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So yesterday I got back from a birding/safari trip to Tanzania, specifically Rockjumper's Tanzania - Highlights (Small Group) in which I had 5 others plus the driver and guide. This was a bird first tour but we hit all the mammals and probably got some mammals that a normal safari would have missed just because of the nature of birders. My thoughts on this should be good for the gear you will want for what east Africa is mostly, open plans and light to moderate forested area (Serengeti/Ngorongoro) with you being in a pop-top Landcruiser/Range Rover 95% of the time.
On my trip I took my A1ii, A1, 200-600, 100-400GM 4.5-5.6, 24-105 and 1.4x. From that using those these are my thoughts (for APS-C go with lens that have equivalent mm lengths):
- Camera gear: If I had a bottomless pit of money and at most only 2 others on the trip (plus guide and driver) I would go with 3 cameras but I am going to assume that isn't the case for us and I am going to also assume you are taking only interchangeable lens cameras and two of them. First I am saying two bodies is a must because there are two things you will take home from these trips, one will be a ton of images and the other is probably just as much dust, I will be cleaning out dust from everything I took including myself for months. Next for gear I would not take any prime lens no matter how good they are, they are just mainly (95% of issue) too restrictive and second too large to use in small spaces plus you are not going to want to change lens in the field.
- For a mammals tour: I would go with on the primary camera a 100-400, either will do but the gen 1 (not sure if the f4.5 is really true gen 2) might be easier to weld. On the second body I would take a 28-70 or 24-105. If you don't have a 100-400 a 150-500/600 or 70-200+1.4x or 50-150+2x will work. I say this because the mammals are generally bigger than you think, even if you have seen them before, but I generally found myself in the 24-50mm or 100-300mm range (looking at my 24-105 shots I have very few in the 50-100 range and nothing between 75-100).
- For a birding tour: I would go with what I ended up using most, the 200-600 and 24-105. There were defiantly times that the 400-800 would have made more sense but those were very few times and for those times I think heat haze is going to make those times even more rare. One other reason the 200-600 makes more sense is just because it is smaller than the 400-800 and there are a lot of time where shooting through the windows makes the most sense. If you don't have the 200-600 I would say that either 100-400+1.4x or 150-500/600, I would not recommend the 50-150+2x or 70-200+2x as most of the time you will find the 500-600mm range best. The Sigma 300-600 would be amazing only if you are going to be the only person on the tour. As for the second lens being the 24-105, again you are going to want landscape shots but also mammals are going to be close and my data suggests the 24-50 is worth more than the 50-200 range though there are times I would have liked that 100-200 range.
- Camera bodies: For the mammals any of the bodies will be fine. They are mammals and 99% of the time they will not be moving swiftly, if at all, and they are big and will be fairly close. For the birds, the primary should be A1 or A7r series and secondary any body will do. I suggest the A1/A7r series over the A9 or A7 for the cropping. Birds in flight photography will be limited to smaller very fast birds (mostly swifts) at 30-50 yards/meters distance, since this about the closest your limited working space will make reasonably workable, or the birds will be very far away.
Other things to consider:
- Non-lens camera gear: Cleaning stuff, lots of it. You won't be doing any real cleaning in the field because it will be pointless. Batteries and some kind of portal charging. On average I used 4 batteries a day, 3 in the primary camera and 1 in secondary. The first couple days I used 5 batteries just because it took a bit to figure out when it made more sense to turn the primary camera off then just leave it on, secondary camera was only turned on when needed. Obviously, you will want either lots of memory cards or a way to quickly transfer data to drives in the evenings. I take more images than the typical photographer on these trips because I go with the thought that it is better to delete 10 shots than wish I would have taken 1 more on trips like this.
- Tripods: I can say that my tripod visited Tanzania. I had some thoughts about night sky shots but had a couple issues with that. Most nights the sky wasn't clear but also we spend a lot of time in lodging that was in parks, meaning you were not allowed to spend time outside the tents after sunset without a guard and our days all started with us heading out no later than 6:30am and returning around 6:30pm, so they were long days. Also you are going to be in a vehicle and there just isn't room for a tripod or monopod. If you think that you will use the tripod when you stop and get out, you will find the getting out will be at very select locations in which you will not want to use a tripod because you will not be taking photos.
- Shoes: You will be in vehicles a basically all the time. Our driver had two step stools in the vehicle we could use or we could stand on the seats without our shoes on, so something that is easy to take on/off is best. You will know ahead of time if you will have any days in which you will be able to do any walking outings and these will not be in any parks.
