For a safari, a pair of 8x42 binoculars is the best choice for most people. They magnify enough to pick out a leopard in a tree, let in enough light for the early morning, and you can hold them steady in a vehicle. If you want to see further, take 10x42. Bring one pair per person on safari.
The first number is the magnification, the second the diameter of the lens in millimetres.
Binoculars | Magnification | Who they suit |
8x32 | 8 times | light and compact, good for children and in your hand luggage |
8x42 | 8 times | the best all-round choice, also in low light |
10x42 | 10 times | seeing further, birds, but harder to hold steady |
A larger lens lets in more light. That counts at sunrise and late in the afternoon, which are the best hours on safari.
Binoculars of 12x or more sound useful, but every movement of your hand is magnified too. In a vehicle that has only just stopped, with the engine still ticking over, all you see is shake.
Afterwards, guests tell us more often that they were glad of their binoculars than of their camera. Sharing sounds fine, until a cheetah is lying in the grass and you both want to see it. Bring one pair per person, children included.
Both. A camera records, binoculars let you look. A phone is fine for the landscape and falls short for an animal at a distance. More on cameras and lenses in our blog about photography on safari.
Everything else to bring is on our packing list.
Which parks you see and how many days you spend in the vehicle is set out for each of our itineraries.