In this article I explain the best lenses for wildlife photography. Visiting Africa is luxury, but reliving your safari through the endless glances at your spectacular photos you took is possibly even better than the experience itself.  African photographic safaris place you in areas of high concentration of wildlife, extraordinary scenery, and breath-taking environments.  But in order to capture these images visitors who embark on a journey to Africa must think about one factor that is certainly more important than the camera itself, lenses.

Whether you’re a hobbyist, novice, or expert photographer it is important to decide your purpose.  Professional safari photographers will coach you in first deciding the right lenses for wildlife photography and then get the camera body that fits it.

What are the best lenses for wildlife photography?

What is the right lenses for wildlife photography? For an African safari? How do you decide between the hundreds of telephoto lenses available on the market?

It is a common question I get asked and the answer depends entirely on the following factors.

Budget and Your Goal with the Telephoto lens

Is this your first African safari?  Do you plan on making it an annual holiday?  If you practice wildlife photography as a hobby you will have different telephoto lenses than the professional safari photographer who intends to resell their work.

The Size of the Lens

More times than not the wildlife you encounter are not going to be as close as you wish.  Other than private concessions in Botswana, most game reserves and parks rarely allow you to travel off road to get closer to the wildlife.  Therefore you need to take along a lens with a high power of magnification.

300mm minimum for large mammals – elephant, plains game, large predators, etc. 400mm is much better, and 600mm for birds. 

Continuous Predictive Autofocus

It is easiest to capture quick motions, like a cheetah chasing an impala, when the lens is able to focus automatically for any action picture opportunities.

Image Stabilization. 

Look for lenses with image stabilization to prevent image blurring.  This will allow you to hand-hold, use beanbags, or rest on the window mount for further support.

Large Aperture

For wildlife photography, the larger the aperture of a lens the better.  The reason being, more light is let in and the tool is more effectively used during those early morning and late evening (the best time for large predator movement) photographic opportunities.  It also affects the general amount of blurring of the background and the shutter speed.

Image Sharpness

The sharper the image the better quality, especially for prints once returning home.

Background Blur

Background blur is useful on safari because of the number of distracting elements like vegetation, rocks, trees, etc.  Due to the limited ability of proximity between you and your subject, in addition to the angle at which your vehicle has come to a stop you often can’t change your determining factors so background blurring is almost always essential.

Is One Lens Better than Two?

Yes, on an African wildlife safari one lens is always better than two.  You will be exposed to the elements dust included, and have a chance to really cause damage to your equipment if you’re constantly changing lenses.  Also, why fumble around with loose equipment and have the chance to miss that perfect shot of a hippo yawning?

Weight and Size

Lighter and smaller is always better on safari. Between luggage weight restrictions and the fact that you’ll be carrying all your equipment from place to place means to make things as easy as possible.  Best to keep it simple.

Ease and Use

This is simple.  Either choose a lens you’re extremely familiar with or choose an easy to operate lens and ALWAYS learn the equipment beforehand.

Compact Camera Options

• Canon Powershot SX10 IS
• Panasonic Lumix FZ35 (FZ38)

DSLR Telephoto Lenses

• Canon EF 100-400L IS
• Canon 70-300 f/4-5.6 IS
• Canon 300 f/4 IS

The Best Telephoto Lenses

• Canon 500mm f/4L IS
• Nikon 200-400 f4 VR

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