- Clothing: If you are one those people that attracts insects I recommend long pants, if not shorts will be fine. I do recommend long-sleeved shirts over short-sleeved mostly because of the sun and putting on sunblock when you have a dust layer sucks.
On my trip I took my A1ii, A1, 200-600, 100-400GM 4.5-5.6, 24-105 and 1.4x. From that using those these are my thoughts (for APS-C go with lens that have equivalent mm lengths):
- Camera gear: If I had a bottomless pit of money and at most only 2 others on the trip (plus guide and driver) I would go with 3 cameras but I am going to assume that isn't the case for us and I am going to also assume you are taking only interchangeable lens cameras and two of them. First I am saying two bodies is a must because there are two things you will take home from these trips, one will be a ton of images and the other is probably just as much dust, I will be cleaning out dust from everything I took including myself for months. Next for gear I would not take any prime lens no matter how good they are, they are just mainly (95% of issue) too restrictive and second too large to use in small spaces plus you are not going to want to change lens in the field.
- For a mammals tour: I would go with on the primary camera a 100-400, either will do but the gen 1 (not sure if the f4.5 is really true gen 2) might be easier to weld. On the second body I would take a 28-70 or 24-105. If you don't have a 100-400 a 150-500/600 or 70-200+1.4x or 50-150+2x will work. I say this because the mammals are generally bigger than you think, even if you have seen them before, but I generally found myself in the 24-50mm or 100-300mm range (looking at my 24-105 shots I have very few in the 50-100 range and nothing between 75-100).
- For a birding tour: I would go with what I ended up using most, the 200-600 and 24-105. There were defiantly times that the 400-800 would have made more sense but those were very few times and for those times I think heat haze is going to make those times even more rare. One other reason the 200-600 makes more sense is just because it is smaller than the 400-800 and there are a lot of time where shooting through the windows makes the most sense. If you don't have the 200-600 I would say that either 100-400+1.4x or 150-500/600, I would not recommend the 50-150+2x or 70-200+2x as most of the time you will find the 500-600mm range best. The Sigma 300-600 would be amazing only if you are going to be the only person on the tour. As for the second lens being the 24-105, again you are going to want landscape shots but also mammals are going to be close and my data suggests the 24-50 is worth more than the 50-200 range though there are times I would have liked that 100-200 range.
- Camera bodies: For the mammals any of the bodies will be fine. They are mammals and 99% of the time they will not be moving swiftly, if at all, and they are big and will be fairly close. For the birds, the primary should be A1 or A7r series and secondary any body will do. I suggest the A1/A7r series over the A9 or A7 for the cropping. Birds in flight photography will be limited to smaller very fast birds (mostly swifts) at 30-50 yards/meters distance, since this about the closest your limited working space will make reasonably workable, or the birds will be very far away.
Other things to consider:
- Non-lens camera gear: Cleaning stuff, lots of it. You won't be doing any real cleaning in the field because it will be pointless. Batteries and some kind of portal charging. On average I used 4 batteries a day, 3 in the primary camera and 1 in secondary. The first couple days I used 5 batteries just because it took a bit to figure out when it made more sense to turn the primary camera off then just leave it on, secondary camera was only turned on when needed. Obviously, you will want either lots of memory cards or a way to quickly transfer data to drives in the evenings. I take more images than the typical photographer on these trips because I go with the thought that it is better to delete 10 shots than wish I would have taken 1 more on trips like this.
- Tripods: I can say that my tripod visited Tanzania. I had some thoughts about night sky shots but had a couple issues with that. Most nights the sky wasn't clear but also we spend a lot of time in lodging that was in parks, meaning you were not allowed to spend time outside the tents after sunset without a guard and our days all started with us heading out no later than 6:30am and returning around 6:30pm, so they were long days. Also you are going to be in a vehicle and there just isn't room for a tripod or monopod. If you think that you will use the tripod when you stop and get out, you will find the getting out will be at very select locations in which you will not want to use a tripod because you will not be taking photos.
- Shoes: You will be in vehicles a basically all the time. Our driver had two step stools in the vehicle we could use or we could stand on the seats without our shoes on, so something that is easy to take on/off is best. You will know ahead of time if you will have any days in which you will be able to do any walking outings and these will not be in any parks.
- Clothing: If you are one those people that attracts insects I recommend long pants, if not shorts will be fine. I do recommend long-sleeved shirts over short-sleeved mostly because of the sun and putting on sunblock when you have a dust layer sucks.
