Earlier this yr, I had the unimaginable expertise of happening my first safari (and first go to to Africa). Though I’m primarily a portrait and occasion photographer, I do get pleasure from wildlife and panorama images as a interest. I believed it could be fascinating and hopefully useful to take you together with my full method – the place I went, what I introduced, how I backed up my photographs, and the expertise of being there. Lastly, if I had been to do it over once more, what would I’ve carried out in another way?
That is half certainly one of a two-part sequence documenting the journey. Beneath, I’ll cowl my alternative of areas, digital camera gear, and backing up my photos. Half two can be coming inside the subsequent few days.
Deciding The place to Go
Once you begin researching the place to go on safari, you’ll rapidly notice two issues:
- There are tons of choices and safari tour operators
- The costs of those choices fluctuate dramatically
It turns into clear that the place you go may have a major influence in your expertise, together with what you see. Some animals are extra frequent in sure locations than others (and a few are solely seen in small areas). Additionally, the kind of autos, and the place these autos can go, will rely on the place you’re. My spouse and I knew we had no real interest in self driving for this journey.
We went in April/Could as a result of this was the one time of yr that labored for our schedules. That is (barely) off season, so we seemed for locations to go that may nonetheless have considerable wildlife. Identical to in a lot of the world, seasonal variations can have a big impact on totally different areas. Locations that could be too dry to assist a lot wildlife a part of the yr stands out as the best place through the wet season. However locations with tons of water will be tough to search out wildlife as a result of they will unfold out extra.
We finally settled on Zimbabwe and Botswana for a mix of three causes:
- We wished to see plenty of elephants. Elephants are my spouse’s favourite animal, and we wished to ensure we didn’t battle to search out them. Botswana has the most important elephant inhabitants on the earth.
- We wished to go someplace that had open-air autos, not the bus model. This was largely for images causes, but additionally a movement illness/contemporary air consideration
- We wished to expertise quite a lot of animals and forms of locations (specifically, each a nationwide park and a non-public reserve the place you’ll be able to off-road).
Choosing a tour operator was a tougher choice. Sometimes, my spouse and I guide our personal issues, however on this case we wished to have another person do it. Between all of the autos, bush planes, border crossings, park entrances, and so forth., we felt it was price enlisting the assistance of a professional. We requested quotes from a number of operators, and finally booked the one who we felt gave us what we wished for the fitting value, and was additionally very responsive, as we had MANY questions.
The end result:
Each Zimbabwe and Botswana had been unimaginable nations, with wonderful wildlife and heat folks. We first went to Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe, visited an elephant sanctuary, after which went into Botswana to enter the bush. We stayed at two camps in Botswana, one exterior of Chobe Nationwide Park, and one on a non-public reserve within the Okavango Delta. Each had been implausible. They took nice care of us, put us in place to see wonderful wildlife, and fed us very effectively.
The primary day, we arrived within the afternoon, so that they took us out for our first drive that night. We went all the way down to the water in Chobe, and it was actually a full-on Lion King expertise. We noticed elephants, zebra, lions, monkeys, giraffes, kudu, and extra all down on the water. It was like “wow,” okay, we’re actually right here!
We had been additionally actually pleased with the number of experiences from visiting each the Nationwide Park and in addition a non-public reserve. They had been very totally different from each other, and I’m glad we did them each. Our private expertise was that Chobe had extra considerable wildlife, however that we received to see extra distinctive moments on the reserve.
What to Deliver
1. Cameras and Lenses
- Nikon Z9
- Nikon Z8
- Nikon Z 14-30mm f/4
- Nikon Z 40mm f/2
- Tamron 35-150mm f/2-2.8
- Tamron 150-500mm f/5-6.7
- Nikon Z 400 f/2.8 TC
Of all the selections I wanted to make earlier than the journey, the lens mixture was by far the one I spent essentially the most time on (and agonizing over). I personal the Nikon Z 180-600 and the Nikon Z 70-200, and they’re each implausible lenses. The truth is, when this journey first got here up, I believed I’d carry these two plus my 24-70mm and name it a day. Nonetheless, I used to be lucky and had the chance to carry a 400mm f/2.8 for testing by way of Pictures Life, and that was a possibility I couldn’t say no to!
Sadly, I couldn’t match the 400mm f/2.8 plus the 180-600mm and 70-200mm f/2.8 in my bag. So I made a decision to go along with some smaller lenses to pair with the 400mm. The Tamron 35-150mm and 150-500mm appeared to suit the invoice! The 150-500mmis considerably lighter than the Nikon 180-600, however considerably smaller. In a great world, I’d have introduced the Nikon 180-600 as an alternative of the Tamron 150-500 as a result of I prefer it higher (for the explanations I described in this text), however solely the Tamron slot in my bag.
