Tom, we found out It depends on where you are going on what they weigh. Before going I packed and repacked mine and my wife's things for days before we left. I balanced my clothes and camera gear between the two of us. Her clothes did not weight or take up as much as mine did. I am 6’-4” and 300lbs one pair of pants weighs little over a pound. My mistake was taking only 3 pairs of pants and too many pairs of shorts. I found that I only needed 1 pair of shorts, took 3. I tore one of the pairs of pants I had only taken 3 pairs total ( wore one and packed 2). So I was constantly washing pants. 6 pair of underwear. All the places have same day laundry, put it out in the morning and get it back that evening. Except at the hotel in Nairobi the Tamarind Tree all there documentation states if you drop it off before 9 am you will have it back that afternoon, nope they wash at night, drop it off before 9 and you get it back the next morning. We just got our clothes back to quickly stuff them into our bags to leave.
Ok wandered off topic a little in response to your question. At Kansae they only weighed the “checked bags” so my camera bag (Guru Gear 30L) and small bag (LL bean stowaway) that had my laptop, cpap and pills and camera around my neck was not weighed. At Nairobi Wilson airport they weighed everything including my camera bag but not my small bag or my wife’s backpack. If they had weighed those we would have been about 5.5kg total over between the two of us. We also had a mishmash of “soft sided bags” I saw on a You Tube video a couple had these bags that they packed their stuff in. I emailed them and found out what the bag was and bought one and wish I had bought two. A MIER 60L water resistant backpack duffle it was great it was a checked bag and we flew on 12 different planes, and 6 different airlines which included Atlanta, London (Heathrow), OR Tambo, Chicago. Only issue is it does not have a TSA lock for the zipper. It held a ton of stuff and held up great, the other bag I had and my wife’s ‘carry on’ (not her little backpack) well had to buy a hard sided bag in London for those 2 bags contents to go into. We also found that at OR Tambo, Nairobi and London there is a place they wrap the bags in plastic for a couple of bucks. Which is great, it protects the bag, wraps up the straps so they do not get caught in the baggage transport system and provides the security of not having the zippers locked. At the bigger airports, in my opinion a must do.
Now I mentioned that we were taking a cruise after the safari we had 1 hard sided bag that had all our cruise clothes (dressy stuff) and thank god another pair of pants for me. And a place to stuff the 2 pairs of short pants I did not need. We were able to store this bag at the hotel in Johannesburg we flew in then stayed overnight to then catch our flight to Vic Falls the next morning. Then we flew back into Jo’burg stayed over night to then catch our flight the next day to Nairobi. In Nairobi we again stored that bag at the Tamarind Tree where were able to store it there and pick it up because we arranged to have a day room to wait for our flight at 9 something that night (we were at the hotel by around noon the day of our flight on to London). Something we did not know until we first landed in Nairobi, was that the Nairobi airport will not even let you in the building until at a maximum 4 hours before your flight. You have to wait outside on the sidewalk or parking lot until then. At the Nairobi airport we went through security 4 times, X-ray the bags, laptops out, everything out of you pockets, etc. We even went through security when we landed there to get out of the airport building after picking up our checked bags. Let’s say I felt like my bags and cameras were glowing from all the X-rays.
Another couple of tips, a scarf nice wool one was a must, nice for covering your face in the truck to keep warm and not breathe in the dust. I just washed mine and I like to never got all the dirt out. First time washed it the water was like mud took me 6 times to get the water clear. The other is bring a towel big enough that can wrap around and cover your camera and lens that will be also your lens cap. This will keep it from getting so dusty and can quickly be removed to shoot. Futzing with a lens cap is a pain. Yes my lens was covered with a lens coat but still wanted to keep the dust off. I even tried one of the rain covers for camera and lens and that was a pain to deal with. The towel I used was again saturated with dust I had to hit it against the truck several times to get dust out. We had to wash our coats several times while on the trip just to get the dust off. A must and mean must have is 2 bodies with different lenses, one with a long lens and one with a 70-200 range. When I go again (already looking at possibilities ) I am just going to take 2 bodies, my 300mm with 2x teleconverter, my 70-200 and iPhone. 6 batteries, 2 chargers and a better pair of binoculars. I never used in Africa my 24-70 or the 16-34. The other thing we found is it depends on where you go if you will need a big long lens. At one camp they were allowed to go ‘Off road’ we were following a pack of dogs on a hunt and our driver was knocking down trees and shrubs to follow them. At the Maasa and Madikwe it was all on the road / track so it had to be a recognizable track ie no just taking off knocking down trees. But even then they will get you close. In the mornings and evening was the only time I wish I had a 400 f2.8 but my thing was not focal distance but wider f stop. So I would start with out the tele then as the sun came up I got good at putting my tele on inside a rain cover when the truck had been stopped for a while and nobody was driving by. Sometimes I would even find myself wanting to take off the teleconverter, of instance we so close to get a bird taking off the bird filled the frame so much I could catch it. So had to use the 70-200 and it was perfect for those shots.
Well this maybe a little TMI but hope it helps and if any more questions just ask.
