Advice on lens selection for South Africa private reserves

I see posts where a lot of folks seem to think they need 600mm lens and teleconverters for safari in South Africa. While those can be of help, I wanted to post a few shots to remind everyone that on a private reserve, we track off road for the big 5 and get very close. The stalking lion was photographed at 115mm with my 100-400mm at f/4.5, ISO 640 and 1/500 sec on a Canon 5D MkIII. If you had the 1-4 on a crop body, you would have been too close! The second shot was included to show how we let a max of 2 vehicle on a sighting and each gets about as close as you see in this image. Obviously, we try and position vehicles so everyone can see and no one has vehicles in their background, but I took this photo just to make a point.

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Not sure why, but site not letting me post both images in original post.

Good shots buddy4344, I was very surprised when I went to Kruger how thick the bush was. After my first trip to Kenya, where most parks are wide open it came as a bit of a shock. I had my 200 - 400 which soe of the time was WAY to long, & my wife was getting great shots with 24 - 105!

IMAGE LINK: https://www.flickr.com …157646387453842​/lightbox/

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Thanks for the comment. Your points well taken. btw, Great shot. Unusual to catch an ellie with the eye wide open. Here's my take on the elephant and lashes.

Regarding the comment on the brush, there are often a lot of mopane trees that can obstruct views, which is why it's so important to pick a destination that allows off road tracking. That said, there are often open areas where one can get a clean shot. Here are a few snaps that show how thick the brush can me.