Franschhoek to Cape Town to Johannesburg to Bombay

It was almost impossible to tear myself out of Le Quartier's luxurious bed in the morning. Such a shame that I had to leave for the airport before the dawn broke.

On our way to the Cape Town airport, we drove past the Khayalitsha and Langa townships. Khayalitsha was the largest township in South Africa and at a population of 450,000, it accounted for almost 1% of South Africa's population. At the airport, I thanked Ameen for his hospitality and slipped a note between his palms when I shook his hand. He resistantly took it and said, "Shukran Jazakallah." That morning, I learnt a new way to say 'thank you'.

After a short flight out of Cape Town, I was joined by Chhavi, Hrish, Swapnali and Rohit at the Johannesburg airport. Bombay beckoned.

Notes on Travel Photography

I think my gadgets out-weighed my clothes on this trip (and I am guilty for this). Two Nikon DSLR bodies - D70 and D50. Three Nikkor lenses - 24mm 2.8, 50mm 1.4, 70-200mm 2.8. One point and shoot - Canon G10 (also doubled up as a video recorder). Laptop - an Apple Macbook. Two phones - HTC and Blackberry. Music - iPod 80 Gb. Bag - Nat Geo 5162.

A big thank you to Kiran Patil and Nishant Vats for lending me their photo gear on this trip!

Every trip brings more wisdom about travel photography. This trip reiterated the learning that it's a joy to shoot with two camera bodies. I also loved the light-weight wide and normal primes. The long zoom lens that I carried on the trip was a sheer masterpiece and provided new unexplored perspectives. But it was too cumbersome to carry it around the neck. However, I must admit that this trip was a poor crop in terms of the number of shots I really loved. I just couldn't peel the layers of Cape Town.

So what's my ideal traveling kit? Two bodies - 1 FX and 1 DX - both with video recording capability. Three prime lenses - 20mm 2.8, 50mm 1.4 and 85mm 1.8. One teleconverter - TC 1.7. One point and shoot - 10+ mp, 4x zoom, video and RAW options. One bag that can accommodate all of this and go into the plane cabin. One bag that can accommodate two bodies with lenses and can be carried around while walking.

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Tags: Adventure Sports, Africa, Wildlife