A blog series by afx & Millirehm

Case study1: Planning An African Wildlife photo Safari

So you want to go on a photo safari. Great! Here are some practical tips that hopefully can help you with preparation and execution.

While this text has a focus on the classic African wildlife destinations (based on my experience in South Africa, Namibia and Tanzania), it can be applied to other forms of photo travel and and other continents as well.

Scouting out the Destination

On our Tanzania trip in 2007 the only thing given initially was the camp at Selous and the dates because of the arrangements of our travel companion. The hotel in Dar es Salaam was found by Googling (we found quite a few trip reports that recommended specific places) and cross referencing that with the tour guides. The hotel on Zanzibar was also the result of similar research coupled with the desire to have sunsets over the ocean (which translates to a west coast accommodation in contrast to the major tourist resorts on the east coast). Here we hoped to make a day trip from the hotel to an island to shoot tree crabs. Well, this is also a place where we should have booked ahead so we missed that opportunity (a good incentive to come back).

On South Africa safaris in the ’90s we only booked the parks and the first night after arrival in advance and then we did everything else via local bed and breakfast guides obtained at the AA (the local auto mobile club) and only called one day ahead (of course that was not during the main South African holiday seasons).

Once you found your destination, use Google to find out about as much as you can. This includes seasonal information, accommodation and travel information, airlines fares, local security considerations, etc. Buy several of the usual travel guides and check them for advance information that helps your planning. Check the local tourist boards and see what they have to offer. As some destinations have strict limits you might need to book more than a year in advance (for example various wilderness trails in South Africa). So start checking and planning early.

Checking about your destination online will help you find comments from other travelers which should make it easier to decide on accommodation, choice of locations and operators and other details.

My trips were mostly self organized but I asked friends who have been there already for their advice beforehand. The trip to Namibia in 2000 was the only one where I relied heavily on an (unfortunately no longer operating) travel agency. I only gave them some cornerstones and they arranged the whole trip. Those guys where an exception. Most travel agencies where I asked about Safaris where either horrendously expensive or totally clueless.

In general, you have the choice between three types of safaris: you can either book a completely ready made packages for photo safaris, hop onto a regular tour, or organize it all on your own (potentially with the help of a travel agency). How you do this depends on your budget (the more ready made, the more expensive), your level of adventure and your willingness on spending time on preparations. While ready made photo trips are probably the most convenient especially for first time safari travelers, they are also the most expensive form. Using regular travel packages will usually be slightly cheaper but have the huge inconvenience that they are not geared towards photographers which means the schedule does not take into account the needs of a photographer for light and time to prepare good shots. You will also share a vehicle with people that probably do not understand your need to move about in the vehicle to position your lens properly or to be perfectly still while shooting. And you still pay much more than you would if you organized it yourself (I usually squeeze 30% more time at the destination out of DIY organization vs. ready made packages). So if you are on a budget, DIY is usually the best way to go. And that means investing time in planning and finding out as much as you can in advance.

A typical trap people fall into when going on such a trip is to cram too much into too short a time. Visiting Krueger park, the Cape and the garden Route in South Africa within a week is a typical nonsense trip that people end up doing. You’ll spend at least as much time in travel within the country as you spend really seeing and shooting things if you cram too much into your schedule. So try to set up trips of at least two weeks and try not to cover to many things and too much miles while you’re there. A place like Kruger National Park needs at least 5 days. And as you are doing this on your vacation time, rushing from place to place is not really helpful to get relaxed and comfortable, which is a prime reason to go on vacation. For all our Kruger park trips we had one night between arrival in Johannesburg and arriving in Kruger. That gave us enough time to shop for provisions and getting there without wrecking the car. And we stayed in Kruger for ten or more days, only covering less then half of the park each trip. After all, you’re there to see things, not to tick them off on a shopping list.

A good way to structure things is to plan a few nights in an initial location where you get accustomed to the country, just take it easy and get attuned to your surroundings while spending more time at the pool than chasing images. Then go off to your core safari destinations and at the end, see that you find a comfortable place to hang out a few more days taking it easy and winding down. That type of schedule is also more compatible with spouses traveling along. For example on my 2007 Tanzania trip we spent a few days near Dar es Salam in a hotel, did a simple city trip and just tried to mentally arrive before we went off to the Selous. Winding down was on the beach in Zanzibar for a few days (which also included photo opportunities of course, but also lots of hanging out at the beach).

Another thing to keep in mind when planning the trip is the season you will travel into. Being stuck in heavy rain all time does not make sense even though rain can add quite a bit to the mood. So check whether your planned schedule fits with the local season.

