I'm buying a new camera for a trip to Africa (Kenya and Tanzania)this summer. I'm considering the Canon S-500 as my first choice, but have one concern - the proprietary battery. I'll be gone 3 weeks in all and probably taking a lot of pictures. I'd rather not take electrical conversion stuff along because of the bulkiness and weight. ... So is it likely that two fully charged lithium batteries will last the three weeks -- or should I go a little larger on the camera and get a Sony that uses AA? Size [of the camera, that is ] is really important to me - but if I have a camera that won't take pictures, it doesn't much matter how small it is!

For that matter, does anyone know whether I need a converter - or only a plug adapter for the charger. Maybe it's not that big a deal.

Thanks for your help