A photography safari is unlike any other trip.
You may be hundreds of miles from the nearest camera shop, working in dusty conditions, dealing with everything from freezing early mornings to intense afternoon heat, and trying to photograph wildlife that might only appear for a few seconds.
Having the right equipment can make a huge difference. Just as importantly, knowing what you can safely leave at home will help you avoid carrying unnecessary weight.
Weight is one of the biggest things to consider when planning a safari, but it’s often overlooked. Many itineraries include internal flights on small aircraft, where baggage allowances can be as little as 15–20kg. That may include your main luggage, hand luggage and camera equipment.
Planning your kit carefully before you travel can save you a lot of money, stress and frantic repacking at the airport.
This isn’t intended to be an exhaustive list, but it should give you a solid starting point for your next African photography adventure.
1. A Camera Body — or Better Still, Two
If your budget and baggage allowance permit, take two camera bodies.
Having two cameras allows you to keep different lenses mounted and ready to use. This means you won’t have to change lenses as often in dusty conditions, and you’ll be able to react much more quickly when something happens.
It also gives you invaluable peace of mind. Cameras are generally reliable, but faults can happen, and a backup body could save your entire trip.
Whether you shoot Canon, Nikon, Sony, Fujifilm or another system, reliability and familiarity are far more important than having the latest model.
2. A Telephoto Zoom Lens
If you’re only taking one wildlife lens, make it a telephoto zoom.
A 100–500mm, 150–600mm or 200–600mm lens will cover most safari situations. It gives you the flexibility to photograph a distant bird one moment and a lion walking beside the vehicle the next.
A telephoto zoom is particularly useful for:
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Birds
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Predators
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Distant elephants and giraffes
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Animal behaviour
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Wildlife that is too nervous or dangerous to approach closely
Image stabilisation is especially helpful when photographing from a safari vehicle, where you may not always have a completely steady shooting position.
3. A Fast Prime Lens
A telephoto zoom is the most practical option for most photographers, but if you already own a fast prime lens, it’s well worth considering.
Lenses such as a 300mm f/2.8, 400mm f/2.8, 500mm f/4 or 600mm f/4 are popular with professional wildlife photographers for good reason. Their wide apertures create beautifully soft backgrounds, helping the animal stand out while producing a wonderfully shallow depth of field.
They also gather far more light than most zoom lenses. This makes them ideal for those magical moments before sunrise and after sunset, when the light is low and wildlife is often at its most active.
The downside is fairly obvious: they’re expensive, heavy and nowhere near as flexible as a zoom.
If you do own one, it may also be worth packing a teleconverter. A good 1.4x converter can give you considerably more reach while maintaining excellent image quality, without the need to carry another large lens.
4. A Mid-Range Zoom
Wildlife isn’t always far away.
Some of my favourite photographs have been taken with a 24–70mm or 24–105mm lens when elephants, giraffes or even lions have approached within metres of the vehicle.
A mid-range zoom is also ideal for:
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Landscapes
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Camp life
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Environmental wildlife portraits
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Local villages, where photography is appropriate and permission has been given
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People and storytelling images
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Wider scenes that show the animal within its surroundings
These lenses are easy to overlook, but they can produce some of the most memorable images of the trip.
5. A Wide-Angle Lens
A safari isn’t only about close-up wildlife photographs.
Africa offers breathtaking landscapes, enormous skies, beautiful lodges, dramatic storms and incredible views of the night sky.
A wide-angle lens is perfect for photographing:
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Sunrises and sunsets
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The Milky Way and star-filled skies
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Camps and lodges
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Your safari vehicle
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Sweeping landscapes
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Environmental scenes that show the scale of the landscape
These wider photographs help tell the full story of your adventure rather than simply creating a collection of animal portraits.
6. Plenty of Memory Cards
Try not to rely on one enormous memory card.
Instead, carry several good-quality cards and rotate them during the trip. If a card fails, becomes corrupted or goes missing, you won’t lose every photograph you’ve taken.
