Sandy
keep trying, and try different binocs
the eyelashes will surrender eventually
a few LT's have made it
aby

We took binocs on our recent safari to Kenya...I am please to say we only used them once. All of the animals we saw (Big 5 many times over)were very close...as in "should I close my window?" close!! Our guides said in 7 yrs they had never had a week like we had!
Would love to go back but know it could never be that good again....so thinking of Tanzania or S Africa instead!!

N605 is echoing my usage for binocs. If I were a twitcher building my bird list, sure I'd need them. But if the four legged critters are so far away that I need binocs to get a good view, then I'm not that interested to begin with. But that's just me. YMMV :).

regards - tom

If you have a "once in every 7 years" trip, then maybe you won't need the binocs.

I used mine last time in Kenya to find a lioness in the brush with two new cubs.

Let me be clear. It is not necessary to have binoculars in order to have a great safari experience. But, if you have a great safari experience without binoculars, I believe that you would have a great^2 or great^3 experience WITH binoculars, unless maybe you were born on Krypton.

Yep, I've been in a vehicle where the lioness brushed against the side of the jeep when strolling past. And a cheetah cooled his heels in the shade of the jeep for a while. Didn't have any use for binoculars then. But then there was the bull elephant, oh maybe 40 or 50 meters away. About as close as you can safely get. Watching this guy manipulate the tip of his trunk as he picked through leaves and grass was unbelievable. I still have good distance vision (don't wear eyeglasses), but never would have seen the detail with the 10x magnification of my Canon IS's. And similar events will happen 10 or 20 times each drive.

Don

An hour watching rhinos jousting, time spent watching a saddle-billed stork feeding her baby, charging eles in the distance, black rhino at a safe distance would all have been lost to me without my binoculars. Will never go on safari without them. Lending them to fellow safari mates - priceless.

Correction! (D@amn you, Fodor's, for not having edit capability!)

Two replies ago, I typed: <i>...but never would have seen the detail with the 10x magnification of my Canon IS's</i>

When infact I meant to type pretty much the opposite, namely,: <i>but never would have seen the detail <b>without</b> the 10x magnification</I>

Sorry 'bout that.

Hey, Check out http://www.mayershops.com/waterproof...der-p-340.html

Or http://www.mayershops.com/waterproof...ass-p-255.html

I bought the 10x50 marine binoculars 3 weeks ago. Wonderful!!!

Or you may check out http://www.mayershops.com/ if you definite for 8x25 or 10x30 Binoculars. You may find what you want. However; I am not sure about the 8x25 or 10x30 Binoculars.