My Safari Experience

<p>I posted a question some time ago on what gear you all would recommend for a safari to Kruger National Park in South Africa. In the end, what I brought was my trusty Canon 5DMk2, the 100-400 f/4.5-5.6L lens, the 70-200 f/2.8L IS, the 24-70 f/2.8L, a 15mm fisheye, and a 2x extender. I self-drove in Kruger for the most part, though I also did some organized drives (and a walk) through my lodges, and I found that, with very few exceptions, the 100-400 stayed on my camera pretty much full time, with the 2x extender added on only when there was some really unusual sighting too far away to be visible clearly with just the 100-400 by itself. <br>

At the recommendation of some of you, I bought a bag of beans to use as a prop for the camera to prevent camera shake. This was virtually useless for me, perhaps because I did it wrong, and I found that I really wished I had invested in one of the car window support things that I saw numerous other cars sporting (though I did not even know they exist). <br>

The warnings of dusty conditions were well founded but somewhat misleading--the amount of dust in your car can be limited very effectively by driving on the asphalt roads (not as bad for game viewing as I'd have thought) and by closing your windows when driving on the gravel roads. I did not take these precautions, however, and found that dust on my sensor was NOT A PROBLEM even with the famous "dust sucking" reputation of the 100-400 lens. I checked my sensor nightly with a SensorScope (or whatever that thing is called) and only had one errant thread the entire time. <br>

If you go on a safari I would recommend this setup highly.</p>

<p>Nice feedback James. I had not even thought about the car window support things, because I did not know they came in a size capable of supporting a "real" camera. I think I was among the bean suggesters. Hope you got to either eat or barter with them down the line.</p>

<p> The bean bag works when one is shooting from the typical safari bus set-up. Useless when you're driving yourself. Thanks for the feedback.</p>

<p>Ah, that makes more sense re the beans on a safari vehicle. Luckily I bought popcorn, which we cannot easily find in Beijing (at least, not fresh) so we packed them in our suitcases and brought them home!</p>

<p>Good thread. Yes, I think the bean bags are only useful on the pop-top vans that you usually find yourself in in Kenya. GJ</p>

<p>I always carry an empty bean bag to Africa with the idea that I will fill it when I get there. Either that just doesn't happen or the camps don't have beans, rice or whatever in bulk. This time (May..Kruger and Hluhluwe parks in S. Africa) I bought one of those airline things that go around your neck in Dulles Airport....the kind with light beans in the pillow, not the blow up kind. I tried using that as a bean bag..and surprisingly it came in handy to stabilize some of my shots from the safari vehicle.</p>