out on safari, I limited my gear to avoid getting in the way of others in the truck.

Make sure you get your vaccinations, and take your malaria pills. :)

Last but not least, HAVE FUN!

I was in Africa on safari at the end of May. Here are a few things I learned on my trip. If you are going to be on safari with a group of people, you are going to want a nice zoom lens. For my trip, I was in a truck with 4-7 other people, and we were not allowed out of the truck for obvious reasons. A versatile zoom lens worked great since your choice of shooting position is limited on where the driver stops and your seat in the truck! I took a 70-200mm f/2.8L IS on one body, and a 100-400 f4.5-5.6L IS on the other. I rented both of these lenses for this trip. I also had the 24-70mm f/2.8L with me in case we stopped closer to larger animals. I have a 170-500mm lens, but opted for the shorter zoom with IS because I knew it would help a great deal while shooting from the back of the truck with other people moving around. Also the 100-400mm was faster. I also rented the 1.4xTC. Wait for the driver to stop the truck, and turn off the motor before attempting to shoot. It also helps to wait for the others to get their shots and to settle down before trying to get yours. A tripod in a crowded truck wasn’t practical, but a monopod worked great once everyone else was still.

As far as traveling goes, I kept all of my gear with me on the plane, except my tripod and monopod. When out on safari, I limited my gear to avoid getting in the way of others in the truck.

Make sure you get your vaccinations, and take your malaria pills. :)

Last but not least, HAVE FUN!