We finally completed our twelfth trip to Africa, after COVID delays and flight issues resolved themselves. We ended up being in four camps for a total of 28 safari days, and we absolutely loved the trip. It offered us a number of lessons, and I’ll share them with you here.
Our trip included 10 days at AndBeyond’s Tengile camp, then 7 at Tswalu Kalahari, and six each at AndBeyond Nxabega and Sandibe. The trip was so long because we had to combine camps from multiple trips, interrupted by COVID. We loved all the camps; we’d been to all but Nxabega before. Staying for so long at each gives us a chance to really take advantage of the special benefits of these locations, and to get familiar with the wildlife opportunities and best places and things to see.
As recently as early 2022, it would have required five COVID tests, most of them the more expensive and hard-to-schedule PCR tests. By the time we left in early May, the only remaining test needed for fully vaccinated people was the rapid antibody test to return to the US (since then, this requirement has been removed).
This relates to the first lesson, which is that the major safari camps in Africa are taking COVID extremely seriously, even now as governments have largely lifted their restrictions. The majority of the staff in each were fully vaccinated, and even when that was the cast, they still practiced masking and sanitation procedures when the staff came into guest contact. You can ask your ranger and tracker to mask in the vehicles, but since we are both fully vaccinated (2 mRNA plus two boosters), we had a private vehicle so there was no exposure to other guests, and the vehicles are fully open, we didn’t ask them. We hugged those we were friendly with and nobody got COVID, and we felt comfortable throughout.
Second, the camp experience, including dining, seems back to normal. The food was great everywhere and all the camps were very solicitous of our dining requirements. They’ve started to reinstate dining outdoors in a boma (outdoor barbecue setting), but they keep guests well separated since in many cases they’re less vaccinated (and less inclined to take masking seriously) than the staff.
As I noted above, we had a private vehicle so we didn’t come into close contacts with most of the guests. We did, in some camps, have conversations with some at mealtime, but in most cases we stayed fairly well separated. Where we were confident about the vaccination status of the people, we got more friendly. If you share a vehicle, which most safarigoers do, you’ll have to decide what to do based on the collective view and the policy of the camps.
Third, our wildlife experiences on the trip were literally unparalleled, and even the ranger/tracker teams we had said they’d rarely if ever had as much action and interest. I think a big part of this is the fact that we didn’t have an agenda for each drive. Many people will chase specific animals or interactions, and that can create major issues even in a private vehicle. The problem is that wildlife isn’t tied to a location, and often nobody knows where that lion, leopard, or pack of wild dogs is at the moment. We told our rangers to go where they believed we’d have the best experience overall, and they did. We’re also birders, so there is always something to see and enjoy, and taking time to watch birds often leads to happening onto (or into) action of another sort!
One thing that became clear as we moved through our adventure is that getting an early start is critical. We were almost always the first vehicle to depart, morning and afternoon, often the last to return, and we usually packed breakfast rather than waiting to eat before departing or returning early. As a result, we were often the vehicle who happened on the best stuff as it was developing, rather than competing with others to see something another group had discovered. In many cases, we were the only people to see some of the most exciting interactions, because we were there when they happened and others were still in the camp.
Now on to my favorite topic, photography and videography!
This was the first African safari trip where my goal was to shoot video rather than to take pictures, though I did take photos too. I strongly recommend that others who face this transition in media do even more pre-trip familiarization than I did. For the first two or three days, I struggled a bit with the setup, and I missed some things I wish I’d caught. I did a lot better later in the trip.
My primary technical recommendation for those who want to take videos of safari action is use back-button focus, with continuous focus (AF-C in Nikon terms) as the setting. This lets you thumb the AE/AF button on the back when you need to refocus either video or photos, and you can let off the button when the subject is at a constant distance. This eliminates the need to switch between AF-C and AF-S for photos, and it lets you avoid constant focus-hunting, with visible and audio artifacts, for video.
