I wanted to start a new post and not hijack the other recent camera question. I would really value your advise.
I am interested in learning how you can take multiple lenses and still keep at the 13k bag weight limit for the small bush planes.
My husband is the photographer in our family and on trips where there isn't a weight concern, I help carry his equipment and it's heavy!
He uses a Nikon200D and the Nikon300D. The bodies aren't too bad but the lenses can really add weight.
I have been wondering about carrying the cameras, lenses & binoculars and wondering if we'll have any weight left over for clothes & personal items.

This is not an easy question to answer because whatever I tell you of my experience, somebody else will tell different. But I guess you are anxious for a response, so here goes.

On all my safaris (from Australia) I've never had a problem with the weight of camera equipment, and I've carried quantities over the past 11 years ranging from just a few kilos to about 17 kg as carry-on. Before I committed myself to that 17 kg carry-on expedition, I checked with two fellow photographers-- frequent travellers to Africa, one in Europe and one in Australia-- and both suggested I would be OK. They were right.

My check-in safari bag with clothing, personal effects etc has been within the usual safari limit of 12 kg (it varies). The pilots of the small planes in Botswana have always taken me without question, even though my TA's standard advice is &quot;soft safari bag, limit 12 kg, plus a <i><b>reasonable</b></i> amount of camera equipment&quot;. So &quot;reasonable&quot; is obviously flexible, though I've met one traveller who told me he had to pay for an extra seat on a small plane because he had too much camera gear (not as much as me). Therefore I'm always prepared to have to pay for that extra seat at the last minute.

If I have to guess, I'd say that if you share your husband's camera gear as carry-on, you should be OK.

Good luck.

John

13Kg total per person, all bags, cloths and camera gear? I've been well over that every time. But my bags (two) are not huge and are soft sided so they do not look real heavy. But let's say by chance they do indeed weigh your bags and you are over weight. How many $$ extra would you have to pay? As long as they allow you to take the camera gear, that's the important thing. So you have to pay for a seat at $100. Of course I'd whine, plead, moan and groan, but really now, considering the cost of the safari another $100 is peanuts. Just as long, as I said, I could take all of the gear.

Oh, BTW, my bags are one medium duffel weighing about 10 Kg and one carry on size soft camera bag weighing about 12 Kg.

regards - tom

Thank you both so much! Your experiences are what I was looking for.
If it's a matter of paying extra to carry the equipment then that's not a huge deal but if we were stuck not being able to get it on the flight with us---that would be a problem.

We both use soft carry on bags and we'll probably be fine with the cameras by dividing the weight.

I don't think I'll tell my husband not to worry because he'll add something else. (He was gong to take a 3.5lb bean bag before I suggested to him that he wasn't)

We just got back from a safari and when we used the small planes, I took my two cameras out and wore one with a heavy lens and my husband wore the other one. Also, at one point, I put some lenses in my vest pockets. Had no problems. They never asked to weigh my cameras or my camera bag with our duffels.

Out of nine small planes we only ran into one problem and that was at the smaller airport in Nairobi. Just use your vest pockets and carry the cameras around your neck.

OH and I usually come in below 13kg for our main luggage but we don't include the camera gear in that. We've often had one camera rucksack each weighing about 7-8kg each and these have never been weighed or even looked at askew.