Africa travel tips??

Hey everyone, my mom wants to go to Africa and I'm eager to go with her. Considering the time to plan the trip and get the shots, this likely won't happen for a year.

Will anyone here share their experience with travel to Africa?

Where's good to go?
What's good to see?
What kind of tour group to go with?
Stay in "resorts" or less?
Is it worth buying/learning new good camera equipment?
Drink the water or no?

Thanks to all you experts!

Experiences based on travel to Zambia:

Don't drink the water. Period.

Definitely get your immunizations and take Malaria meds. That's some wicked stuff. Met a lot of folks in Zambia with it.

Victoria Falls was fantastic! Absolutely worth the trip (and it's a long bumpy one).

Staying in guest houses is an interesting experience (sort of the equivalent of a B&B). Depends on your expectation of a level of comfort, and what a real meal consists of. Nshima didn't quite cut it for me. The quality can very widely from guest house to guest house.

Don't expect to see a lot of animals when you're driving around. They were eaten long ago.

As for the camera, check out some of my brother's photos from Zambia, Tunisia and Algeria. A decent camera and knowledge of how to use it are definitely worth having.

Africa is a huge place, obviously, and very diverse. I've been to both Northern Africa (Arab Africa) and Southern Africa (black Africa) and both are amazing places. Which location you choose depends on the kind of adventure you are looking for.

I highly recommend Tunisia. Lots of culture and built for tourism, there are plenty of places to get away. Tunis is an amazing city, especially the Medina (the old, central part of the city). Ancient Carthage is close by, as is the enchanting Mediterranean town of Sidi Bou Said. There are resorts along the coast of Tunisia (Tabarka, et al.), and the desert offers a number of treasures, as well. The nice thing is that the country is small enough to travel throughout over the course of a week (it's about the same size as the state of Georgia), although you might find yourself wanting to stay in one place for a longer period of time. Be sure to bring a French translation book if you don't speak the language.

Egypt is one of those amazing places that is littered with culture. It's tourist friendly...as long as you are a more seasoned traveler. Cairo is cluttered but offers a lot in the way of history. Luxor and the southern gems are accessible by train, albeit the ride takes about 9 hours. First class train tickets are pretty inexpensive, though.

I've been to other countries in Northern Africa that are less tourist friendly, so I won't bother to mention those.

Countries like Kenya offer a different perspective. They seem to have less cultural heritage but more of a natural, undisturbed beauty. The Great Rift Valley is absolutely amazing, and there are nice places on the coast in which one can stay. Safaris are popular tourist attractions.

I would recommend Tanzania, as well, although I've never been there. I hear it is very interesting and it is on my list of places to see.

Zambia is an adventure, and friendly enough. Expect to rough it a bit; I don't think there is much in the way of resorts. Prices are cheap, the people are fantastic, and the country is beautiful. I'm not sure how easy it is to rent a car, but in such a case, be prepared to drive on the left-hand side of the road.

I wouldn't drink the tap water in any African country. I've never found a place that doesn't have an abundant supply of bottled water available for cheap. I don't have any problems washing my fruits in tap water or eating washed produce in some countries, but in others I avoid it all together.

As for camera equipment, it pays to have something decent. It would be a shame to visit such an amazing place and come back with crappy pictures. Depending on your gear, you'll want to keep it fairly compact for travel. I can give you a run-down of what I normally take, if you like, including the bag, travel tripod, digital storage options, etc. I can fit everything I need on my back, which makes travel photography much easier.

If I didn't cover any of your questions sufficiently or you have more questions, feel free to ask.

How can you know that a given bottle of water isn't just from that city's tap? Frankly, there are many big bottled water vendors in the US that do precisely that.

You can't know for sure, of course, and there's no FDA regulations there to prove otherwise, but at least the water looks clean and tastes good, so on a psychosomatic level, everything is good. Let's just say that I've never gotten sick drinking bottled water in any foreign country, and I've been to quite a few and lived in several.

The big trick (at least in India) is to make sure that the bottle is unopened when it's given to you. Don't be afraid to send an opened bottle back. Crack it yourself, or don't drink it. People aren't above refilling bottles.

Yes please!

Since you asked so nicely...

I'm not going to go on a run down of my preferred camera type or the different size lenses that I drag along with me. There is a huge variety of options in that category and just as many opinions. I'll simply mention that, in my experience, its best to pack one multi-purpose lens (18-200mm), which sacrifices a bit of speed for versatility. Depending on where I am traveling and what I estimate I will need, I pack 1-2 more faster lenses.

