Keep it Clean

Driving in the bush churns up a lot of fine dust that you may not be aware of, but it can get into your camera and damage the internal mechanisms. At a minimum, you should take a lens cloth (or tissues), lens brush, lens fluid, and a small manual air blower (e.g. Giotto's Rocket Air Blower); ideally, photographers taking expensive equipment should try to include a small can of compressed air. Keep your lens cap on at all times when you're not actually taking photographs; replace it immediately once you have finished with a series of shots.

If you have a mirrorless camera with multiple lenses, be very careful when changing lenses to prevent dust from getting inside the camera. Try to minimize the number of times that you change lenses and, when changing lenses, minimize the time for which the lens is off the camera (have the new lens ready before taking the old lens off). Turn the camera off before changing the lens to close the shutter and, to prevent dust from settling (via gravity) into the sensor chamber while the lens is off, hold the camera upside down such that the lens mount is facing towards the ground - i.e. the "open hole" that exposes your camera's internals is facing downwards. It goes without saying to change lenses in the most dust-free environment possible (ideally back in your room) - if you have to change lenses on game-drive, be sure to wait long enough after the vehicle has stopped to allow the dust to settle before removing the lens.