The Nikon Z 14-30mm f/4 was my “simply in case” lens, and I figured there was an excellent likelihood I wouldn’t use it. However in case the scenario warranted an ultra-wide, I didn’t need to go on a visit like this and never have something wider than 35mm.
The Nikon Z 40mm f/2 is such a small lens that I journey with it on the physique as a lens cap. Along with the Africa portion of our journey, we spent a number of days in London on the best way, and the 40mm is my favourite avenue images lens.
The digital camera choice was a simple one. No method I’d have introduced just one physique, and I had the Z9 and Z8. The one dilemma was if I ought to carry a 3rd physique (which might have been a Nikon Z6 II). In the long run, the choice was made for me, as I didn’t have the room or weight allowance anyway! If you’re doing a non-public safari with extra relaxed area concerns, you can take into account bringing three cameras and three lenses, every paired collectively. However after being there, I feel this may have been extra of a problem than it could be price. Having the 2 our bodies with two mounted lenses (normally the 150-500mm and the 400mm f/2.8) was excellent.
2. Different Picture Gear
- Numerous reminiscence playing cards
- 2x batteries for the Z9
- 2x batteries for the Z8
- CFExpress Sort B Card Reader
- 3x Samsung SSD 2TB Exhausting Drives
- iPad Air
- Apple Pencil
- Mini USB C Hub
- Cleansing swabs, rocket blowers, and so forth.
- GorillaPod mini-tripod
From a images standpoint, the Z9 and Z8 had been an excellent praise, and nice redundancy since they will do basically all the identical issues (for my kind of labor anyway). Sadly, they don’t use the identical battery or identical reminiscence card configuration. Due to this, I wanted to carry quite a lot of reminiscence playing cards that added some complexity to my workflow. The distinction in battery, whereas annoying, finally didn’t have an effect on what I introduced, since I’d have packed two batteries for every digital camera regardless. I truly saved some weight with the 2 Z8 batteries and by no means ran out of energy, though I used to be cautious to recharge every night time.
3. Non-Picture Gear
Apart from the images gear, I packed very gentle for this journey. Just a few further t-shirts, an additional pair of pants, some socks and underwear, toiletries, and my kindle is about all I introduced. I knew that a minimum of one of many camps we had been at had laundry service, and I figured that years from now, I’d look again on and recognize the photographs with the photograph gear I introduced, and never care that I wore the identical shirt 3 instances!
This turned out to be an incredible method. Though exterior the main target of this text, the one drawback I had with my garments was that I packed figuring out it could be sizzling in Africa. Whereas this was true, we had been in London for a number of days beforehand and it was freezing chilly! However nonetheless, I’m completely satisfied I packed minimally.
4. Baggage
- Peak Design 45L Journey Bag with the “Giant” photograph dice
- Peak Design 10L Sling
Lots of the flights we had been on had very strict dimension and weight limits. And with all of the totally different locations and terrain we had been going by way of, I didn’t need to carry a curler bag. All of the flights we had allowed one “carry-on” and one “private merchandise.” My 45L backpack was my carry-on, and the sling was my private merchandise. I stored my garments and toiletries within the sling bag in order that I may gate-check it if requested, however thankfully, this was by no means a problem. I didn’t verify a bag in any respect.
My thought course of was this: the 45L bag with the big insert may maintain all of my cameras and lenses throughout journey. Then, as soon as I received to camp, I’d switch the digital camera gear to the sling bag and produce that on the safari drive/boat. The one exception was the 400mm f/2.8, which is way larger than the sling. That lens I merely carried, mounted to the Z9 always.
I used to be pushing the load restrict on a number of the flights for the 45L backpack, so in a number of cases, I added a digital camera and lens to the sling and put some garments within the 45L. This helped distribute the load extra evenly (I’ve by no means seen a private merchandise be weighed). On this finish, none of my luggage had been weighed, however I’m nonetheless glad I had a plan.
Backing up within the Subject
Assuming that we might have little or no web connectivity through the journey, I wanted to discover a approach to again up all of the photographs with out resorting to cloud storage. My answer was the identical factor that I typically use when touring for weddings or different occasions the place I attempt to pack as gentle as doable.
It goes like this: A mini USB-C hub plugs into my iPad. Each a CFExpress reader and an exterior SSD plug into the hub. Then I copy all of the recordsdata from the CFExpress card into a brand new folder on the onerous drive. Disconnect the onerous drive, plug in a second onerous drive, and repeat.
I all the time write my photographs to each reminiscence card slots as backup, so after transferring the photographs, I’d solely format one of many two reminiscence playing cards. The opposite went into my bag for protected conserving (and the onerous drive in my spouse’s bag in case certainly one of ours received misplaced or stolen).
Some might say that is overly cautious, however I’d somewhat be too cautious than lose the photographs, particularly if it’s consumer work.
And that’s a wrap for half one! Half two will cowl the expertise of truly being there, together with my classes realized within the area. Right here’s a sneak peek:
