It’s an early morning here at Halifax International, and a long day of travel awaits me. In a short time, I will board the first of three flights - Halifax to Toronto, Toronto to Newark, and Newark to Johannesburg. The last of the three flights is about 15 hours. This will be my longest continuous flight to date. I have headphones, podcasts, updated Spotify playlists, a remarkably comfortable neck pillow, and an aisle seat! Let’s do this.

Tomorrow night, when I arrive, I will have a night to relax at the airport hotel, and then the following morning, I meet with everyone I will see during this trip and start our journey to Rhulani. We will be staying at the Rhulani Safari Lodge in the game reserve about five hours from Johannesburg, where we will enjoy dining, stargazing, and wildlife viewing with possible sightings of elephants, lions, cheetahs, leopards, zebras, giraffes, and more. The complete itinerary includes Johannesburg, the Madikwe Game Reserve on the border with Botswana, and Cape Town to conclude the trip and fly home.

Camera Gear

This is the first travel in a few years where I am bringing my larger Canon 5D Mark II with me; the last time was our trip to Germany and Salzburg in Austria in 2021. I also have the Fujifilm X-E4 packed, but that setup with the 35mm doesn’t allow for any range. The 5D with the 70-200mm F4L will give me more distance. This is not a full safari, but I believe we are close to the animals in some situations and having the range will be beneficial. Here is what I have:

• Canon 5D Mark II with 2 batteries

• Canon 24-105mm f/4L

• Canon 70-200mm f/4L

• Fujifilm X-E4 with 2 batteries

• 35mm f/2 and K&F Concept 43mm Polarizing Filter

• 4 x SD Cards (3 x 128GB, 1 x 64GB)

• Compact Flash Cards (1 x 32GB, 1 x 16GB, 1 x 8GB, multiple smaller cards just in case)

• Thule Aspect Backpack

Miscellaneous

• Travel Adapter

• Orange Travel SIM card with 10GB of data

• Headphones

• GoPro with 3 batteries

• MacBook

• 1TB WD Portable Hard Drive

• Compact Flash Card Reader and USB Adapter

Carry-On

Even though I’m travelling over 12,000 km, I have only a carry-on. I have a short time between Newark and Johannesburg, and if my luggage was delayed, there was close to zero chance I would get it before the trip was over. That is not a risk I am willing to take. I’ve never packed for “safari” wear, so I’m not sure what to wear during “I’m looking at the animals,” but I think I did alright.

Also, it would be terrible to get sick over there. A few weeks ago, Lisa and I visited a travel clinic to get updated and recommended vaccinations for the area of South Africa that we are in. Madikwe is very close to a location in Africa with a high risk of Malaria from those pesky mosquitos. It’s not exactly over the area line, and I’m not sure what keeps the mosquitos from simply flying over that line, but whatever. We were informed to be cautious of mosquito bites. I will cover up as much as possible with long-sleeve shirts, pants, shoes, and lots of bug spray and sunscreen. (bug spray over the sunscreen) This time of year it can get cool at night, so I’m bringing a light jacket.

Daily Backup

From what I’ve seen, we have a fantastic room to enjoy. Concluding each day, I will catch up with things online and go through the necessary steps in my backup process. I’ll back up each night, transferring photos to the laptop and the 1TB portable HD. This will give me three copies of most of the content from the trip - SD/Compact Flash cards, MacBook, and portable HD.

I was considering bringing my Lowepro SlingShot 300 for a camera bag, but the Thule is the one I’m sticking with. The Lowepro is a bit smaller, but the Thule has a place for my laptop and is easier to travel with as it has two shoulder straps. The Thule is a better travel bag, whereas I consider the Lowepro a better camera bag.

Summary

I’m excited about our first trip to South Africa and what will be my longest-distance trip. The spectacular landscapes and diverse wildlife will be an incredible sight. I’m looking forward to meeting people I haven’t seen in more than a year and sharing this adventure, a new culinary scene, and some fantastic local wine with them.

Bye for now!