This upcoming series of posts relates to a trip I did with my family in September 2025 to Botswana with Chris McLennan and time in South Africa with family, relatives and friends

Deciding on what gear to take on a a photography trip is an ongoing challenge and takes up more mental energy than it should. Airline weight constraints and the complexity of travel with family adds to the factors involved in decision making. This trip was going to have closer subjects of varying sizes from elephant sized game down to small birds. There was going to be a lot of dust and limited packing space in small aircraft and vehicles. I could not justify being too bird focussed in my equipment choice.

I rejigged things completely compared to my UK and Arctic adventure with the only common equipment being my Nikon Z9, Z8 and Nikkor Z 14-30mm f4 (and 1.4x teleconverter which ended up not being used). The Nikkor Z 800mm f6.3 and 100-400mm f4.5-5.6 stayed home and were replaced by the 180-600mm f5.6-6.3 (used on the Z9) and 28-400mm f4-8 (used on the Z8). The plan was to try and avoid lens changes as much as possible to reduce the risk of dust on sensors. I carried 2x 1TB memory cards in the Z9 and a 1TB CFExpress and 512GB SD in the Z8. I had 4 extra 512GB CFExpress cards but didn’t need these.

I had been tempted to take the 100-400 with the 1.4x teleconverter instead on the 180-600 as this would have given me a 140-560mm range in a lighter package but had settled on the 180-600 for 2 reasons. Firstly it gave me the option of reaching 840mm with the 1.4x (if needed) and the internal zoom design reduced the risk of inhaling dust into the lens in the anticipated dusty conditions.

I had then struggled to decide between the 24-200mm f4-6.3 and the 28-400mm f4-8. I prefer the 24mm as a wide angle but felt the extra reach to 400mm would be more useful. There is a case to make for both as the 180-600 covers the 200-400mm gap the 24-200 gives up to the 28-400. There were times I would have appreciated the 24mm but many times the seamless zoom out to 400mm without grabbing the other camera was crucial to getting the shot.

The other change to my Arctic trip was that I chose to use the Gura Gear Kiboko 2 30L+ pack. I had previously used my Gura Gear Bataflae in Antarctica so was keen to try the newer version which includes a laptop sleeve as this was the only frustration with my previous one. The other advantage is that the pack can lay flat in a safari car on the floor between seats on or a seat next to you with the flaps unzipped but covering the compartments while allowing some protection and quick access. The zips on the Gura Gear are extremely smooth and easy to open so could be zipped open and closed very quickly and easily to maximise protection and accessibility.

The Kiboku 2 30L+ is a very comfortable bag with detachable waist belt which I removed and left at home as I knew we would be largely working from vehicles with little hiking possible.

Weight is an ongoing issue with travel and the Gura Gear packs are very light so don’t take too much of a weight allowance from camera gear. I had my gear weighed twice – both at Qantas checkin for long haul flights. By disgorging camera bodies and batteries into vest pockets and helpfully supporting my bag on the scale so it didn’t tip over we achieved an acceptable weight before reloading the bag.

I realised that I would probably have little time for editing images while travelling so prioritised weight over screen real estate. This meant travelling with a MacBook Air M4 13in which 3 of us shared to download and backup image and video files to SSD drives. I carried Samsung T5 and T7 2GBx4 and 4GBx1 SSDs plus a 1TB memory stick as a MacBook clone drive. This travelled in my Thule Gauntlet laptop bag except on the small bush planes when I put it into the Gura Gear laptop sleeve and placed the Thule Gauntlet into my RAB Expedition II 80L kit bag.

The biggest issue we had was in the heat of Botswana where computers and phones just shut down and refused to charge due to heat. Our only down time was in the heat off the middle of the day and downloading and backing up was sometimes a slow process. This was an issue that affected Apple, Android, and Windows machines so was purely environmental.

Compared to polar travel clothing choices are far simpler. 4 quick dry Columbia UV protecting shirts, 2 pairs of light trousers, one pair of shorts, 4 pairs of Icebreaker merino underwear and 4 pairs of merino blend socks. Keen Targhee hiking shoes with a pair of Teva sandals as footwear. One merino long sleeve T shirt in case a cool mornings (not needed) and a windproof soft-shell jacket. My Sunday Afternoons Sun Guide cap is indispensible and I used Simms sun gloves for additional hand protection under the open roof of the safari car.

Upcoming posts will cover the trip destinations and days with some possible species related posts with some interruptions from posts on more currents events. Once the series is complete I will add a master post for the trip.