I received this email report from Mary Anne A.'s about her Tanzania-Serengeti safari -

"On 8/9/2012, Mary Anne A. wrote:

Hi Fred,
I just wanted to thank you for publishing the instructions for your Butterfly Bean Bag on your website, Carolina Wild Photo Equipment Notes. If I may share with you a funny story:

After much Internet research I decided on making your Butterfly Bean Bag. Being an avid sewer and Home Economist I had plenty of leftover fabric and chose the denim fabric (see attached photo) thinking it would be a good choice for my Tanzania - Serengeti Safari taken June, 2012. Having read your suggestion about avoiding carrying the bean bag filled, in your luggage, I put two zippers on each side. I bought lentil beans at a market instead of carrying the heavy beans in my luggage for two dollars. While we were staying in a mobile tented camp in the Serengeti we were explicitly told not to leave any shoes in front of our tents as animals might take them during the night. Naturally I didn't even consider that a lentil filled Butterfly Bean Bag would interest any animals. During the night our lantern went out and in the middle of the night I woke up to see a very large hyena standing in front of our tent. In the morning the camera bean bag was gone. When we returned from our morning game drive I found the bean bag delicately ripped open by the hyena. He ate about one half of the beans on one side and discarded the rest. It was a big joke among my fellow travelers and the guides said we had introduced a new species of plant life into the very protected Serengeti!

I met a fellow photographer with a Nikon D300 who said he thought your bean bag was great. I told him about your website. I also thought it was a wonderful design and really appreciated not having to spend $50 for a new camera bean bag. Thank you again.

Sincerely
Mary Anne A.
carried:
Nikon D90
70-300mm (definitely needed this glass as the folks with point and shoots got nothing)
Canon G12 for closeups"