First time going on a safari!

Lma01, you are in for a fabulous adventure! My safari packing list: 3 convertible shirts, 3 pair long pants ( Columbia brand is great for wash and wear care ), one long sleeved and one short sleeved tee shirt in an easy care fabric, Tilley hat ( I like a hat that ties under the chin ), a closed toe shoe, a pair of Tevas, pjs, a puffy jacket that comes in a small pouch, a rain jacket with hood, a swimsuit ( the pool at the Royal Livingston is wonderful ) and there are other swimming opportunities at the lodges and the One and Only ),one “city smart”outfit ( I like black with scarves for pops of color, and you will want to be free of safari clothes in Cape Town, esoecially the night of the dinner in a lovely private home ). Always take an antibiotic and other otc meds to accommodate your personal health needs. I like laundry sheets for washing my “smalls”. The lodges provide free laundry service. I managed to fit this all into my carryon roller bag and backpack. Tauck gave us the duffel once we were in country. Tauck stored our suitcases for us, and we retrieved them in Maun before flying to CT. Heading home, I found the duffel to be helpful for packing dirty clothes and things I didn’t fear losing to a checked luggage snafu, and I used my carry ons for the “treasures” I purchased to remind me of a fabulous experience.. Leave your good jewelry at home, learn a few basic words in the local language, pack a smile and relax into the beauty, magic and adventure that is Africa. Have a great trip!

On the South African safari that I went on, the animals were sometimes close and sometimes quite a distance away. The big cats, especially, were usually some distance away. If you want good pictures of the distant animals you'll need a camera with a long lens. The iPhone, and I assume equivalent Android phones, do not produce good pictures at long telephoto.

British

Mike. I think you have been unlucky with you lion sittings, we have always had them near enough to touch in just about every tour

We got nearer and saw more big cats (and little kats ) on B,SA,Z than we did on K&T!

Smiling Sam

Closeness is all relative. Here's an example that everyone probably would agree is close.

Mike. I think you have been unlucky with you lion sittings, we have always had them near enough to touch in just about every tour.

@British - I can only report what I experienced. While we were close to some of the animals, many of the pictures I took were of animals some distance from me. The long lens allowed me to get a well focused close-ups of the animals.

This was especially true of the sightings of a leopard and a cheetah (separate sightings). They were quite some distance from us, perhaps 70 meters (for the leopard). While I could have taken a picture of them with my iPhone, I could not have gotten a close-up of them, and the quality of really long telephoto shots with the iPhone are not very good.

This picture was taken at a distance of about 70 meters. With the iPhone, all you would see is an orange blur in the grass.

Here's a "portrait" of a cheetah taken at a distance of perhaps 50 meters. You simply cannot do that with a smartphone. Note that the camera focused on the cheetah's eyes, and the depth of field is very short. His nose is just a bit out of focus.

Excellent photos, Mike! I am not a photographer, but I do enjoy taking close ups on my iPhone.

gladysorlando984

I saw quite a few cats in my K & T safari, some pretty close.

Smiling Sam

Sandy - Nice pictures, but I think they reinforce Mike's point. Compare the clarity of the two pictures you posted vs the two pictures Mike posted. The resolution on iPhone pictures, when at a distance isn't the same as with a lens made for capturing pictures at a distance.

Photography is a very personal thing. Each person should assess the ease of use, ease of transport, quality of the results, etc for themselves and make the choice that is correct for them.

Smiling Sam, my point exactly! I am a very happy traveler, and I love seeing others’ great wildlife photos. 😎

LindaAlbrecht

Thanks everybody for your input would’ve never thought to bring sandals, but it was mentioned twice. The pictures are stunning. Can’t wait to see what I can capture. Although, I Didn’t expect the animals to be that close to the vehicles.😱😱😱. Are giraffes ever seen on the tour or is it too far north for them?

The safari I went on was in the same general area and we saw a lot of giraffes. Here's a link to the blog of our trip.
https://www.mikeandjudytravel.com/2023-1RiversAndRails-01.htm You have to go a couple of pages in to see the animals.

British

Plenty of giraffes there! Enjoy. That rhino pic. We have a similar one with mom and baby by our vehicle. If you don’t have a fancy camera , you can still get great results. Big cameras must be going out of favor. I’m on a tour now. Mekong river. Out of 45 people on the boat, there is only one person with a camera. Quite a few people are not taking any photos

On another forum I participate in, we have a saying - "No Picture, Didn't Happen."

I enjoy reviewing our trips every now and then. Wouldn't be possible without photos.

Sealord

If you do the entire trip looking through a camera view finder, you might as well be looking at a National Geographic. I do take pictures, but it is very secondary. Observing the animals is much more important to the experience than taking pictures of them.

Not Africa, but this photo is a small illustration of Sealord's point. I took this photo of the majestic Dolomites thru the coach window on the way from Cortina to Balzano. Can anyone see what I didn't until a few months later?

Lotusgirl

The gondolas?

@Lotusgirl Good eye! When traveling, I take a lot of pictures with my mind, and I practice “being in the moment”.@Alan Would love to see the Dolomites one day. My 75 year old cousin hiked them last year and had a ball!

kfnknfzk

I, too, memorialize my trips in my mind. I will take an occasional picture with my cell phone, however.

OurTravels34

I’ve always wondered what happens to all these pictures once they are taken. Yes, we are proud of them because we’ve taken a fantastic photograph and some even get hung on a wall. We also share them with family and friends and after a certain point of showing our pictures, family and friends are probably thinking, enough already. There must be a zillion pictures floating around in the internet cloud. Just my opinion.

If you do the entire trip looking through a camera view finder, you might as well be looking at a National Geographic. I do take pictures, but it is very secondary. Observing the animals is much more important to the experience than taking pictures of them.

I don't think any photographer observes the entire trip through a view finder, but uses the camera to capture interesting moments. I can be as much "in the moment" as anyone while observing wild animals. I find it insulting to assume that I, as a photographer, cannot be as involved in the tour as much as anyone else. Perhaps you were speaking for yourself - that you cannot be taking pictures and be "in the moment" on a trip.

In any case, it's important to me to have pictures to remember what I saw and experienced. Memory is not reliable for reality.

kfnknfzk

For amateur photographers or scrapbookers, I think it is great. I agree that being forced to look at someone's photos, especially those that are obviously downloaded from the internet is boring. Merely my opinion. I do enjoy looking at some of the animal safari photos herein since those are very unique and something I probably will never experience.

It reminds me of the 'turning into your parents commercial"....."there is no need to take 47 pictures of the same thing." Or something like that.

@Mike Henderson Your photography is amazing, and you should be proud of it. I always say that what other people think of me is none of my business, but I occasionally take breaks from this Forum. Although most people who post here are kind and extremely helpful and knowledgeable, there are others who love to take nasty and immature pot shots ( not photographs 😂 ) from behind the safety of their computer screen. “Travel leaves us speechless and then turns us into storytellers”. Your photographs tell beautiful stories 👏

If we can still operate the PC and TV someday when we are in "the home" I'll cue up the photos from one of our trips so we can relive the experience. We occasionally do that now!