Originally posted by simsburyphoto Thanks everyone for this great input. Keep it coming. I don't know where we are going yet. Still in the planning phase. My wife and I will be there for 8 days and would like to stay in no more than 3 different locations. We want to see out door flora and fauna. My wife like to look for exotic birds and I am along for getting the photos. We will hopefully hike quite a bit but neither of us are extreme athletes and are in our mid 50's.
Just to add perspective, I don't consider myself an athlete and am of similar age.
My normal kit for any travel where birding is a possibility is the following
2 bodies, K7 and K5 plus 1 charger and 3 spare batteries
Sigma 10-20/4-5.6
Tamron 28-75/2.8
Sigma 70-200/2.8 plus sigma 1.4x and 2x converters
Plus iPod, iPad cell phone and gps ( hand held unit for logging where I have been plus navigation and 4-6 double A batteries )
All the above fits (tightly) in a Lowepro microtrekker 200 backpack
Also in the pack is a first aid kit, rain cape, and rain cover for the pack (note that while most Lowepro packs include rain covers,their micro Trekker does not)
Don't know what it all weighs, but it didn't kill me even on days where we logged ove 25000 steps (about 20km on foot)
Most I have done in a day touring was in Prague, where my gps says I logged over 50km, but I think the jitter in location when standing still accounted for about 15km of this, I really think i only logged about 35 k of aimless wandering.
Don't get too bent out of shape over gear weight, what is critical is it is comfortable to carry. If the load is well managed no issue