The tripod

Kruger National Park, South Africa

Fuji S2 digital, Nikon 17-35

The 80-400 VR lens used for most of the wildlife images here can be hand held at surprisingly slow speeds, but a rigid base is still necessary to get really sharp images with a long telephoto lens.

I found a way to wedge two legs of my Gitzo tripod into the side of the vehicle, with the third leg extended across horizontally as far as possible.

It worked, but a good monopod probably would have worked better, and would have been lighter to fly with as well.