... on selecting an O/U.

I'm primarily a rifle guy but may need an O/U for wingshooting if my plains game hunt pans out.
Can't bring my autoloader into country, hence the search.

I'm quite comfortable selecting rifles and handguns but at am a loss here. Other than making certain the fit is right, what specific features should one be looking for? Don't want to buy one and find out later I should have got one with "X" feature on it.

This won't be used much for anything except this hoped-for trip and some trap to practice with, so I can't justify spending top dollar for it. I realize this may limit some of the options / features, but then I'm green at this so don't know for certain.

TIA

There are a lot of good O/U's on the market, but none are especially cheap. Two that I can name that are dependable and have become kind of "standards" are the Browning Citori and the Ruger Red Label. Also, the Beretta Whitewing would fit in this category. If your main purpose is for a "one shot" trip to Africa, then any should do well enough for you and will hold its resale value if you no longer have any particular use for it when you get back. With these three you have your choice of Japanese, American, or Italian manufacture.

I like the smaller gauges myself, but ammunition and other considerations make a 12 gauge the best choice for Africa. Look any of these models over at a retailer's store and pick the one that feels "right" to you. They will probably be within $200 of one another in price, which, depending on the retailer, will be somewhere from $1200 to $1500.

Have fun on that trip!