Africa Safari PHOTO TIPS

An Africa Safari Tour, for many people, is a once in a lifetime experience. Here are some tips to get the most from your Safari Tour to Africa.

A typical safari is done in a four-wheel vehicles. Land Cruisers and Land Rovers are the norm in Eastern Africa (more open vehicles are used in South Africa) moving between tent camps and the occasional lodge. Your vehicle may have as many as eight other peooke in it, though the best tours try to restrict photographic safaris to a maximum of four shutterbugs per vehicle (two is perfect, three is perfectly acceptable in a Land Cruiser). Some of the vehicles are open seating, but many are more traditional, with moonroofs that can be flipped or rolled back to allow for photography or closed to keep dust out while driving.

Shooting from vehicles is an art in itself. You need a wide range of focal lengths to maximize your possible shots, and even with support, you and your vehicle-mates will need to develop protocols to keep from shaking the vehicle while someone is shooting. Beanbags work well for support on all but the open vehicles, but the best support is found by splaying the legs of a small tripod flat across the roof opening. Try to gravitate towards a rear corner, so you can do this out of the way of the others. Alternatively, use a support designed for vehicles, like Kirk Enterprises Window Mount. Bring the very best tripod head you can afford, as you're going to readjusting your framing almost constantly. In short, be prepared to use multiple, flexible ways to get support for your long lenses.

35mm users need a minimum of a 500mm lens, preferably with a 1.4x or 2x extender. A fast 80-200mm zoom and your wide angle of preference should round out your basic kit. If you have a Nikon digital SLR, you are finally going to find a reason to love that 1.5x focal length effect imposed by the small CCD sensor. Suddenly your 70-300mm lens becomes an almost perfect wildlife lens (100-450mm), and your 500mm is a eyeball-grabbing 750mm. Basically, you need a mid-range zoom and a longer lens (zoom or fixed). And you'll probably want them permanently mounted on two bodies, as you don't want to be constantly changing lenses due to dust. You still need an occassional wide angle shot, so bring a good compact camera for that, or a third body with one of the 18-x zooms.

All-in-one compact digital camera users are going to be swearing at their lenses and cameras on safari, as virtually none have the reach you'll need, none have the aperture you'll need at full telephoto extension, and none have the focus speed for anything moving. Because the animals often are moving, but you need to stop the vehicle and shut off the motor in order to take vibration free photos. It seems as if you always need just a few more millimeters of telephoto, and most all-in-ones have none to give. Shooting at f/5.6 or f/6.3 at long telephoto distances makes for shutter speeds that aren't good enough, which makes you bump ISO up; again, a weakness of the compact cameras. And finally, we don't know of a single compact camera that can follow focus on fast action the way a DSLR can.

Bottom line: Use a DSLR and invest in (or rent) the longest telephoto you can find, but make sure to practice shooting animals with them (hint: try the zoo) long before you arrive in Africa, as there are framing and focus issues you need to master.

Most safaris spend a few days in one location, returning to a tent camp each night, then move the whole operation to another area and repeat the process. On two-week safaris, most tours book a stop at a fixed lodge midway, while shorter tours usually end up at one. While camp conditions range from upscale backpacking to oh-my-god-this-tent-is-bigger-and-fancier-than-my-bedroom-at-home, you should expect to rough it, at least a bit. That means everything from being ready to pack up quickly to putting up with some dust and bugs.

• Bring zipper-lock bags to keep your camera in between shooting sessions. Dust is omnipresent and small enough to crawl through every gap in your camera�s body. 35mm users: bring a dust brush and check the pressure plate and rails on your camera every time you load a roll of film. Digital users: dust on the CCD sensor is a quality killer that requires expensive cleaning, so be extra careful with your camera, especially when changing lenses. Likewise, use trash bags to cover your entire camera case.
• Bring the longest telephoto you can afford. 35mm users: consider renting a 500mm f/4 or 600mm f/4 and extenders if you don't already own them. D1 users: you can get by with a 400mm, especially if you bring a 1.4x extender. Coolpix users: The Nikon 3X only gets a Coolpix 990 up to about 350mm (35mm equivalent), and you're going to want 500mm or 600mm equivalents. I've tried the Kenko 8x spotting scope on my Coolpix, which gets me to over 1000mm, but the quality isn't as good as I�d like and focus is a real headache.
•  Invest in a beanbag. A high quality bean bag can provide exceptional and versatile support options, allowing you to shoot out vehicle windows, etc.
• Get a car adapter for your recharger. But check first with your tour operator to see what voltage their vehicles produce. I've encountered both 12 and 16 volts.

• Check the CDC's Web site to find out what shots and medications you need, and get them as early as possible (except for those that are only effective for short periods, such as gamma gobulin shots).
• Larium (the most commonly prescribed malaria preventative) has strange effects on some people. I had hallucinations and personality changes on the evening that I took my weekly pill. If you're taking the medicine correctly, you'll know that well before you get on the plane, giving your doctor a chance to prescribe an alternative.

With plenty of competition, We suggest that Joe McDonald's Photographing on Safari is the most informative for someone trying to make the most of a photographic adventure. McDonald's advice on metering off various animals is right on, and hard to find anywhere else. Unfortunately, this book is now out of print (though you can often find used copies in Amazon's Z-Shops).

Let us customize your Africa Safari Tour. Pease contact our office at 817 481-8631 / 800 766-2911 or info@dynamictravel.com