Video takes up a lot of card storage. I took a 1 TB card for my Nikon Z7II and four 128 GB cards for the Nikon Z6, and I shot most of the latter and filled more than half the terabyte card, even though I changed my frame rate to reduce storage. I’ve found that posting and viewing video at the “studio” rate of 24 frames per second is fine, so that’s where I ended up. I shot 4K even though I post to my YouTube channel in HD (1920×1080), which gives me some latitude to zoom in video post-processing (Davinci Resolve Studio 17) and the ability to crop-stabilize if needed. I had planned to take advantage of the Z7II’s ability to shoot 4K at 60 fps for selective slow motion, but unfortunately Nikon Z cameras don’t give you an accurate measure of remaining capacity on a card, so I changed to avoid running out of space.
One thing you can do (besides buying a bigger card!) is to take advantage of the Z7II’s second SDXC slot and put in a U10 card, then set photos to be stored on that card rather than on the main CFexpress Type B. I never had any issues with the SDXC card keeping up with my photo shooting.
I had expected to be taking most video with the Z6, and overall that was true. I have a Sigma 24-105 Art lens mounted on the Z6, which gave me good range for close encounters. I used the Z7II with the Sigma 50-500 for longer shots, but sometimes there was just too much action to switch cameras even though I tried to have both ready. While we were moving I kept the Z7II in hand to grab a shot if needed, and I set either photo or video mode depending on whether we had an expectation of action or not; video if yes, photo if no.
The experts recommend video be shot at a shutter speed no more than 2x frame rate, which would have been 1/50 second. I didn’t follow that; I used 1/120 almost exclusively and went lower if light levels were low. That slow a shutter meant shooting at f16 to f22, which at least gave more depth of field and made it easier to maintain focus on moving subjects.
In the AndBeyond Tengile River Lodge and Tswalu Kalahari, I used a GorillaPod to offer a stable camera platform if the position of the critters was suitable, but animals don’t pay any attention to your positioning challenges. It was often necessary to hand-hold and brace as much as possible. In Botswana, because of the bumpy ride, they cover the vehicle bars with padding, and the GorillaPod won’t grip solidly, so I didn’t use it.
We asked all the camps to remove the roof of our vehicles, which they did. This was because the bars that hold up the canvas tops will interfere with panning for moving subjects, either blocking the camera or just getting in the way. Botswana requires the full steel frame of the top be kept on, and so I had considerable trouble with panning in both Botswana camps. Videos of land critters weren’t too bad; you could see the vehicle frame but it didn’t impact focus. Birds in flight were a problem because the bars broken focus lock on the bird in many cases, or blocked part of the view in the picture.
OK, it was a great trip and I got some good pictures and videos, but what would I do differently? Here’s my list.
First and foremost, take more cards. I’m going to get a 2 TB card for the Z7II and move the 1 TB card to the Z6. I want to be able to video without fearing I’m going to run out of capacity before the end of a trip.
Second, use DX mode for Z6 video when I have time to set it up and I need more reach. If I set the Z6 for DX (crop frame) shooting and then crop 2x from 4K to HD in Resolve, I have the equivalent of 315mm, which is probably enough to reduce my need to shoot video with the Z7II. It’s a LOT easier to hold the Z6 for action shooting than the Z7II.
Third, I need a better strategy for stabilizing the camera when shooting something with the Z7II. 500mm is too long a zoom to hand-hold without some bracing strategy. The GorillaPod works if the position of the animal/vehicle is favorable. I’m not sure what can be done if it isn’t other than what I tried, which was to lean over and use my elbows! Beanbags and clamps, like the GorillaPod, are limiting in that you can only use them where there’s a bar or something to put them on.
Finally, video is very different than pictures, and you need to think differently when shooting it. I think I made progress in this area on the trip, but I think there’s more progress to be made. Some is technique; when do you change focus, when do you try manual focus versus hitting the back-button, and should you change the size of the focus area? I generally used Wide-Area AF (Large) because it lets you pick up birds and larger things, but that works best for photos. For video, you may need a smaller focus area to avoid focusing on something other than the intended subject.
The nice thing about adventure travel is that you identify a lot of things you need to do better, and if you’re addicted to it, you know there are other trips coming that will give you that chance!