Gear Suggestions for – Gorilla Photography Tours

Camera body. Compared to most other forms of nature photography, I think this one is most exigent. The full-frame mirrorless bodies with good low-light autofocus, typically used for indoor sports/action photography, usually have an advantage over their crop-sensor counterparts in terms of performance in the dark woods. You might want to consider a body that has good autofocus performance at the ISO 3200- 6400 range (not that you would be able to use it at lower ISOs) and/or has animal eye detection autofocus, which is now available in several mirrorless systems, and which may give you an advantage when the animal’s face is occluded by plants.

Lenses.

Here you have to make a concession – this job is not for the shooters who would normally go for the 300-400mm f/2.8. Because the gorillas often move within a few meters from you, 800mm is already too long, and you can get nothing but the back of a silverback’s head with such a lens. Rather, you want something like a 24-70mm f/2.8 or even a 70-200mm f/2.8 – the latter is almost ideal for photographing gorillas, if a bit long for the whole family picture. A faster 16-35mm may come in handy if you need to jump to a more wide-angle shot for the rare opportunities to see a gorilla within a couple of meters. If you are to choose just two lenses – go with the two ‘24-70 and 70-200′ f/2.8.

I usually shoot either in aperture or manual priority. Shooting in aperture priority mode (or even in fully automatic) is actually more convenient for me, given the fickleness of the light in the forest – when the gorilla is in a clearing, it is hard to make a fast enough shutter speed without overexposing the image, and when it moves under the foliage, the shutter speed drops dramatically. So I prefer to set the ISO range and aperture manually and let the camera do the rest.

Tripods are a luxury, if not a danger, in most cases – both due to the slippery conditions and because the guide will be unhappy about you having to stop while the rest of the group moves on. Monopods may be used occasionally but are far from being obligatory – most people I know photograph gorillas handheld. That is fine as long as you have good image stabilization and/or fast enough shutter speed (neither of which is available in abundance in the forest).

Memory cards and batteries.

You definitely want to have more than you think – the hour-long hike with the gorillas is long enough for both taking a lot of shots (you will miss plenty of shots of the silverbacks ‘acting’ that you will regret later) and for the cold and damp weather (which will kill your camera’s battery life faster than you might expect). Same goes for the memory cards, especially if you plan on taking a lot of pictures.

Rain. Both Bwindi and Volcanoes National Parks, the two main destinations for gorilla photography tours, are rainforests, meaning that rain there is not uncommon. Not because it rains much, but because the rain usually comes in sudden bursts, so it is best to have a rain sleeve/spray for your camera, plus a waterproof bag for your spares.

Clothing.

If you want to photograph gorillas, wear muted colors. Yes, it is partly a reason to avoid being distracted by bright things (but I find it much more of a factor for the animals themselves), but you would want to blend in with the forest rather than stand out. That means khakis, greens, browns – not red, blue, yellow, or any other neon or bright colour. Another piece of clothing advice I can give is to bring some gardening gloves – they are useful for almost everyone who photographs gorillas because of the need to grip the branches while hiking up and down on the slopes.