Buy cards from reputable manufacturers and test them before you travel. A safari is not the place to discover that a bargain memory card isn’t quite as reliable as you hoped.
7. Spare Batteries
Safari days can be very long.
Game drives often begin before dawn and may not finish until after sunset. Cold mornings, continuous autofocus, image stabilisation, electronic viewfinders and burst shooting can all drain batteries surprisingly quickly.
I normally carry enough batteries to last two full days without charging. You may have access to power every evening, but it’s reassuring to know you’re covered if there’s a power cut, a charging problem or a night in a more remote camp.
8. Backup Storage
Your photographs are irreplaceable.
Whenever possible, back them up each evening using one or more of the following:
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A laptop
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An external SSD
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A dedicated portable backup device
Before formatting a memory card, make sure your images exist in at least two separate places.
Ideally, keep those backups apart. There’s little benefit in placing your memory cards, laptop and backup drive in the same bag if that bag is then lost or damaged.
9. Cleaning Equipment
Dust is part of almost every African safari.
Even if you avoid changing lenses, dust will find its way onto your equipment. I never travel without:
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A rocket blower
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Microfibre cloths
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Lens-cleaning fluid
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A sensor-cleaning kit, if you’re confident using one
A simple rocket blower is probably the most useful cleaning accessory you’ll pack. It weighs next to nothing and is usually the safest first step when removing loose dust from lenses and camera bodies.
10. A Bean Bag
For photography from a safari vehicle, I’d choose a bean bag over a tripod every time.
Placed over a window frame, door or vehicle rail, a bean bag provides excellent support while still allowing you to move quickly as the wildlife changes position.
Before packing one, ask your safari company or lodge whether bean bags are already provided. Many specialist operators carry them in their vehicles.
If you’re bringing your own, travel with it empty and fill it locally with rice, dried beans or birdseed.
Avoid pre-filled bean bags containing plastic pellets. If one splits, you could end up scattering hundreds of pieces of plastic across the African bush, which is hardly the legacy any wildlife photographer wants to leave behind.
11. A Monopod
I rarely use a monopod inside a safari vehicle, but it can be useful around camp or on walking safaris where photography equipment is permitted.
It can also be used creatively.
One technique I enjoy is having the camera close to the ground holding the monopod in one hand from inside the jeep (you really need a flip screen or tether with bluetooth to your mobile phone) and triggering the shutter remotely in the other. Photographing elephants from such a low angle can really emphasise their immense size. My image Intimate Moments I was shot using this technique.
It takes practice, and you’ll probably come home with plenty of blurry or badly composed attempts, but when it works, the results can be well worth the effort.
Always follow your guide’s instructions, particularly when photographing from outside a vehicle.
12. A Remote Shutter Release
A remote shutter release weighs almost nothing, but it can be incredibly useful.
It’s ideal for:
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Long exposures
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Night photography
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Landscapes
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Self-portraits or group photographs
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Low-angle compositions
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Situations where touching the camera could introduce movement
It’s one of those small accessories that’s easy to forget until you suddenly need it.
13. Filters
Filters are largely a matter of personal preference.
A polarising filter can reduce reflections and improve colour saturation, particularly when photographing landscapes, water or foliage. Neutral-density filters can also be useful for creative landscape work around camp.
Personally, I rarely use filters for wildlife photography itself. They reduce the amount of light reaching the sensor, and wildlife situations often develop too quickly for me to spend time fitting or adjusting them.
14. Weather Protection
African weather can change surprisingly quickly.
Depending on the destination and time of year, you could experience dust, strong wind, heavy rain and intense sunshine in the space of a single day.
Useful items include:
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A rain cover for your camera
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A weather-resistant camera bag or backpack
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Lens hoods
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A small towel
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Simple covers or dry bags for extra protection
Lens hoods are useful for more than controlling flare. They also provide a degree of protection from rain, dust and accidental knocks.
15. Power Essentials
Charging several cameras, batteries, phones and backup devices can quickly become a logistical challenge.
