Safari Camps & Electrical outlets?
Mar 30th, 2003, 10:05 PM
#2
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Hello De,<BR><BR> I would send an e-mail asking this particular place and/or ask your travel agent to come back with a definitive answer for you. We didn't have a problem where we were but that won't help you. If worse comes to worse, there is a main lodge where you could use theirs. It should not be difficult to get a response.
Mar 30th, 2003, 10:51 PM
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DE<BR>Mombo: Not IN room no, but they have recharging units available in their office and each night we gave them the recharging unit and battery and they charged it up for us.<BR>We took three battery backs for our digicam - the one hour which came with the camera and two larger (longer duration) ones.<BR>We just gave them one a day to charge up so we always had two out with us during the day.<BR>They had adaptors etc.<BR>Same for all the WS properties we stayed in.<BR>Kavey
Mar 30th, 2003, 11:27 PM
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PS At the WS properties we stayed in generators are run only for a few hours each day and the timings are such taht guests are out of the camp on drives when generators are on.<BR>I don't think they are _that_ loud but this is to minimise disturbing the guests.<BR>Keep this in mind when asking them to recharge as I can no longer remember if they could only charge when the generator was on.<BR>I think not as my hazy memory says they charged overnight.<BR>Actually I will ask my hub as it was his digital camera and batteries!<BR
Mar 30th, 2003, 11:42 PM
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I normally carry a car charger which plugs into the car lighter so I can get the batteries charged during the game drives. Also carry at least 3 batteries for a digital and video camera each as they get used up quickly, especially in the beginning when you are all so excited on the game drives. This really helped me in Botswana.
Mar 31st, 2003, 06:33 AM
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Yes. I bought my car battery charger in US and it worked in Botswana so I assume it would be universal. The good thing about a car charger is that unlike the electrical sockets in camp, noone else is competing for the cigarette lighter, well not until now! With the car charger you are also not reliant on the generator. Several times I have discovered that my digital batteries have not been charged at the camps and it is very annoying.<BR><BR>The other thing about digital cameras - the memory cards or sticks get used up quickly, especially if you take photos in high res mode. The option is to have a few of those ( I have 4 x 256 MB cards, each one costing a ridiculous $100) and/or download to your computer daily using a card reader and writer. Carrying a computer on a safari is not a convenient option unless you are going to take hundreds of high res images. It is better instead to delete the photos you don't like from the memory card.<BR><BR>One caution about digital camera (I have a Nikon Coolpix) - I did not find it brilliant for taking frames. It is OK for a single shot but not taking 2 or more shots in a row. This is mainly because of the time it takes to write the photo onto the memory card. Digital cameras may have improved since I bought mine over 2 years ago. <BR><BR>I recommend that for wildlife photography you also carry a conventional camera with loads of standard film and slide film . It is now very easy to digitalise conventional photos and slides using cheap scanners, scanner software and adobe photoshop.
Mar 31st, 2003, 06:50 AM
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We were lucky, we never had a problem with the 6 camps we stayed in charging our batteries each night... <BR><BR>We have a stills digital camera too and what works for us is to have 2 CF cards (cant remember now if they are 256 or 128 each) and a small portable Xdrive onto which we can empty the cards when full. The Xdrive is pretty small and fits in the camera case below the camera.<BR><BR>But for Africa we're going to stick with the ditigal camcorder and for still photography, the film SLRs.<BR><BR>I took the digital to jordan recently and I'm not as happy with the results as I normally am with my travel pics.<BR><BR>We have a negative scanner at home, and can alwyas get films copied to CD as well as printed when we process them so film still works for us.<BR><BR>The last lot of Africa photos that I have online aren't that great in quality because they were printed slightly dark and then scanned on very old very cheap flatbed in the days before I had a neg scanner and before I had and knew how to use Photoshop!
Mar 31st, 2003, 09:05 AM
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Mombo, no, and you don't really need an outlet. An electric shaver or hair dryer just wouldn't fit in - and might invite an attck by .... monkeys. They dim provide lights from battery, and a torch to light your way. It's Africa, and you'll see why.
Mar 31st, 2003, 01:32 PM
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Pete said we didn't just give batteries for charging in evenings but also at other times during day... particularly at Mombo where they had power socket available during day and night (in their central area, not in each tent).
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