Originally Posted by dwugson

Also a veteran of many safaris, travelling with a large amount of photo gear, just my 2 cents. Firstly, I always take out good travel insurance plus a rider on my homeowners insurance covers the camera gear. My essential stuff on these trips is my camera gear so I carry that on with an extra tee shirt so at least not all is lost if my luggage goes astray. As far as the small flights and limited bag size is concerned, (Botswana, Zimbabwe for example) my husband and I always pay for an extra 'seat' on these flights, not a major cost and enables wheeled bags etc to be loaded. Makes things a lot easier.

My classic trip where my luggage went missing was on a gorilla trek in Rwanda where my bags appeared at the very end of my 5 days there. My shoes were adequate for the hikes, although I'd packed my hiking boots, and my essentials, ie camera gear, were with me the whole time. It was actually a somewhat liberating experience and also had a great time in a local Rwandan market trying to find a pair of jeans (second hand) and tee shirt to see me through. I still had a wonderful time - my luggage arrived the day before I was due to leave with a big tear in the duffle so another travel 'first' for me was going to the local market and finding a tailor with a sewing machine to repair it for my onward travels.
It's never pleasant for bags to go missing but with adequate planning doesn't need to ruin the trip. And, don't count on a quick response from the airlines, your own insurance is your best bet.

Sorry to stray OT.....