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 p.7 #8 · African safari talk...recommendations? | |
JaimitoFrog wrote:
My first safari was around 2010 in Botswana, SA, and Zimbabwe. Chobe was nice with lot of elephants and river safari too. Rhino sanctuary in Botswana is where you can see tons of Rhinos and there was a black rhino too. In Zimbabwe you can do elephant back safaris, and walk with lions if that's your thing. Botswana is a nice place and people are friendly.
We did a safari in Tanzania in Oct 2017 and started the trip from Arusha. We went with Yellow Zebra Safari based in UK which gave us the entire vehicle (4 of us). This is critical if you are serious in photography. The 2010 safari was shared with others, and other tourists will not want to sit and wait for a long time. We had extra luggage allowance so you can carry on small planes.
We stayed in Arusha the first night then drove to Tarangire for a couple of nights, Ngorongoro area for a couple of nights, Lake Manyara for a day. Then we flew out of Lake Manyara to Serengeti Mara Region. Unfortunately, our plane crashed in Lobo during landing. There was a flash thunderstorm and pilot overran the runway and attempted a go around. We hit a tree as he tried to ascend and hit two more trees until we stopped. Pilot's leg was pinned to the cockpit and we couldn't get him out. Luckily, the plane never caught fire even though you can smell the spilled fuel. Maybe the rain helped. Another passenger broke a forearm. We were stranded for a few hrs until we got help. We had to go to Nairobi Kenya because my girlfriend got injured and the flight surgeon thought Nairobi has better medical facility in case she needed surgery. Fortunately, she only had minor injuries in the end and so we decided to continue with the safari after she was discharged. Because we were scared of going on a small plane again, our travel agency organized a new trip for us and got a driver to take us to Masai Mara, staying at Great Plains camps (owned by Jouberts). Loved it, although we missed the great migration since the herd was back in Tanzania at the time. Cannot stress enough how good Yellow Zebra Safari was in helping us get everything in order. They sent a person to help us in Nairobi. I will go with them again for my next safari. Make sure you have a good travel insurance too. They took care of everything and we didn't need to pay anything out of pocket.
This was our plane, a total loss.
http://www.darpost.com/2017/10/everyone-survives-coastal-plane-crash/
Exactly 3 weeks later, the same airline, also 11 passengers, crashed by the crater area and all died.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5093567/Eleven-dead-including-Americans-Tanzania-plane-crash.html
Since the incidents, the airline CEO resigned and they implemented two pilots per plane, according to one of my student who went on their plane a few years later. She had her eyes closed the entire flight.
So we ultimately missed the serengeti although Masai Mara is the same ecosystem essentially. I definitely want to go back to see the great migration, but I will not want to go on a small plane again. Our drive from Nairobi to Masai Mara was long, but it was fine, even when we got on dirt roads only. There actually was a Chinese restaurant/hotel on the way there, lmao.
My father and I took over 14,000 photos during that trip. I still haven't gone through all of them yet. We brought tons of gear, but that's why you bring your significant others to help and not exceed the baggage allowance.
We had 6 bodies, two 1DXII, 5D4, two 5DsR, M5 for video. Most utilized lenses were 600 f4 II usually with 1.4 on 5D4, 1DXII with 200-400 and 100-400 with 1.4x. The 70-200 f2.8II and 24-70 F2.8 II with the two 5DsR. 300 f2.8 II on the M5 for some videos. We never changed lenses on the drive. Had monopods and also roof top support that was useful for the jeeps in TZ that had open roofs, but not in Mara. Didn't use the drone on the game drive at all. Looking back, I should have tried to use it after we crashed and looked for the air strip so we can get help quicker. It was pouring rain initially, but rain stopped later. The fear at the time was getting eaten by the predators if the rescue crew didn't come in time. We held monopods as weapons in case big cats wanted to eat us.
https://flic.kr/p/2mjyYmQ
Definitely an adventure of a lifetime. Will do it again, but will avoid the small planes. ...Show more →
That's a crazy story and you are lucky to have survived a plane crash. How the heck were you able to bring all that gear? I want to bring a lot, not as much as you, but I'm trying to confirm the weight loads. I've heard conflicting stories. The latest is 44lbs per person for luggage, but does that include your carry on? You brought a ton of gear...I'm hoping to bring the following between two people:
(4) R5's
EF 600III with extenders
EF 200-400
RF 70-200 2.8
RF 100-500
RF 14-35
EF 135
Macbook Air
Batteries, chargers, memory cards, SSD's, etc
Hopefully we don't need to bring plug adapters as I would think the camps have them for American tourists?
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) and I wouldn't bet my chances of charging batteries on the question if a camp happens to have one for me or not. With all that stuff on the packing list, putting one or two in your bag wouldn't hurt. 
