Some basic information on optical equipment, field guides, etc. for safari

 

Binoculars

Basic Information on choosing binoculars

Chuck Hawks: Bionocular basics

Curt Irwin: Binocular primer

Optics Planet

Types and terminology

Best Buy info sheet

Brands

Top end... spendy, but great optics!

Leitz, Swarovski, Zeiss

Middle ground... lots to choose from. I personally rank Nikon above the rest.

Nikon, Baush & Lomb, Bushnell, Pentax, Olympus, Celestron

Budget... be very careful if you go this route!

Tasco, Brunton, Binolux, Barska

Spotting scopes

Basic information

 

Cameras

Film

Point and Shoot

Single Lens Reflex (SLR)

Polaroid/Instant image

"Disposable"

Digital

Point and Shoot

SLR

Underwater

Field guides

Birds

Field Guide to the Birds of East Africa: Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi by Stevenson & Fanshawe

Birds of Kenya and Northern Tanzania by Zimmerman et al.

Mammals

The Kingdon Field Guide to African Mammals (Princeton Field Guides) by Jonathan Kingdon

The Safari Companion: A Guide to Watching African Mammals Including Hoofed Mammals, Carnivores, and Primates by Richard D. Estes, Daniel Otte

Fish

Not too much available on this subject. Here is general list of "fishy" guides for different parts of the world.

 

Reptiles

Field Guide to the Reptiles of East Africa: All the Reptiles of Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi