This is my solution too - saves a lot of money & is dead easy.

We went in January 2004. My pocket camera failed on ship & THE SAME DAY my wife's Nikon wouldn't focus. We asked an expedition team member if we could borrow his Nikon body to establish whether it was wife's lens or body. Turned out to be body so he said "in that case you'd better borrow my spare Nikon fo rest rest of the trip"!!!! (There are nice people around.) Both cameras were film; on return we bought two digital.

Take two bodies!

Take a longish lens + you'll also certainly need something at the short end as well. Your two lenses sound fine but be prepared to take both (one on each camera?) on shore. We were told not to approach penguins closer than 6 feet - fortunately the penguins ignored that advice and would sometimes come & peck at one's boots.

Ae we keeping you up?

My main camera is D7100 + Sigma 150-500 but last year I bought a Sony RX10iii (used from Ebay) because the weight of my main gear was becomming onerous. I used both - the jaguar was Nikon, toucans were Sony. For the night shots (ocelot & tapir) I used Sony. We're at a zoo this weekend where I'll take only the Sony. As I get older, Nikon, with its big lens, only tends to get an outing when someone else will transport it (safaris in India & Africa and this trip where we were in safari truck or, mainly, boats)!

This was the tour we took (from the UK although one of our ten booked it from New Zealand)> It'll show you the lodges we used: http://www.wildlifeworldwide.com/group-tours/wildlife-of-the-pantanal

We were there early June (Winter, of course). It was hot & a little humid so prepare for hotter & more humid in Spring! Wear long-sleeve shirts to protect if you're on the rivers (our boats, like the vast majority, didn't have canopies); take 50% deet + suncream + hat. We didn't encounter lots of other boats at that time of year but (according to our guide) be prepared for many other boats at any sightings in September. We saw jaguars (plural) + giant river otters (several sightings) + multitides of birds. Take a long lens plus, if you have one, a wide apperture lens for low light. Our South Wild lodge had a night hide for attracting ocelot (they bait them but don't feed them) - we saw, & photographed them on each of two nights (there is illumination but a 2.8 lens was useful) + they are developing a night hide for tapir which we photographed.

PM me if there's anything else I can help with.

How To Give Your Cat A Pill
1. Pick up cat and cradle it in the crook of your left arm as if holding a baby. Position right forefinger and thumb on either side of cat's mouth and apply gentle pressure to cheeks while holding pill in right hand. As cat opens mouth pop pill into mouth. Allow cat to close mouth and swallow.
2. Retrieve pill from floor and cat from behind sofa. Cradle cat in left arm and repeat process.
3. Retrieve cat from bedroom and throw soggy pill away.
4. Take new pill from foil wrap, cradle cat in left arm holding rear paws tightly with left hand. Force jaws open and push pill to back of mouth with right forefinger. Hold mouth shut for a count of 10.
5. Retrieve pill from goldfish bowl and cat from top of wardrobe. Call spouse from garden.
6. Kneel on floor with cat wedged firmly between knees, hold front and rear paws. Ignore low growls emitted by cat. Get spouse to hold head firmly with one hand while forcing wooden ruler into mouth. Drop pill down ruler and rub cat's throat vigorously.
7. Retrieve cat from curtain rail, get another pill from foil wrap. Make note to buy new ruler and repair curtains. Carefully sweep shattered figurines and vases from hearth and set to one side for glueing later.
8. Wrap cat in large towel and get spouse to lie on cat with head just visible from below armpit. Put pill in end of drinking straw, force mouth open with pencil and blow down drinking straw.
9. Check label to make sure pill not harmful to humans, drink glass of water to take taste away. Apply Band Aid to spouse's forearm and remove blood from carpet with cold water and soap.
10. Retrieve cat from neighbour's shed. Get another pill. Place cat in cupboard and close door onto neck to leave head showing. Force mouth open with dessert spoon. Flick pill down throat with elastic band.
11. Fetch screwdriver from garage and put cupboard door back on hinges. Apply cold compress to cheek and check records for date of last tetanus jab. Throw away T-shirt and fetch new one from bedroom.
12. Ring Fire Brigade to retrieve cat from tree across road. Apologise to neighbour who crashed into fence while swerving to miss cat. Take last pill from foil wrap.
13. Tie cat's front paws to rear paws with garden twine and bind tightly to leg of dining table. Find heavy duty pruning gloves from shed. Push pill into mouth followed by large piece of fillet steak. Hold head vertically and pour 2 pints of water down throat to wash pill down.
14. Get spouse to drive you to Casualty, sit quietly while doctor stitches finger and forearm and removes remnants of pill from right eye. Call furniture shop on way home to order new table.
15. Call RSPCA to collect cat and ring pet shop to see if they have any hamsters.

Welcome back, Graham. Roger

I have RX10iii. It has an 'extra zoom' feature which doubles the 600mm to 1200mm. It works fine.

I've just bought a Panasonic Lumix TZ80. The "manual" is useless although it does contain a link to Panasonic where you can download a pdf. The pdf for mine ran to 300+ pages (!) but I perservered with it & did manage to find some useful info which enabled me to tweak camera settings. As there's no third party book for my camera (I don't know about yours) it was the only option; if you have the patience, it might be worth a try.

Thanks for this. We're off to Brazil on Sunday (wildlife watching) & I've just downloaded Google Translate.

I bought a Sony RX10iii a year ago - mainly because lugging round my Nikon was becoming difficult with a dodgy shoulder My "main" camera is Nikon D7100 with a Sigma 150-500 lens. My interest is wildlife. My intention was to take the Sony when there was walking involved but take the Nikon on safari (boat or jeep). We are off to Brazil next Sunday (boats & jeeps), wildlife watching & both cameras are going with me. I still feel more comfortable with the Nikon (having had Nikons for years) & the Nikon menus beat the Sony menus hands down. However, particularly with the Sony enhanced zoom engaged, I'm almost getting better pictures with the Sony.

Have a look at these two. The first one is Nikon, the second, Sony

(Download)


(Download)

Panasonic Lumix TZ100

Yarborough: Early 20th century: said to be named after an Earl of Yarborough, who bet 1000 to 1 against the occurrence of such a hand. We certainly use it in the Bridge Club.

I recently bought a "WD WDBYFT0030BWT-WESN My Passport 3 TB Portable Hard Drive and Auto Backup Software" from Amazon Warehouse (i.e. one that's been returned & repackaged & then sold at around one-third less). It virtually installed itself & works a treat. I've set it to do an auto backup at 5.30pm each day & it seems to be doing just that. I'm very happy with it.