Leaving for Africa in 10 days wow....

[PuR HART]

I was just invited to go to Uganda and Sudan Africa for 3 weeks any help on what I will need would be great.
at the end of the trip we might be going on a safari but the gist of the trip will be tight people shots and candid shots with possibly massive event shots as well. any help would be awesome
also any leads on insurance would be great.thanks for any input.
what's in the bag
20d grip
30d grip
17-55 2.8 IS
70-200 2.8 IS
50 1.8
17-85 4-5.6 backup
Sigma flash
so far 22 G memory
laptop
320G port hdd
blower and brush
8 BP-511's
12 eneloops
chargers
card reader
off the top of my head that is what I have.
whats needed this is where you guys can help
I plan to get 20 more gigs of memory
if i can squeeze it a tokina 11-16
another form of backup would be nice preferably off site location like ftp host

[sebr]

I'd take 17-55 2.8 IS and 70-200 2.8 IS. If you have the possibility to add (rent?) a 100-400 or a telephoto prime for the safari or a telephoto prime, that would be great.

[GetOnMyLevel]

insurance is a must.
i just heard of somebody going to africa and getting everything stolen but their film.
im dont have too much knowledge on it, but somebody said put it on a float insurance under your homeowners plan? something like that.

i personally wouldnt take anything big.

[ed rader]

I was just invited to go to Uganda and Sudan Africa for 3 weeks any help on what I will need would be great.
at the end of the trip we might be going on a safari but the gist of the trip will be tight people shots and candid shots with possibly massive event shots as well. any help would be awesome
also any leads on insurance would be great.thanks for any input.
what's in the bag
20d grip
30d grip
17-55 2.8 IS
70-200 2.8 IS
50 1.8
17-85 4-5.6 backup
Sigma flash
so far 22 G memory
laptop
320G port hdd
blower and brush
8 BP-511's
12 eneloops
chargers
card reader
off the top of my head that is what I have.
whats needed this is where you guys can help
I plan to get 20 more gigs of memory
if i can squeeze it a tokina 11-16
another form of backup would be nice preferably of site location like ftp host

i took 44 gigs of memory and in 10 days on safari i shot 68 gigs. the next time i will have 80 gigs of memory as well as my 120-gig epson p3000 so i will have two copies of all files.

if your storage device fails you would have some serious problems if you don't have enough CF cards.

your cameras and lenses are fine for what you are doing and you are wise to factor in back-up gear,

you only need to add a 1.4 TC to make your 70-200 a decent safari lens. in open jeeps i used a monopod and tilt head maybe 90% of the time with the 100-400L. it worked excellent. i also took a 2 lb. travel tripod which i did use more than i thought i would.

i bought an extra battery and a travel charger for my epson p3000 off of ebay for about 30 bucks. the next time i will have at least one more battery because in my off time (there was very little of that) i used the epson to view my files and show them to other folks and at times i could have used another battery.

ed rader

[mdr]

Add a 100-400 or a 1.4x TC.

Will you be storing the images on the laptop as well as the portable HDD? If not, you have a serious risk with only having one copy after clearing the CFs for the next day.

I take two Lacie 250GB usb/fw400 pocket drives and my Macbook. You can pick these drives up for about £100 so fantastic value for money. They power of he usb/fw400 port on the laptop and are pretty small.

[PuR HART]

thanks for your advice.
I am thinking of another backup device or setting up a ftp server to upload to not sure as of yet

[MattMoore]

Make sure you have the correct power adapter(s) for your chargers (etc), as I'm pretty sure the plugs are different over there (and you may wanna check on the power rating as well).

[DrPablo]

You're taking way too much stuff. Believe me, I've spent a lot of time travelling in Africa, and having more is not necessarily better. If I were you I'd take only one body, bring your 17-55 and 70-200 plus a 1.4x TC, and use the extra room to bring lots and lots of charged batteries and CF cards. And you won't even need the TC unless you're actually doing wildlife photography, which is going to be pretty unlikely in Sudan. In Uganda it depends what you'll be doing, but if you're in the region where Sudan and Uganda border each other you're going to be taking pictures of a lot of extraordinarily poor people who have been shattered by wars (and hopefully your camera will not draw the attention of the LRA in northern Uganda).

Remember that you're probably going to be on terrible transportation for long stretches, and a big bag of camera equipment is going to either be in your lap or thrown up on top of a van -- neither is a great scenario. You're probably not going to use a second body, you're probably not going to use a 17-85 on top of your 17-55, and you're probably not going to need your Tokina superwide. I wouldn't bring a laptop unless you're going to be based in a safe place where you can leave it for the day when you go out to shoot.

Bring your flash along plus extra batteries -- African skin under bright equatorial sunlight is going to really require fill flash.

[Aszental]

If I were you I'd take only one body.

And if it breaks?

[fura.s28]

Why not have a telephoto lens?

[DrPablo]

And if it breaks?Don't break it.

Or if you bring a second body along, keep it stowed somewhere away where you're not lugging it around all the time.

My point is to keep things VERY simple. You can't think only about your photographic needs and ignore the practicalities of this destination. This is NOT some easy package safari to Ngorongoro or to Kruger. This trip is a 3 week jaunt through war zones. The entirety of southern Sudan (not just Darfur) has been having a civil war for around 20 years, and northern Uganda has had its own civil war not to mention being in the path of conflicts in neighboring countries. The infrastructure is miserable and the people are extremely impoverished.

Travelling in these parts of Africa is very difficult in the best of circumstances. Having a large pack full of valuable things is a liability, and it's difficult to take around on the available transportation. If you don't economize, then you're going to be pretty unhappy. So my best suggestion would be to leave out the things you're least likely to use.

As for a telephoto lens, a 70-200/2.8 with or without a 2x teleconverter is probably going to be enough if you're going to see the gorillas. Africa has amazing bird life, and it's for that that you might want a longer lens, but again you have to decide how much bird photography you're really going to do.

On my most recent trip to Africa, which was a 2 month trip (for work) in Senegal, I spent a day in Parc Nacionale des Oiseaux de Djoudj, which is felt by many to be the world's greatest bird sanctuary. I managed very well shooting birds there with a 300D, 70-200 f/4L, and 1.4x TC under bright conditions (and this is having gone to Africa for reasons other than photography, so I intentionally did not bring a comprehensive collection of stuff).