Don’t forget:
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A universal travel adaptor
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A multi-port USB charger
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An extension lead
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A power bank
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All of the correct charging cables
An extension lead is especially useful in camps where there may only be one available plug socket in your room or tent.
Label your chargers and cables before travelling. It makes life much easier when several photographers are sharing the same charging area.
16. Clothing
Comfort makes a huge difference when you’re spending several hours a day in a vehicle.
I’d recommend packing:
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Neutral-coloured clothing
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Lightweight layers
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Shorts
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Lightweight long trousers
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Convertible trousers with removable lower legs
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Socks and underwear
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A warm fleece
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Lightweight gloves, ideally photography gloves with removable fingertips
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A neck gaiter or scarf
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A warm hat for early-morning drives
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A sun hat
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Sunglasses
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Comfortable walking shoes
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A second pair of shoes or trainers for camp
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A lightweight waterproof jacket
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A swimsuit if your lodge has a pool
Early-morning drives can be extremely cold, particularly in an open vehicle. A scarf, hat, gloves and warm layer may feel excessive when you’re packing at home, but you’ll be very grateful for them at 5.30 in the morning.
Many safari lodges offer affordable laundry services, so check before you travel. You may be able to pack considerably less clothing and leave more of your baggage allowance for camera equipment.
Other Useful Items
These items don’t take up much room, but they often prove invaluable:
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A head torch and spare batteries
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A reusable water bottle
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Insect repellent
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Sunscreen
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A notebook or wildlife journal (I enjoy taking a small polaroid camera to take retro style photos for my journal)
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Binoculars
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Zip-lock or reusable sealable bags for protecting electronics from dust
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Earplugs, as African nights can be surprisingly noisy
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A sleep mask for long flights
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Toiletries
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Any personal medication
I don’t personally carry binoculars, as I usually have a camera in my hands, but many photographers enjoy having them. They’re particularly useful when looking for birds or watching wildlife without constantly lifting a heavy lens.
Packing Your Luggage
A soft-sided duffel or kit bag is usually the best choice for safari travel.
Soft bags are easier to fit into safari vehicles and the small aircraft often used for internal flights. Hard-shell suitcases may be restricted on some routes because they’re difficult to squeeze into small luggage compartments.
Keep your most valuable and essential camera equipment with you whenever possible, but always check the airline’s rules before travelling. Some small-aircraft operators include hand luggage and camera equipment within the total baggage allowance.
Also remember that some countries, including Kenya, have restrictions on certain plastic bags. Check the latest regulations for your destination before you travel and avoid packing prohibited single-use bags.
Don’t Forget the Essentials
Before leaving home, make sure you’ve organised:
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Your passport
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Any required visas
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Travel insurance
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Vaccinations and malaria advice
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Cash for tipping
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Credit and debit cards
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Tickets and travel documents
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Your full itinerary
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A personal first-aid and medical kit
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Hand sanitiser
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Copies of important documents
Check that your passport has enough validity and sufficient blank pages for the countries you’re visiting.
Make sure your travel insurance covers the true value of your camera equipment and the full cost and nature of the trip. Many standard policies have limits on individual items or expensive equipment, so read the small print carefully.
Seek professional healthcare advice about vaccinations, malaria prevention and any medication you may need well before departure.
It’s also sensible to keep digital copies of your passport, insurance documents and itinerary somewhere secure that you can access while travelling.
Final Thoughts
The best safari kit isn’t necessarily the biggest, newest or most expensive. It’s the kit that allows you to react instinctively when nature presents an unforgettable moment.
Protect your equipment from dust, carry enough batteries and memory cards, and pack with flexibility in mind. Once you’re sitting in an open vehicle watching lions at sunrise or elephants crossing the track just metres away, you’ll be grateful that you planned carefully.
I’ve learnt that although good equipment certainly helps, the real keys to successful wildlife photography are patience, observation and, often with the help.of a great guide, an understanding of animal behaviour.
Your camera is simply the tool that allows you to tell the story.
Have I missed anything from your essential safari kit? I’d love to hear what never leaves your camera bag.