With speed and versatility in mind, I carry all of my stuff in a Lowepro Fastpack 250 bag. The Fastpack is not huge, but not the smallest camera backpack I own. The benefits are that it holds a 15" computer, has a top compartment for all sorts of odds and ends, and has a very quick-access padded bottom compartment for camera gear. I have tested out other camera bags that are similar in size and function, but the reason I like this bag the most is the convenience of quickly accessing my camera without having to put the bag down on the ground. The bag looks like a standard backpack so it doesn't advertise "expensive camera equipment" like some bags do. I do have a couple minor quibbles, one being the fact that there are no tripod straps on the bag. This is a big oversight in my opinion, but not a deal breaker. The lesser quibble is that the bag doesn't come with any sort of weather cover.

I use a Slik Sprint Pro travel tripod when I'm on vacation and not wanting to drag around something heavier and more cumbersome. When collapsed, the tripod is just under 20" in length which means it can fit into most carry-on luggage. It also weighs under 2 pounds, so it doesn't add to your overall luggage weight, either. The legs have three different positioning angles and it has a pretty decent ball head. Slik do not recommend using the tripod with heavy lenses, but it handles my camera with its 18-200mm lens just fine. Due to it's size, it's not the most solid tripod, of course, but it's an amazing tripod for traveling. I recommend purchasing a quick disconnect plate to attach to the ballhead for easy attachment of the camera.

For digital storage, I generally bring my laptop and a small, portable, external hard drive. There are times when bringing my laptop is just not feasible, however. And at other times, I need something "in the field" to which I can backup my memory cards. I use a Epson P series multimedia storage device. It's very versatile, with the capability to play movies and music, but I use it just for image backup. The large, bright 4" screen makes it easy to view your photos with greater detail than the camera's display. And it's simple to just drop a memory card in the slot, click the button to back-up, and then let it sit and do its job. It automatically turns itself off after a minute of inactivity, so you don't have to worry about babysitting it.

I use an iPod Touch for all my travel entertainment and communication needs. It does videos, music, games, translation, currency conversion, reading, email, internet, voice communication (Skype), and is pretty much the all-in-wonder device I desired during my years of travel. I have a Kennsington backup battery which does a great job of recharging my iPod on a plane or in an area where I can't get electricity.

Other minor equipment that I carry in my camera bag are: rechargeable battery and Energizer compact charger (for flash, GPS, etc.), a small Energizer flashlight that expands to provide lantern capabilities, a small headlamp, a external flash unit for my camera, a small diffuser for the flash, remote flash triggers, a rocket blower (for cleaning the dust and other crap from my camera), 4 extra camera batteries, a camera battery charger, lens hoods for my lenses, a couple lens filters (circular polarizers, graduated neutral density filters, etc.), a plug and cord for charging my iPod Touch, one of those goofy looking face masks for sleeping, ear plugs, band-aids, ibuprofen, diarrhea medicine, hand gel, small Moleskine notebook, 2 pens, a sunscreen stick (kinda like a glue stick, but with sunscreen), a pack of tissues, a plastic, waterproof case for my camera memory cards, a shower cap (for keeping my camera dry in those unexpected downpours), a photocopy of my passport, a small bag full of various power plug adapters for different countries, a small airline headphone adapter (for those lame 2-prong airline jacks), and sunglasses.

(Dang, that last sentence was one long run-on).

All of the above fits nicely in my Fastpack 250. The small stuff - like batteries and such - get packed inside of smaller, modular, accessory pockets, which keeps my stuff from getting lost in the crevices of the bag.

Anyway, I hope that helps. I don't mind going into greater detail on any of the above, if need be.

Oh, and one more thing: I pack a cable release for my camera. It comes in handy for night shots...or for the breathtaking starry African nights.

You can't know, so taking the cap off yourself is no guarantee that the water isn't contaminated. Probably the safest thing to drink anywhere is bottled beer given the prevalence of pasteurization for shelf life. I notice in cheap cafes Hanoi that they would hand me the opener with my bottle of Ha Noi Bia. Presumably so I could be assured that it was the real thing and hadn't been watered down.

Oh, and let's hear it for Pepto Bismol prophylaxis against amoebic dysentery.

Thanks! There was some good info in there, particularly for the storage -- I didn't know about the Epson P series. I already have the Slik tripod. I made my own padded case for it, and it does travel very nicely (I bought it for a mountain bike/adventure tour of Costa Rica).

I've never been to Africa, but if I went I'd hope to see some of the amazing botany: the baobabs, the fynbos, and, if you're near its narrow range, the utterly weird Welwitschia, which looks like something Spaceman Spiff might encounter.

Peter

Thanks for all of this great information. I'll digest it, run it by my mother, and post back here again. You guys are the best.


Ha, that's a phrase I haven't heard in 20 years... which was the last time an African trip was discussed.