Trip To South Africa

[lemminglover]

First - apologies to the mods if this is the wrong place for this - feel free to move it :-).

My wife and I are off to South Africa for 2 weeks - she's writing articles for various travel and in-flight mags and we are both taking pictures to go with them. So, we have to the best vast majority of our gear (she also has a similar setup to that listed in my sig). Although she is from SA, we've not been back for almost 10 years so I'd be interested in any up to date advice on appropriate security measures to keep our kit (and more importanlty ourselves) safe on the trip.

We start off in Cape Town and then we do the Wine Route followed by the garden route, Gondwana Game Reserve, Blaauwbosch Game Reserve (http://www.blaauwbosch.co.za/) and various other places in that area. We will be travelling by car. Any tips or advice would be greatly appreciated.

[condyk]

Keep your doors locked, keep your eyes open especially at stop lights and junctions, lock the doors at petrol stations, take care with other vehicles as there are plenty of nutters around and some tricky road merging and way too fast drivers in and out of CT. generally, keep your gear in a non obvious camera bag and keep it in there. Stay in public places. Nothing specific. I never had anyt threats or problems over 18 months living in CT and travelling all the local routes and all areas of the city every day. Observation and being sensible is all. Don't be a victim. Be confident and aware.

[lemminglover]

Good advice which I intend to follow. Does anyone else have anything I should bear in mind? Also, what bags can you recommend that will protect my gear but not scream "EXPENSIVE CAMERA KIT IN HERE"?

[condyk]

I carry my gear in a big crumpler but don't use that to walkaround with. I use the kind of simple GAP bag that you see everywhere and just carry what I expect to need for a specific trip. I have some padding in the bottom. This is my bag: click (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=382361)

Game parks you'll be in the car anyway, wine route you'll be in the estate mainly around the buildings and so many of the places you visit you can keep most of your gear in the car boot. it's just about good planning. If you park in the city then just drop the street 'guard' a decent tip to watch your car. Find out from your hotel what the going rate is. I used to tip R5 but that was 6 years ago.