JaimitoFrog Offline Upload & Sell: Off
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My first trip to Bots and SA was 2011. Been dying to get back to safari again, perhaps next yr, now that I have so much better gear for it and with more experience.
My father and I had each had 5DIIs, we used 300 f2.8, 70-200 f2.8 II, 24-70 f2.8, 16-35 f2.8 II, sigma 150-500 f5-6.3, 1.4x and 2x TC, monopods. I got some of the best photos I ever taken, even though I have far better gear today. So it really is about timing, location, lighting and subject. You will enjoy it regardless of the gear unless all you have is wide angles. As many people have said, the types of safari can impact how close you get, but different parks, season, and places will dictate more on the type of animals. Animals in the wild is not a zoo of course, so some days the drives will be less fruitful than others. I found night safari a waste of time, the jeeps with bright lights just scare them all away. Boat safari is cool, you can get good close up shots of hippos, lizards, crocs. If you do elephant-back safari, a light lens will be crucial. I used a 70-200 +/- TC back then, since I didn't own a 100-400 like I do now.
We didn't have two bodies each back then, so I found myself switching lenses like mad on the jeep from 300 +2x to a 70-200. I still have scratches on the 70-200 to remind me of that. A zoom is a must, and sometimes animals get right to your jeep that you must have shorter focal length lens around. Dust wasn't a huge issue for us, but it's not ideal to change lens on a jeep anyway.
With the increase in MP these days, if you do get 5DSR, make sure you get big enough memory cards, and external hard drives to backup each night. Most places have outlet adaptors, but pack some anyway. Botswana plugs are different than the British ones, do some research before you go.
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