You have two great options so there is no bad decision. I would prefer the extra days in Ireland. There is an easy ferry over to Hollyhead UK if you wanted to vary a little more by a few days in Wales and thereabouts.

Add on to submission of a bit ago. DIL called me to say that Daisy had left and Camille of SouthernDestinations.com was handling their South Africa arrangements now. Either agency should be able to assist you.

Your lens choice should be fine. Most important thing on basis of my safaris there is to go to one or more of the private reserves near Kruger such as suggested by others such as Sabi Sands. I love the Savanna Lodge near Kruger. I have aged a bit much to go anymore but my son and DIL go every other year. They have used rhinoaftria.com and their agent who is easy to communicate with Daisy. Along with more competent insights, they also save quite a bit depending on the South Africa currency situation at the time. I personally have used A&K with excellent results.

both

Wood storks gather at a Rookery near Venice. January is usually a good month for the wading birds in this part but things can be scarce. I spent three hours at Corkscrew Monday and saw two Ibis grand total--not even an alligator! But as January to March roll in the populations go up dramatically. You are also an easy drive to the Big Cypress Reserve and southern entrance to The Everglades both of which can be very productive.
Good luck!

I have done that trip in January. On my venture I needed all the tele length I had to get even small (relatively) images of the wolves, but bison, Old Faithful, etc. were as close as you dare to get. Take lots of layers because it can really be cold! I found that I did not need a tripod. Most things outside the main area were seen in the treaded snow vans where you had a chance for great pictures but certainly could not easily set up a tripod in the snow. I did my venture through Natural Habitat, and they did a wonderful job, but are pretty pricey!

Same here. Also, have visited many times and never used a filter while being very happy with results.

I also have been using Fastone for at least a couple of years. I think it is great with many options and handles large batches in seconds!

The old adage "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder" is certainly true to me here. I went through the same arguments with myself. With the RF lenses you do pick up additional stabilization with R5 body and a little bit of weight and volume not having the adapter. I also have the R3 and the same applies there. I am using the EF65 with the adapter. It is their up to 5x macro lens which is not available in RF format. Anyway, I am happy I made the full transition. I wanted to "play" with the R3, but if I had it to do over again, I would purchase one of the less expensive R bodies as a backup to make the complete transition. In short there is not really a wrong answer- just money and whether the additional features are of that much value.

I am 87 and have faced the same problem. Have R3, R5 and lenses, but just too much for travel. Admit the OM-1 has better specs, but I went to the OM-D-Mark III which has most of the OM-1 capability but is lighter still and mainly use 12-200 lens. I find it great for travel! If you have any interest in Macro, the 60MM Macro for it is incredibly small and light as are the other lenses relatively speaking.

I take a very different approach. It works for me but may be laughable for some "Hoggers." I have rarely shot more than 1000-1500 photos on any of my travels which includes all continents and more than 100 countries. As I review them, I only delete those that are photographically unaccetable. The rest I keep on a labelled card or transfer to a large SSD. I try to select 25-50 that both represent what I want to remember and show others then edit them striving for about 12-25 photos that I can compress and email some friends or relatives and have to show on one of my photo club's theme shows at the right time.

I do a lot of cruising, including four AK cruises and four other AK trips. In AK you never know what photo opportunities will pop-up. I suggest, as several others have--Take all the zoom you can get. If you take shore excursions, try to factor in what will be best for those ventures, but again in AK you do not know what will happen upon you. It is quite different than say cruising all the history sights in Europe!

May have been said in other Africa queries. I have been five times, and they are great trips. Based on what you have, I agree with the 70-300 and one of the 18-__ MM lenses. I personally think the most advantageous photo decision is a safari that is on a private reserve, near say some place such as Kruger NP. The private reserves let you go off road, and you see wildlife that is often not even visible from the trails. The guides are incredible finding these then you are driven within the closest distance that does not bother the animals you are about to photograph, which will be covered by lenses typically 500 MM, or less more frequently. If you have to stay on the trails, then take all the telephoto power you can reasonably do. Very personal preference, however, I prefer SA over Botswana, Namibia, Kenya and Tanzania. Have gotten good photos in all and never made the "Great Migration" which is supposedly awesome!

Just to take another very convenient, but not cheap approach: The Canon RF-100 Macro is a great lens and goes past 1:1. Also, their MP-E 65 Lens does a great job and goes from 1-5X with no tubes. You would need the EF to RF adapter to use it with the R7, I believe--at least that is the case with my R5. I also like having both a Ring Flash and a LED Ring Light. I am in exactly your shoes--just am too old to do the strenuous field shoots, but am getting a lot of pleasure resuming Macro from what I did when very little automation existed on film cameras. Good luck!

Just a quick observation from a different viewpoint. I have severe glaucoma that is unresponsive. I cannot even use the cell camera outdoors except for deep shade so have EVF's on 2 Canon's and 1 Olympus mirrorless. It has taken a bit of adaptation but less than I expected, and I have found the EVF's yield outstanding results. Getting the full image of the sensor is a great plus compared to the slightly reduced area of the DSLR's optical viewfinder. For my purposes I find it better near dusk or dawn as well. I just hope some of the Mirrorless Companies do not decide to cut costs and go to the LCD screen alone or a variant thereof.