- M9 with 15, 21, 28, 35, 50, 90/2.8, 90/4 'Macro'
- GH2 w/M adapter
- 5D (mk1) with all the usual F4L set (17-40/24-105/70-200) + 35/50 primes
I'm also going to Kenya shortly, and have similar equipment available. A number of years ago I went to South Africa with Leica M6 and M7 with 12, 21, 35 and 75mm lenses and Canon EOS3 with 100-400 and 100macro. Mostly I used the Canon 100-400, also with 1.4x and an M camera with the 35/1.4. All equipment got reasonable use and was worthwhile.
Flexibility is a must if shooting from a vehicle; zooms are very useful. How long a lens you need depends of course on personal styles and preferences, but while I took som shots of lions with the 21 and 35, most were with the 100-400 and I would not have gotten images of some animals with a shorter lens. Best would be a set of super telephotos available and handed to you on a body by an assistant, but in real life we not only don't have all those things but we wouldn't want to carry them either. I don't want to carry more than I have to since my knees aren't that good anymore and we have to cross various airports plus have additional excursions planned after.
On this trip 3 people are taking Nikon D700 cameras; 2 are taking the 200-400/4 and one the 300/2.8 as their main long lens, and also converters. For the 200-400 they are buying an extra seat on the flight, apparently. One other person is taking Panasonics and the 100-300 as his longest lens. I had a 300/2.8 Canon for a while but got rid of it as it was not convincing with teleconverters. My main options are the 5DMkII and 7D with various lenses up to the 100-400. The other option is a GH2 and G3 with various lenses up to the 100-300. In tests for detail and general image quality at longer distances the GH2 and 100-300 won out. The 5DMkII has too low a pixel density and can't deliver the detail, and the 7D combo suffers because the 100-400 (or the 70-200/2.8II with converters) is just not as good a lens as the Panasonic 100-300. I've owned two and tried 4 other 100-400 and mine is the best of those but still has obvious decentering, but at least the 7D crops out the worst. The 7D has better low light capability, but only by about 1 stop at best. The 45-200 is not nearly as good as the 100-300.
So I'm taking the GH2, G3, 7-14, 14-140, 12/2 Oly, 20/1.7, 45/2.8 and 100-300. All of this fits in a Domke 803, and is easily carried through airports. I still might replace the fixed lenses (except the macro) with an M9 and 21, 35 and 75, but that is the only thing that is still up in the air.
I use the 5DMkII with TS-E lenses for work a lot but have found the GH2 and G3 to deliver image quality which is quite acceptable once in print so don't feel I'm losing very much. It also means I can have all the lenses with me all the time.
Henning