Equipment

What to bring on a photo safari is often asked in photography forums and there is a wide range of answers. Some annoying wisecracks maintain that Africa has lots of sun, so don’t bother bringing fast lenses. This of course is crap as the most interesting light is in the morning and evening. Also, African wildlife is smart enough to not move much during the heat of the day. Shooting snoring lions in a mid day blaze is not too exciting. It is much more interesting to capture animals in action in nice light.

So after you have read about the long glass above, here are some safari specific recommendations:

On DX I found the 300/2.8 with the TCs to be near perfect, though not as versatile as a 200-400VR, leading occasionally to lost opportunities due to the time needed to add or remove a TC.

Unless you are a macro buff, using a simple Canon 500D in front of the 80-200/2.8 is a good light weight travel solution.

So should you bring an FX or a DX body? I’d say both if you can. A D300 or any of the other DX sensors will give you reach which is always useful for wildlife . On the other hand a big pixel FX (D700, D3) will give you a better chance to capture furry and feathered creatures when the light is low without killing details in fur and feather (it gives you at least one stop).

So a perfect kit would be 14-24/2.8, 24-70/2.8, 70-200/2.8, 200-400/4 plus TC 14 and TC17 with D300+MBD10 and a D3 or D700+MBD10. Add the 500D and maybe a 50/1.8 and you’re all set (ok, that is the pricey option, but the earlier generic lens section should give you enough hints on how to adjust to your budget).

Whatever body you end up choosing, do not travel with one body only. If your collection does not have two bodies, rent one or buy a used one before the trip that you sell afterwards. On half of my trips so far I had a problem with a body. A second body not only helps you to continue if there are problems in the first one, but it also reduces the number of lens changes and therefore the risk of getting dust on the sensor. Plus you can react quicker when not needing to change lenses.

Should you bring a flash? I’d say yes. There are occasions in the camp or even with wildlife where a flash comes in handy. In some parks (Etosha for example) you can sit at waterholes during the night. The light there is often not sufficient for shooting, so a flash helps. Using a “Better Beamer” to focus the beam of the flash can be quite useful (never used one myself though, I just added another flash, triggered by the first one via an SU-4 trigger).

Of course the usual assortment of lens and sensor cleaning kits, micro fiber cloth, blower, remote release, spare caps is implicit.

One advantage of using a D700 with an MBD10 over a D3 is that you can use AA batteries, so even a lost charger will not hold you up.

Bring binoculars. Especially when traveling with non photographers. They do not have your long lens to see through, so giving them binoculars keeps them busy while you are getting the shot. The last time I forgot that rule and I paid dearly for it…..

Unless you have a body with a voice recorder, a small digital dicta-phone can be quite useful for recording meta information while on the trip. Or if you are proficient enough, bring along audio recording gear to capture live sound that you can later on add to image slide shows (high on my to-do list for the next trip as I do have my personal radio journalist with me and that will keep her busy ;-)).

Bring a tripod, monopod and other forms of camera support. What to bring exactly, depends on your environment. See the shooting section. In general, make sure all support systems use the same clamping mechanism (preferably Arca-Swiss style) so that switching around is easy.

Also an assortment of Velcro tape, cable binders and small clamps can be quite useful especially when shooting in camp or with macro work. A big piece of cloth to cover the gear while driving can help in dusty environments. On my Namibia trip I was so paranoid about dust, that I set out with each lens in a ziplock bag. Looking back, I’d say this was overkill.

If you plan on hiking, make sure your backpack fits your back. Test in advance. My 2m frame absolutely disagrees with Tamrac Expedition backpacks. But I only learned that after I bought one and I had to buy different type on short notice.

Apart from that any rugged bag or backpack will do, some are more airline friendly and efficient than others. My preferences are Tamrac for shoulder bags, LowePro for serious backpacks and ThinkTank Photo for efficient travel gear.

Although modern big lenses and cameras don’t fit very well in photo vests, I still use them to keep caps, memory cards and other titbits in reach.

For the digital shooter one of the biggest questions is where to store the images. Typical options are to bring enough cards for the whole trip, use an image tank or bring a (sub)notebook. Cards is usually not the best option as you will need many of them. Image tanks are the best to use if power is absolutely limited. The most comfortable solution is to use a small laptop if you are in camps with electricity. Add an external disk for backup and a card-reader and you’re ready to go. I used an old Thinkpad T30, small enough, no commercial value anymore and good enough for a first screening. If you bring a laptop, bring a second USB/firewire attached disk for backup. And any Linux boot CD. That saved my butt in Hungary once when the laptop’s disk went dead. I could boot from the Linux CD, mount CF cards and external backup disk and copy my shots over. If you are not familiar with Linux, train this first while at home (and yes, that also works on Macs, even the PowerPC based ones with the right Linux Distro).