Checking in camera gear when traveling on Tanzania safari

[Neil Williams]

guys
Next week I am going to Tanzania for 10 days Safari. I just tried to get all my gear in my backpack and can't so I am going to have to check in a camera body and the 300 f2.8 lens along with my laptop.
I have a pelican case to do that I just want to know your thoughts on doing that?
I will be flying Business class from KL to Dubai then economy from Dubai to Dar a Salam and economy from DAS to Arusha
Comments most welcome
Neil

[David Sutton]

The 2014 figures for mishandled bags was 7.3 per 1,000 passengers. Not all of those were permanently lost.
So the odds are that you will arrive with your bag. My experience is that the likelihood of losing a bag goes up with each connection, especially if changing providers, so if possible and convenient I try to collect my bag for a new connection with another airline and re-check it.
All of which is not that much help to you. My rule is that I have to be able to keep working if I lose the suitcase, and the contents of my carry-on reflect that.
The only time I have lost a bag was Virgin US and I spent several hours ringing across the US before locating it myself. The person in charge said "Oh yes, I'm looking at it now". I think it would still be there if I had relied on their systems.
David

[Neil Williams]

The 2014 figures for mishandled bags was 7.3 per 1,000 passengers. Not all of those were permanently lost.
So the odds are that you will arrive with your bag. My experience is that the likelihood of losing a bag goes up with each connection, especially if changing providers, so if possible and convenient I try to collect my bag for a new connection with another airline and re-check it.
All of which is not that much help to you. My rule is that I have to be able to keep working if I lose the suitcase, and the contents of my carry-on reflect that.
The only time I have lost a bag was Virgin US and I spent several hours ringing across the US before locating it myself. The person in charge said "Oh yes, I'm looking at it now". I think it would still be there if I had relied on their systems.
David

David my second hand carry should stay with me all the way from KL to Dar a Salam and then might have to put it in the hold for that last short flight to Arusha...... if thats the case I will put the 70/200 and D800 body in each of my safari jackets and laptop in hand.........I will also have a bunch of $20 notes in my pocket to maybe help my way through

[David Sutton]

Sound a good plan. Those short flights tend to have limited numbers of destinations and passengers, and often you can see you bag being loaded.
We get quite good at slinging a heavy backpack over one shoulder and pretending there is little in it.
Don't forget on the return when boarding at Dar a Salaam, if they want to check in your back pack, look them in the eye and say the magic words: "I'm flying business from Dubai".
David

[Neil Williams]

Sound a good plan. Those short flights tend to have limited numbers of destinations and passengers, and often you can see you bag being loaded.
We get quite good at slinging a heavy backpack over one shoulder and pretending there is little in it.
Don't forget on the return when boarding at Dar a Salaam, if they want to check in your back pack, look them in the eye and say the magic words: "I'm flying business from Dubai".
David

You know David I nearly bought the Nikon 80/400 f4.5-5.6 and that would have solved all the problems except for the IQ of the images and the main reason for this thrip is to get the best IQ images so thats why I am in the predicament right now

[Petrus]

Many airlines have a rule that you can have in addition to one/two carry-on bags also a camera or binoculars. D800 + 300mm f/2.8 is a camera, no? I have also seen many travelers in economy carrying big DSLR attached to 400-600mm fast telephotos. I think the check-in personnel is used to this and can be reasonable if asked nicely.

About carry-on daypack weight: the heaviest I have witnessed was 34 kg, out of which 26 kg was a head sized lump of jade, the rest mostly climbing gear...

[jani]

Please keep in mind that local planes may be very small (think Dash-8 and similarly sized cabins), so I really really recommend you check your luggage allowance for the flight from Dar to Arusha.

I'd definitively recommend going for Michael's vest trick, and keep the expensive gear in your carry-on. While people are generally helpful, honest, and all that, it's the stowed luggage that is at risk of being delayed, and since you're going there for the photography specifically with the 300, I'd keep it with me, if I were you.

When I went there in 2014, I had a 70-200 f/2.8L IS as my long lens and a 17-40 f/4L as my short lens. I brought a 2x extender, which I used for longer shots. That worked well

[Jimbo57]

I would certainly agree with the suggestion of collecting and re-checking your baggage at every intermediate airport. The "professional" view on this is that if you do not have sufficient time to collect at the carousel, change terminals (if necessary) and re-check the baggage in, then you almost certainly have not allowed sufficient time for the baggage transfer to take place "normally".

My worst experience was when a friend and I travelled from Edinburgh to Winnipeg for a duck hunting trip. Because he had millions of air-miles, he travelled by a different combination of airlines to me. We got there OK but, coming home, I travelled Winnipeg - Minneapolis/SP - Heathrow - Edinburgh. He travelled Winnipeg - Toronto - Amsterdam - Edinburgh. We left Winnipeg within half an hour of each other and arrived in Edinburgh within half an hour of each other. Both sets of airlines lost our luggage (which contained shotguns - and, because of UK firearms regulations, we both had to return to the airport the following day to collect our stuff as it could not be delivered to our homes in the normal manner).